A frustrated user has taken to Reddit after Zotac denied their GeForce RTX 5070 Ti RMA for a suspected bearing issue, saying that it found “irreversible” PCB damage that cannot be repaired “due to the limited tools” the company has. According to I_Main_TwistedFate’s Reddit post, the company said the physical damage was found near the PCIe connector during a visual inspection of the card before testing. Zotac then claimed that this type of damage isn’t “caused by normal GPU operation” and instead recommended that the user “File a Damage Claim With the Shipping Carrier.”
“When your card arrived at our facility, our technicians performed a visual inspection prior to electrical testing. During this inspection, they identified a crack in the PCB (printed circuit board) near the PCIe connector. While the gold contacts themselves appear intact, the board material above the connector is visibly fractured,” the service manager told I_Main_TwistedFate.
The Zotac representative later added, “The type of cracking found is consistent with external mechanical stress during handling or transportation. Since this damage cannot be caused by normal GPU operation, we recommend filing a shipping damage claim with the carrier that delivered the package to ZOTAC USA.”
This probably led to enormous frustration for the user, as they initially sought an RMA for their three-month-old RTX 5070 Ti because it was making unusual noises they suspected could be a fan bearing issue. They even shared photos of the supposed PCB damage, which appeared to be considerably minor. The biggest insult was that Zotac even offered to dispose of the GPU at its facility if I_Main_TwistedFate did not want it returned.
We’re unsure what caused the PCB damage to the GPU, but it seems to have been due to wear-and-tear rather than accidental or deliberate damage. This is similar to the $3,350 repair bill another customer received from Asus for their RTX 5090 after the company discovered a microscopic “surface irregularity” on the expensive card. It could be that these companies are just covering themselves in case these seemingly minor damages lead to a catastrophic failure. However, it’s still infuriating for anyone who spent hundreds or thousands of their hard-earned money on these expensive parts. On the other hand, Nvidia has been extremely generous, replacing a damaged RTX 5090 despite it being caused by the user, and even offering a replacement unit for a $10,000 RTX Pro 6000 that was broken in transit.
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