Intel D845PEBT2 Blue Mountain 2 (845PE): Intel's Enthusiast Board

Tech Support and RMA

We first introduced the Tech Support and RMA section in our Gigabyte 7VAXP (KT400) review last week. Here's a quick refresher of what it's all about:

The way it works is first we anonymously email the manufacturer's tech support address(es), obviously not using our AnandTech mail server to avoid any sort of preferential treatment. Our emails (we can and will send more than one just to make sure we're not getting the staff on an "off" day) all contain fixable problems that we've had with our motherboard. We then give the manufacturer up to 72 hours to respond over business days and will report not only whether they even responded within the time allotted but also if they were successful in fixing our problems. If we do eventually receive a response after the review is published, we will go back and amend the review with the total time it took for the manufacturer to respond to our requests. The idea here is to encourage manufacturers to improve their technical support as well as provide new criteria to base your motherboard purchasing decisions upon; with motherboards looking more and more alike every day, we have to help separate the boys from the men in as many ways as possible. As usual, we're interested in your feedback on this and other parts of our reviews so please do email us with your comments.

As is the norm now with all of our tech support inquires, we gave Intel exactly 72 hours to respond to our emails. Intel's tech support process is fairly similar to that of Gigabyte's; you fill out a relatively long form listing your systems specs and any other pertinent details about your computer setup. Then you type in your email address and submit your form. Intel sends you an automated email explaining that you will likely receive a response within two business days.

Intel was true to their word, and responded to our email within 48 hours (40 hours to be exact). Their remedy to our "problem" was fairly helpful too, and in general their entire tech support process was very friendly and professional. The tech support personal were also able to speak English well, which isn't always true with most motherboard tech support staff.

Intel's RMA process is a bit different. As is the case with many manufacturers, Intel assigns most of the RMA responsibility to your vendor. However, you still can RMA a board to Intel. We would still suggest that you be extra careful when ordering your board to make sure you're dealing with a reliable vendor; if anything ever goes wrong with your motherboard you'll have to deal with your vendor, even though you "can" RMA the board to Intel.

One of the downsides to being as large of a manufacturer as Intel is that you cannot maintain the same sort of customer attention that smaller firms can. Case in point being ABIT; ABIT actually handles end-user RMAs in the United States and Canada themselves, instead of leaving you at the mercy of your vendor.

In short, Intel's RMA policy isn't all that spectacular, so make sure you order from a trustworthy vendor. Their tech support was top-notch though.