NVIDIA Graphics card defect?!

I purchased a Dell XPS M1530 laptop with the 8600M graphics card on July 30th. I found out about the NVIDIA defective graphics cards just yesterday. Engadget Article! Will I undoubtedly have a defective graphics card? What should I do about it? Is there anything I can do about it? Is this defect even true? I've tried calling into Dell support, but no one there has even heard of the problem. My sales representative hasn't heard of it either? Any ideas or opinions?

 

yeap,there is a such thing.the chance of you is about 20% cos it about old cards as i know

 

hi chhotu, i guess you from india.
yea you may have got the defective one, if you live in india, i d suggest you to return your laptop back to dell, so they gonna deduct the shipping charges if you return with in the notice period of 30 days from the invoice date n ask for full refund.

never go for replacement/refurb

today i made up ma mind in returning the xps, its just a peace of mind. now or later the gpu will fail, but returning within notice period is better idea rather than stickin around for it.

the return policy here in india is not good compared to US or other countries, as we need to pay em the shipping charges in case of return for claimin the refund.

 

Im trying to read your post, but i have no idea what you are trying to say



Yo OP refer to this

 

Well, no one knows if we "undoubtedly" have a defective graphics card.

Considering you got your system on July 30, there is a possibility you have got a good one and not the faulty card, because this issue with the graphic card has been around for a long time and I don't think Dell is going to keep shipping out PC's with faulty components...

Or may be yes, you might have one. We all might have one... no one knows for sure because its not be clearly said which batch, what time period was the faulty cards shipped out. They did release a BIOS update and as far as I know, there have been no conclusive reports of systems failing because of this faulty component.

Even here there are many who have M1530 bought recently, in the last 6 months, and who have ordered new systems now...

So... one way is to test out your system.. check the temperatures and see how it goes.. update the drivers if necessary... and most of all, Dont Panic For all thats being said and done, you might even have a proper machine with no faulty components as such. You dont know unless you test your machine and see it performing.

 

sorry,i m little tired today..i sat that,yeah,some of card are defective,but as i know,defective cards were made in Q1-Q2 (winter-spring)so the chance of him having one is ~20%

 

i ordered mine mid-june, so hopefully i didnt get a defective chip...i know my temps seems pretty high....gpu is around 55 idle and reaches 80 while gaming.

 

Those are normal temps Chr1sB. Your alright.

 

What are you basing this on? I've never seen anything from Nvidia or Dell specifying that any changes were ever made to the design or construction of the 8xxx line of chips. In fact, the vague statements from Nvidia suggest that the entire run is affected. Where have you seen anything saying otherwise?

 

I find the lack of information disturbing. If there are people who say the whole line is affected, its fine that there are people like Xirurg to say what he said without any more info otherwise.

 

If the problem with the 8600m GT is that it can't handle the fluctuations in temperatures and the heat cycle, could you use a laptop cooler while playing games and then shut it off once you're done playing? Wouldn't that lower the range of temperature?

 

Yes, it would prolong the card thats for sure. A cooler is most definitely helpful.

 

I dunno. It's one thing to say that it's your opinion that the entire run is affected (based on public statements by Nvidia) but it's quite another to say that "but as i know,defective cards were made in Q1-Q2 (winter-spring)so the chance of him having one is ~20%" (sic). That's a statement suggesting fact, not merely opinion. Where is he getting this information from?

I've stated my opinon that I think the entire run is affected, and I base my opinion on what Nvidia and Dell have NOT said...and what they've never said is "the current shipping 8xxx chips have been re-designed and do not have the defect that plagued previous 8xxx chips." I mean, if that was the case, why wouldn't they say it?

But if someone is going to make the statement that the defective chips were confined to Q1 and Q2, I'd like to know where he's getting this information.

 

How much do they usually cost? You know of any good ones?

I think it might also be a good idea to not shut your laptop off right after playing games on it. That way the temperature won't plunge when it's at its peak.

 

well,i said what i heard sometime ago,and thats why i said "as i know" ...

 

The issue isn't shutting it off or not. The expansion caused by the high temperatures is what generates the fluctuation of temperatures. Slowing the cooling process will still generate damage as it isn't speed of fluctuation but range. There really is nothing we can do besides keep the laptop cooler (hence the cooler may help a little). That is why Dell updated our bios to run the fan longer. :\

 

Who's that in your avatar?

 

I do not disclose for privacy reasons.

 

Actually, by turning your laptop on and off, you will be going through more and more heat cycles which is actually part of the problem with the NVIDIA cards. After so many heat cycles, the cards are losing there conformation, if you will. A laptop cooler, as you also mentioned, would definitely help from what I understand.

 

uh oh!!!! Back to topic guys! No invading privacy business in a technical thread

so yeah, For all newbies or all people ordering laptops now with nVidia 8xxx cards - NO ONE knows for sure what / where / when are / were the affected cards. The main parties themself have not come out clear in their reports. Nothing concrete has been except that Yes, nVidia cards were affected due to faulty die/packaging material.

So, at this crucial moment, when we all are like investing so much money into a laptop, the decision / judgement if your own people, at least to an extent. There are speculations / rumours / analysis abound currently on the web people. So take care

Everyone of us who got these laptops recently may / may not have one of those faulty ones its difficult to know unless either the manufacturer or nVidia come out with when and where did this whole mess happen Cheers.

 

also remember as much as we hate it- Nvidia isn't going to release a statement without passing through all their own red-tape and making sure they don't disclose MORE then they need to. So I am sure we will see a comment sooner or later and hopefully a more sound fix. But lets just keep our fingers crossed they are working on it as we speak investigation wise internally.

 

I have a feeling they are going to try to use the "lets keep silent and hope everything just goes away since we got the 9xxx series"

Though I do hope that people still continue to talk about it so Nvidia will do more than set aside a mere possibly not enough sum of 200 mil.

 

If they have made changes, fixes or improvements to the chip, the revision/stepping numbers would have changed straight away.

And since we all have A2, hola!