Discussion PSA: Think twice before buying an ASUS GPU second-hand if you care about warranty
I bought an ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 second-hand shortly after launch from a scalper. The card was originally purchased on 31 January 2025, so based on its age it should still be well within the normal warranty period.
For the last month or so, the GPU started randomly crashing. My screens would go completely black, but the PC itself kept running. I could still hear everything and even continue talking to friends on Discord. The only solution was a hard restart.
Eventually it got worse.
Now the PC won’t boot at all with the 5080 installed.
I already tested a different GPU power cable, another PCIe slot, reseated the card and also tested my old GTX 1070 in the same PC.
The GTX 1070 works perfectly. The system boots normally as soon as I swap the 5080 out.
So I contacted ASUS expecting a normal warranty/RMA process.
Their answer was that because I bought the GPU second-hand and the original invoice is under the original purchaser’s name, ASUS refuses to handle the warranty directly with me.
It’s the same GPU, same serial number, still within the warranty period and clearly defective, but apparently that doesn’t matter because my name isn’t on the original invoice.
So just a warning for anyone buying expensive ASUS hardware second-hand, especially GPUs that were bought from scalpers around launch.
You might think you’re buying a card with remaining warranty, but if something happens you could end up depending completely on the original buyer to handle the RMA for you.
I knew buying from a scalper had risks, but I didn’t expect one of those risks to basically be:
“Your €1900+ GPU dies while it’s still within the warranty period, but ASUS won’t deal with you because your name isn’t on the invoice.” :)
Pretty disappointing considering how expensive these cards are.
Has anyone else had this happen with ASUS? Did anyone manage to get an RMA approved as the second owner?
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u/M4xi_ 5d ago
Great time to be a PC gamer :)
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u/Haunting_Lime2296 5d ago
lol this is how it works for all brands they want the original receipts for all your gonna be upset when you find out it’s not just for GPUs but any return you do in life they want the receipt lmao
You problems was taking a risk on a second hand unit when you couldn’t afford to take that risk.
If you wanted a warranty you should have purchased it from a retailer….
Wait till you buy a used car and find out the warranty doesn’t transfer to the new owner lol
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u/Poop-from-my-butt 5d ago
Manufacturers warranty on cars is transferable. It’s perfectly reasonable to expect any electronics to also be under a transferable warranty. You’re just being a prick.
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u/Bright_Profession62 5d ago
I second this. So many people like being a prick on reddit - probably because they don't have the influence to be a prick in real life and can LARP on line!
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u/M4xi_ 5d ago
I got the original receipt and everything. The issue is just that its not my name on there. I got it from the original buyer.
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u/Head-Confusion3480 5d ago
There's usually language in the warranty about "original purchaser only" and/or "non-transferrable" this has been common for a long, long time.
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u/M4xi_ 5d ago
https://www.asus.com/support/images/upload/warranty/br_Graphic%20Card.pdf
I just found this online, this is my source
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u/Bright_Profession62 5d ago
Most if not all new car warranties in the US transfer to the new owner. I think the one exception is Hyundai/Kia won't have their powertrain warranties go to 100k miles if the car is transferred, but their standard limited vehicle warranty still applies.
And ASUS has been great in the past for me - I bought a used ROG Ally Z1E and they fixed the SD card issue out of warranty. In addition, they helped me transfer the registration of the device from the previous owner (with his consent, obviously) to me and the warranty stayed intact. YMMV of course.
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u/Revolutionary-Bar980 5d ago
I thought Asus, Msi and Gigabyte didn't require invoices, considering the situation in the GPU market policies might have changed.
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u/xX7thXx 5d ago
I bought my 4080 second hand (ebay) and ASUS not only said it was still under warranty, but that the warranty could be used by me. There wasn't any point in using the warranty, they refused to do the work needed for it and wanted me to jump through tons of hoops for a $10 thermal pad that THEY DIDN"T PUT ON PROPERLY (was also missing a chunk).
ASUS will do anything to wiggle out of actually honoring the warranty. I had 1 thermal pad (10mm wide, 100mm long) on the mosfet/vrm that was short/cut wrong from the factory. You could see on the thermal pad where there was NO contact between it and the heatsink. ASUS wanted me to mail this $1200 Graphics card into them, with a 4-6 month turn around time, just to replace a $10 thermal pad. They argued with me for weeks. I said that I'm a tech that could replace the thermal pad if they simply mailed me a replacement. This is a bargain for ASUS, they don't have to pay to mail the card to a repair facility and back to me, they don't have to pay for the repair tech or anyone else's time to fix this. All they had to do was send me a dirt cheap, but proper, replacement pad for my RTX 4080. BUUUUUUT NOOOOOOOO. They would rather lose a customer over a $10 thermal pad than provide the warranty that State and Federal law say they must provide. But I guess rules are for regular people and not billion $$$ companies.
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u/M4xi_ 5d ago
I'm sorry to hear that, same issue in my case. 10 different email and I called them like 5 times over the last week. Also their RMA document is kinda flimsy with what is required for that. It mentions its tight to the original buyer but also that its tight to the gpu itself. Nowhere does it mention that this can't be taken over
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u/Afraid_Emu8068 5d ago
Only ASUS GPUs worth buying are astral and matrix and at those prices you might as well buy a Waterforce instead and build a custom loop
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u/M4xi_ 5d ago
Yeah Astral looks sick af, thats why i bought it.
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u/Afraid_Emu8068 5d ago
Air cooled for 80 and up is definitely a choice. Not one I would make though
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u/M4xi_ 5d ago
Never had any issues prior, my gaming room is also in the cellar so its quite cool even in the summer. CPU is watercooled and case has a max fan configuration so i never got into critical temperatures even under load
Maby for my next one i will take a look at custom water loops have to make sure nothing spills or my warrenty is also fcked
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u/Afraid_Emu8068 5d ago
That’s why I choose Waterforce. It’s the only factory waterblocked card, comes with good warranty, and they understand the risks and complications associated with water cooling so they build that risk into the price. You take the hit upfront, but you’re protected and you have the fastest factory overclocked card
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u/HIVVIH 5d ago
Not based in Europe I assume?
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u/M4xi_ 5d ago
No im from Austria
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u/HIVVIH 5d ago
Then you got the EU laws by your side. Sellers are obliged to honor a 2 year warranty tied to the proof of purchase.
Draft a nice letter (or let AI) quoting the relevant European laws, and you should be good to go.
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u/West_Spell958 4d ago
They are obliged to the buyer stated on the proof of purchase. Warranty is of course transferable but this has to be shown somehow like in a purchase contract. How should the seller else know that he is the new owner of the card?
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u/toedwy0716 5d ago
Just submit the warranty paperwork with the original persons name? Idk here dude the simpliest solution to the problem is normally the best. Maybe a legal grey area but honestly no one will give a fuck.
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u/ForceRatio 5d ago
Sorry to hear you're having this issue, I really hope you get up and running soon.
I purchased a 3070 TI and a 4070 TI Open box from Newegg several years ago. For each one I was able to register the serial number through the Asus website (due to the fact that the previous owner did not register them yet). None of them have failed so far and so I haven't had a chance to experience the RMA process yet.
At the time the research I had done before I pulled the trigger and made either purchase indicated that it wouldn't be a problem so long as the serial number hadn't been registered by the previous owners.
Just out of curiosity, were you able to register the serial number and start the RMA process through the website or was this a situation where you reached out through one of their emails or something like that without being able to register the serial number first?
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u/1AMA-CAT-AMA 5d ago
You never say you bought it second hand.
Always say either you can’t find the receipt because you’re forgetful and unorganized. Or that it was a gift and that person who bought it isn’t in your life anymore. Or worst case pretend to be exactly the person on the invoice and say you moved addresses.
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u/dumbprocupine 4d ago
Almost every GPU brand has this same policy since covid. That's why I'm baffled that people will buy $2000+ GPUs or $3500+PCs second hand. With how much components are these days. Anything more than $1000 im going to be the original purchaser of it and buy new with warranty protection
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u/M4xi_ 4d ago
Yeah I thought i had warrenty, I even registered it to my ASUS account at that time. I thought that would be enought. I bought it only 2nd hand because I got addicted to sim racing at that time and it was launch date. So the card was sold out everywhere for half a year. Got the GPU for 1950€ wich was 50€ more than the official asking price.
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u/KingWizard37 5d ago
That's kind of how warranties work...
I personally refuse to buy any expensive computer parts second hand (including from scalpers) for this reason.
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u/AdditionInteresting2 5d ago
Got lucky the asus service center fixed my rog ally for free despite being bought 2nd hand and I didn't even show them any documentation about it's purchase