Bought T61p off eBay-is the GPU issue exagerated?

I have gone and went to buy a used T61p on eBay, winning bid by me was 550 Canadian which is a very good price. It has great specs, appears to me it's one of the higher end configured models. However after reading a story on this forum about a guy's GPU (suspected) to be the culprit in his T61p not turning on anymore, i am really concerned about whether i just wasted 550 bucks on a timebomb. I want to ask, is every single G84 based core destined to fail within the next 2 years? Is this problem exagerated simply because victims of this problem just huddle together so it makes it seem like a big problem? What is the exact problem with the G84 based core's that is making them fail? Is it a matter of cooling?

 

No, not every GPU will fail.

 

If I remember correctly from what I've read before, the problem is with the GPU unable to shrink properly after being heated up and cooled down.
Not every T61(p) is going to die, but the odds that that happen is high. Personally, I wouldn't take my chance, because if it fails in the near future, I'll have to buy another laptop to replace it.
If you buy a laptop that's still in the warranty period, however, then that's a different story. Just extend the warranty to 4 year or something if you're worry

 

But then, at a certain point, it starts making much more sense to spend a bit more and just get a T500

 

I don't think you can get a T500 for 550 CAD, plus a warranty extension can be had as little as 100 CAD
But yeah, my recommendation is always with getting a T400 or a T500.

 

I think you have to put into perspective that GPUs have been one of the more common components that fails in a laptop even before the Nvidia issue came along. So its not particularly a surprise to hear about a GPU failing and its not always due to the weakness of the material.

You also have to realise that people would only post on a forum usually due to a problem/issue. No one is going to make a thread about how good their GPU is running! Rather than seeing it as a majority problem, its more in the minority that's affected.

You shouldn't worry over this and I m pretty sure you ll enjoy using your T61p!

 

The T61p i am buying was professionally tested and no problems reported so i am confident in that if it has lasted this long and tested out to be in perfect working order then it instills a bit of reassurance in me, only thing now is that i am now debating whether to run GTA 4 on it knowing that it is a heat transfer issue...

 

Just use TPFanControl program to manually set the fan to 4800~rpm when gaming and check the temperatures regularly via GPU-Z, EVGA Precision or similar program and you should be set. Temperatures up to 80°C are ok, anything above 85°C I'd consider applying new thermal grease and a laptop cooler might come in handy too.

 

yes, but to be more specific, the packaging of the chip doesn't re size itself correctly after heating up and cooling off

my overclocked t61 with ocz freeze and tpfancontrol installed still works great under heavy gaming. this is good advice to anybody outside of warranty with an nvidia gpu. consider new thermal grease and checking/controlling temps with tpfancontrol

 

Just to chime in an be the third to recommend TPFanControl... single best utility I've installed ! ... I've really learned a lot from monitoring CPU temps ... obviously hotter summer days equal warmed CPU temps.

Only knock I have is that the tooltip / bubble keeps launching on startup... not sure how to disable that. Very minor knock

 

yes, heavily overclocked T61 here as well, by 60% .. yey, for 6 months +

TPFanControl is a great program, how else would I be able to play all new games on the lappy .. heheheeh

but next to that, run RMClock - this will take additional 10 degC off the CPU, which happens to sit on the same heatsink as the GPU, so good for both

I max out at 72 deg C, even after 4 hours of Unreal Tournament 3

P.S. Now it only needs a good SSD