Galax was suspected of selling used and subsequently refurbished video cards, according to the IT Home portal. The manufacturer, known in the Chinese market under the Galaxy brand, and outside it under the name KFA2, denies the allegations once morest him.
Image Source: Galax
According to the source, messages began to appear on Chinese social networks from buyers who purchased Galax-branded graphics accelerators and found signs of use on them. In particular, dspdfkb suspects gold-plated pins of the PCIe interface on the PCB of the accelerator. There were marks on them, clearly indicating that the video card had already been in the PCIe x16 slot.
One of the users announced the purchase of the Galax GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Metal Master OC graphics card on the Taobao online marketplace. After receiving the card, he did not immediately remove it from the antistatic package, but decided to check the PCIe pins. According to him, he had previously encountered several reviews from other buyers, which claimed that the card came to them in “already used” condition. The hero of the story really found traces of abrasions on the contacts. In addition to them, there were also black marks on the contacts, indicating the beginning of the oxidation process. Without opening the package to the end, the owner of the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti returned the video card to the store, and then contacted the local media.
Portal IT Home has shared several images of the accelerator, which has traces of use on the PCIe pins. However, the quality of the photographs does not allow them to be seen.
Galax said it saw these customer reviews of frayed contacts and conducted its own investigation, which it noted in its official statement, a copy of which is in Chinese. published portal IT Home. After analyzing several pages of reviews at several points of sale, the manufacturer determined that the “suspicious” cards were produced on April 19, 2022. In addition, the company indicated that it did not find messages in the reviews that would indicate the inoperability of video cards.
According to the manufacturer, traces on the contact pads of the PCIe interface of accelerators might appear “following rigorous testing of video cards, which establishes the performance of the accelerator before delivery to the market”. However, Galax’s answer does not explain how traces of contact oxidation might result from a relatively short test of the accelerator.
Galax’s own investigation does not add credibility to its findings. In this case, it would be more correct to turn to a third party for an independent investigation.
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