Asus China customer support is pulling out all the stops to care for victims affected by PCIe damage from its new Q-Release Slim mechanism. A screenshot of a tech support group chat shared by HXL on X allegedly reveals the measures that Asus China has taken to help users with the issue. Asus China has also confirmed that it will revise the design of its Q-Release Slim mechanism.
Asus China compensates the affected owners with a 200RMB ($27) gift card, complete motherboard replacement, and additional compensation or warranty assistance required for damaged graphics cards.
Asus is going the extra mile to ensure that damages from its new Q-Release Slim mechanism are not out of hand. No damage has been reported to Asus' Q-Release Slim-equipped motherboards; only damage associated with graphics cards slotted into Asus' Q-Release Slim PCIe slots has been reported.
The board maker is providing motherboard replacements for anyone who owns an Asus motherboard equipped with its latest generation PCIe Q-Release Slim connector (not to be confused with its previous generation Q-Release mechanism — that excludes the "Slim" moniker). Qualifying boards range from Z790, B860, Z890, B850 and X870 series motherboards consisting of the following:
The homebrewed Asus feature has come under scrutiny after user reports revealed that the new mechanism could damage the host graphics card's PCIe finger, especially when the same graphics card is uninstalled and reinstalled many times from the same slot. The internal peg responsible for locking and unlocking the PCIe slot can allegedly scrape off the sides of a graphics card's PCIe connector (but not the gold connecting material itself).
Asus China also addressed GPU warranty concerns raised by PCIe finger damage to graphics cards caused by its Q-Release Slim mechanism on its latest motherboards. According to the board partners it has already communicated with, graphics card warranties should remain intact even if damage occurs on the PCIe finger.
Asus China didn't provide a timeline for the revised Q-Release Slim mechanism. It's safe to assume that the update will be available for the list of affected motherboards.
Asus previously responded to the Q-Release Slim issue, claiming that its Q-Release Slim connector is not responsible for damaged graphics cards, according to internal testing and evaluation it conducted.
