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Fatal flaw on the 250D design


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Before I get to it, I want to point out that your competitor BitFenix (Prodigy) does not have this problem and Caslabs had this issue, but managed to rectify it for FREE.

 

I am a very proud owner of a new 250D case. I managed to build my system around it some time last week. This week I decided I would check to see how dusty it was inside and perform some cleaning / maintenance if needed. While checking up on things I noticed something that was cause for alarm.

 

http://s28.postimg.org/hoy4tf1uh/e4df0b1e_IMG_20140407_155814_034.jpg

 

It would seem that the 250D has issues with causing the motherboard to flex / bow. Furthermore, upon checking out the "250D owners club" thread over at OCN, it would seem EVERYONE has the same issue.

 

http://s1.postimg.org/5r2b6cwdn/0eab07ee_DSCN5468.jpg

 

http://s1.postimg.org/c3hgg6zfv/88a95dfd_WP_20140311_18_02_02_Pro.jpg

 

http://s1.postimg.org/sh1fzcfl7/486fd986_20140403_163454.jpg

 

http://s1.postimg.org/w9kyf2v3f/8464d975_20140305_203750.jpg

 

http://s1.postimg.org/3p1ts3yej/f14cd192_b434.jpg

 

http://s22.postimg.org/p7a13gnct/IMG_3830_Large.jpg

 

http://s27.postimg.org/sf8jaa10f/13193702323_00f017f975_h.jpg

 

I sincerely hope Corsair does the right thing and provides us with a fix - even if it happens to be a plastic wedge to place on top of the PSU rack. Having had this issue before with ASUS I can safely say they WILL NOT honor its warranty if the board is warped or bent. If this becomes a problem for us down the road and our manufacturers do not help us, is Corsair then going to reimburse us for the damages?

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  • Corsair Employee

Your first photo isn't showing up.

 

I'd like to see if the board is warping any more than a board that has a stock Intel cooler on it with a cam mount (Pentium 4 era). We were convinced by those at Intel that the amount of warping back then was perfectly normal/safe.

 

http://intel-openport.hosted.jivesoftware.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/2-120030-32533/motherboard_flex.jpg

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Hey ya Jonny (as in thee JonnyGuru? :bigeyes:). Let me see if I can not get another picture up for you.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Mag8Gwo.jpg

 

Sadly, this picture was taken AFTER I placed the board on top of a wadded up piece of electrical tape. It seemed to do the trick but the damage was already done. I only wish I had taken a picture of it BEFORE I did that as it was flexing a whole lot more than what is being shown. If I had to describe the arch I would say it almost resembled the Verizon "V" logo.

 

I would agree that the flex in your picture is not so bad but mine almost looked like it was going to snap in half - to the point where I was already experiencing rear USB and sound issues.

 

 

Rene - what do you think is causing this? possibly misalignment of the motherboard stand off's. I didn't recall having anymore trouble than usual screwing down the board.

 

All mITX boards only have 4 screw points on them. Sadly the "bottom" points seem to be smack in the middle of the PCIE slot with no support under it. It is clear to me that Corsair wanted us to have the option of placing the PSU either fan facing down so that it could draw in cool air from the outside, or facing up so it could help exhaust warm air from under the CPU / GPU. However they, much like CaseLabs, must not have tested their design thoroughly while fully loaded because they would have noticed the PCB buckle in about 2 days time. I would like to believe that had they, they would not have opted for the fan face up cut-out and instead put up some sort of brace (or standoff) in its place.

 

I guess the root of the problem is that these boards are laying down instead of standing up.

 

 

These forums are pointless, I'm starting to wonder if Corsair even employs anyone in the Customer service department.

 

I would not necessarily say I agree. I have owned a ton of Corsair products over the last 5 years and have only ever had problem with my H50/60. Every time I did have an issue I would come here first and RAMGUY would take care of me - no problem. Sadly I do not know if he is still around but with the new ticket system I have been able to get the same quality of service I have come to expect. That is why I continue to buy from Corsair.

 

I only chose to post this problem on the forums because it is a brand new Case that I feel has a small oversight that needs to be addressed. I doubt anyone at tech support would know how to handle this issue but thought perhaps other Corsair employees could.

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  • Corsair Employee

Yes. JonnyGuru. I work for Corsair now. :D:

 

Your bend isn't the worst I've seen. Dustin has a 250D build sitting here and the bend at the PCIe slot (before and after) is a lot worse. And the bend caused by the stock coolers is even worse still.

 

You shouldn't have a problem since there isn't enough of a bend to break any traces between the layers. The problem isn't with the stand offs, but with the height of the bracket on the graphics cards. When you screw down your graphics card, it actually pushed the card down into the PCIe slot and this is what causes the bow.

 

One solution is to make some kind of spacer that goes between the slots of the card and slots of the case. Something 0.8mm should be about perfect. Even washers between the card's bracket and the chassis' backplane will work. This will prevent the card from screwing down too far putting pressure on the motherboard, yet still allow you to tighten the card down so it doesn't move, pop out of the slot, etc.

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  • Corsair Employee
These forums are pointless, I'm starting to wonder if Corsair even employs anyone in the Customer service department.

 

Dude... it's not even your thread. ;):

 

FWIW: Pretty much anyone that could have helped with this was at PAX all last week.

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Yes. JonnyGuru. I work for Corsair now. :D:

 

:bigeyes: I have not seen much of you on HardForum this year. I was wondering where you had gone off to. Ah the memories of BFG... they come rushing back. I am now even more embarrassed to have such a gigantic picture of my Fatal1ty PSU up on display. I swear I would swap it out in an instant if only Corsair made a modular LED unit. You should get on that ASAP! :sigh!:

 

Anyhoo. Back to my issue. The (embarrassing) picture shows my board after I tried to hand bend it back into shape. After that I then rolled up some electrical tape and placed the board on top of it. By then it was a bit too late as the board had already warped. Sadly I have no pictures of what it looked like before but it was much worse. Here is a picture of my ghetto solution.

 

http://i.imgur.com/j5DtrUZ.jpg

 

I just wish Corsair would make a washer, or something, so it does not look so ghetto / hand made / lame / ugly. :[pouts:

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  • Corsair Employee

Yeah.. the boards pretty much bend and stay bent. I just got into Corsair's office this morning and there are ITX boards that were test fitted into the 250D and they all have a slight permanent bend.

 

We could make a spacer or something in the future, though I don't think washers would look too ghetto. I'll get with the case PM and see what he has planned.

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  • Corsair Employee

FYI....

 

These slides show the "acceptable" (as per Intel) bow of a motherboard under the stress of the stock P4 cooler:

 

ftp://download.intel.com/design/Pentium4/guides/29859001.pdf

 

Page 9 is the real smoking gun. I was working retail when this was a "problem" (good ol' TCWO.com) and we all feared the worse, but not a single motherboard exhibited a problem because of this bow. The glas that the motherboard is made of is too tough to crack and the copper traces within are just going to bend with the board. Surface mounted components and connectors use up such little real estate that they're indifferent to the bow. Kind of like how the American prairies seem so flat on this round Earth of ours. ;):

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I'll get with the case PM and see what he has planned.

 

Sweet! I and every other 250D owner will hope for the best. Thank you.

 

I checked out that PDF you linked up. I really wish I would have photographed it because it looked slightly worse than the picture at the bottom of page nine. I only discovered / noticed it because I wanted to know if there was a loose cable or dust somewhere messing with my rear USB ports. Within Windows 8.1 I would hear the USB disconnect, reconnect sound a few times per hour. Sometimes it would be my G500, sometimes my Yeti Mic and others it would be my CableCARD tuner. After bending it back it seems to be doing better. Still, I am working with SquareTrade to see if I can not get a replacement.

 

When I installed the board I do not recall pushing my 770 down on it so hard as to create that bend. If anything I distinctly recall thinking to myself how much room was under the board that I might be able to get away with routing some cables down there. At the time nothing seemed out of place. If anything I think it is a combination of time and gravity. It would be interesting how other's boards look like now that they have had it for over a week. Problem is... most people tend to only photograph PCs as soon as they are done with the build. Hardly anyone goes back a month or so later to poke around - unless they are adding something new.

 

:sigh!:

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Any updates?

 

As for me I'm afraid I got more bad news. Yesterday I decided to clean out the side dust filters. I lifted up a corner and started to pry it off the side panel when I noticed that the mesh was peeling from the magnets! I thought the mesh was a part of one, large, rectangular magnet but instead come to find it is poorly glued to 4 smaller magnets. I go over to NewEgg to see if I am the only one experiencing this and it would seem I am NOT alone.

 

If you have not talked to George yet (and I hope that not to be the case) you really should bring up the lack of QC when it comes to the side filters. My question now is what does Corsair plan to do about them?

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redbeard@corsair.com is that his email address? If it is I personally sent him an email to force him to come look at this since everyone else seems to be glossing over this issue. I do NOT plan on letting this go. I will NOT make due with my own ghetto fix. This needs to be addressed and it needed to be addressed weeks ago. What in the heck has happened to Corsair's customer support? I find it hard to believe people are being paid to do nothing around here. Getting assistance is starting to feel an awful lot like pulling teeth.
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Here's a bump Rene- I'm coming from the link you posted on overclock.net. I have a 250D as well, and want to know what the fix is going to be. I have RMA'd 2 corsair products in past 2 months. I'm beginning to hate this company. Even their employees that have read this thread and choose to ignore it? Garbage.
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I agree that someone needs to look into this.

 

In any line of production, I 've come to accept production flaws, and don't really mind as long as the producer acknowledges it and takes some action upon it.

 

Here is mine

 

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=17946&d=1399310131

2014-05-05-390.thumb.jpg.178a56cee26128dbb5c30af01697c296.jpg

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