More Defective NVIDIA Graphics Chipsets

by Kevin O'Brien

Looks like the NVIDIA 8400M and 8600M graphics chipsets are not alone with their abnormal failure rates; the Inquirer has just released that the defects span even the newer G92 and G94 chipsets. This means machines that offer the 8800M graphics chipset (HP HDX, Alienware M15x, and most every high-end gaming notebook) as well as that new Lenovo W700 are possibly running soon-to-be defective hardware.

So what does this mean for you and your notebook? Too early to tell right now, might only be certain batches or it could be the entire bunch. Expect to see more BIOS updates released to increase cooling fan cycles, and more ATI graphics options from notebook manufacturers.

We are already seeing a spike in high-end ATI options on almost all new Montevina notebooks, with fewer NVIDIA options day by day. Hopefully NVIDIA gets their act in gear ASAP and fixes this widespread problem which seems to affect every almost graphics card made right now.

Related Links:

Dell offers BIOS updates to affected notebook owners

Nvidia Reports Large Quantities of Defective Notebook Chips

 

Glad I ordered an HP dv5z with Radeon 3450 instead of the dv4t with the 9200. What a mess.

 

This news keeps getting better and better...great engineering, nVidia!

Nice picture Kevin!

I recently predicted in the private mod forum that we'd soon see a lineup of notebooks that are almost entirely ATI and Intel equipped...I wonder...

 

HOLY AL"!HHE"!)(H"HE"!H)"!""!OH#IF is all that I can say. 0.0 I am speechless

 

Wow... this is very very bad. For us. I couldn't care less abt Nvidia anymore after this episode.

Apparently, my 9700m GT is the only G96 (and therefore hopefully spared) of the 9m series. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_9_Series

 

I wouldn't trust even that. nVidia's original statements said the 8800 and the 9 series were all okay...and here we are, where the evidence leads us to believe nVidia is basically lying.

You know what...I have an 8800 in my desktop...INQ says some desktop chips are failing too. Great, just what I need.

 

got an nvidia in my desktop..and lappy..time to swtich to ATI!

 

I don't think the Quadro series are going to be affected. I mean you pay 2-3x the price of the GeForce equivilent to get the gurantee that they are rock solid. I would suspect they use a little higher end silicon on those.

 

hmmm i thought I would be safe, I guess not, my temps are very good tho, idle between 45-50, max at 60.

 

Come on NVIDIA......

 

nVidia is really taking a beating. I would really like to see more notebooks with ATI GPUs.

 

i wonder... will ATI has the same problem too? their directx10 card generally consume more power than nvidia. what different bonding process/material is there?

i wonder if ATI is not in the spotlight coz they dont sell as much gpu, and not as popular as nvidia currently.

 

Great job Nvidia.

 

Doubtful that the HDX or Gateway would have a problem. Idle is in the high 40's deg C. Gaming shouldn't break 70 deg C. That is without overclocking.

HP already released a BIOS update some months ago that sets the GPU fan to always run. So I think they were worried back then.

 

And I always wondered why my previous Compaq V3000 with Geforce 6150 graphics ran so hot when playing even 2D games.

It fried back in Februrary and I send it to HP late July for a free repair, should get it back later this month. But will they actually fix the problem and make sure it won't overheat again?

 

I don't know but I have heard that ATI is actually more effecient... maybe not I don't know. but I am guessing they use better silicon than nVidia... who probably thought 'we are faster, they will buy from us no matter what, so lets cheap out and increase our margins' and then BOOM Ati is competive and Nvidia chips are failiing, and Nvidia starts loosing market share.

 

If it was as widespread as they make it appear, Where are all the failures? I they are just drumming up some pub.

 

you gotta be freaking kidding me, that is nearly "ALL" laptops affected. 8400, low end, 8600 mid range, now event the 8800 high end. And it seems Nvidia is reluctant to tell how bad this whole thing is. refusing to talk and refusing to actively solve the problem can really do something to their customer base

 

btw, went with ATi in my desktop GPU just in case all Nvidia desktop GPUs starts to fail

 

>.> This seems kind of odd, because, I've sold several laptops over the last few months with 8800m cards and not a single person has had any problems at all. Including myself. We haven't seen people with overheating problems like the g84 and g86 people on the forums, except for maybe the poor souls that own a m15x.

 

They are using the same chip. Same. Exact. Chip.

What you are paying for, sir, are the drivers and all the quality assurance and compatibility testing for industrial applications.

It is the cycling between the two that reportedly is causing the problem. Extremely high temps are also a cause of failure. So either way you're screwed.

 

I heard that the Inquirer has a beef with Nvidia. The proof lies with individuals who have the chips already, except those with the m15x, who have had their gpus failing or lack of that.

I'd take that report from the Inquirer with a grain of salt. Unless someone else reports it from their own research. This can easily be seen as bias.

 

This whole thing is rather sad for the gaming community in general..so let us not be pricks and sing praises for ati..how can anyone commend ati..they have had such lacklustre products over the last couple of years..I say this even though i have had 2 GPU failure's (my GeForce Go7800 on the E1705) over the last couple of months and currently use a M1530 with the 8600GT cause all it matters for me is performance and ati still doesnt have any performance notebook chips yet..let us see if ati makes any and if they do if they last an entiere year then its a different story..

 

Since the thermal cycling is the failure mechanism then it's those computers which have the biggest thermal range which have the biggest risk. I get the impression that the thin-and-light notebooks (and therefore cooling systems pushing the design limits) with powerful GPUs have above-average incidence of failure. Conversely, a generous cooling system should reduce the risk of failure.

The disturbing part of this sorry tale is the absence of hard facts from nVidia.

John

 

i dont trust both the inquirer and nvidia. but the inq articles they wrote on nvidia chip failing do make sense (with a grain of salts of course).

 

All you need to do is read the forums...I've seen quite a few threads about GPU issues.

At least three moderators on this forum also have issues with their computers right now...and are possibly related to GPU failures. Don't know for sure, but troubleshooting is ongoing.

 

Enquirer is pushing the story here so hopefully Nvidia pushes back with the correct information. Nvidia has kept everyone in the dark over their mistake.

I dont think its as big as the enquirer says it is, but its not as small either. $200 M is alot of money for mass produced items.

They forgot to involve the go 7xxx series models. They had a high failure rate too, and i thought it was a small minority till mine died 6 months later

 

Come to think of it...nVidia did authorize a $200 M one time charge for this. They know there is a problem.

 

Well, my Inspiron from '03 had a hot Radeon9000 GPU & turned out okay. Hopefully my XPS does the same...so far my temps are great - rarely above 65C while gaming.

 

It is not the silicon that is problematic, it is the packaging material, the plastic and pins and the stuff after the silicon being readied.

 

If nvidia isn't making a statement soon it is prob true, this is NOT good PR for them and if it is not true they will prob go out and make sure everyone knows that this is false news...

 

It probably is true...look what happened to their stock about the same time the first $200M announcement was made...



The shareholders, I imagine, are furious and want an explanation. nVidia does not want to catch the wrath of the hands that feed them and are staying quiet to avoid lawsuits.

 

Personally, with the ease and popularity of overclocking, especially with so many desktop graphics cards coming factory overclocked, I wouldn't be surprised if the increase in failures isn't correlated to the overclocking trend going mainstream.

 

Here's my proof: I bought my X205-SLi4 with 2 8600GT cards in February 2008. The laptop died (video cards physically shorted out, causing the laptop to have no power) near the end of May 2008, so I sent it to the Repair Depot where they replaced the video cards. I got the notebook back a week later, and it seemingly ran ok until I started gaming on it and it died again two weeks later. So, I send it back to the Repair Depot where they replace the video cards and the motherboard. Now, I am running on my THIRD pair of G84 GPUs, hoping that this laptop lasts until I am able to afford a new one, since I plunked down $2400 on what I thought would be an awesome laptop.

-J.B.

 

One should note that Charlie Demerjian wrote that article, and he's full of **** to be honest.

Also, in the second quarter this year alone nvidia sold 30M GPU:s. So how many GPU:s can the $200M cover if they sell 30M per quarter?

 

so is 9xxx series affected too?

 

I won't believe this untill nVidia said it themselves. nVidia has a very long history of good reputation, I am sure they will make it right even if their products are defective...

 

I have an Nvidia 9600M GT - is that defective too??

 

hm,i guess then next macbooks will have ATI video cars!

 

That's a long time for a repair - they took all of five days from call to return for mine. Doubtful on the "fix" - they'll give you a fresh motherboard and install the new BIOS that ramps up the fan cycle, which will keep it alive longer, but I'd suggest getting rid of it.

That said, I have an NVIDIA card in my desktop - with a lifetime warranty.

 

Glad I own a G80 8800GTX still going very very strong and no worries that it will fail due to bad engineering I bought it when they first came out. Though I could worry about my 8800m GTX SLI though

 

Hmm, I don't really find theinquirer.net to be a good source of information but it doesn't really surprise me to here that more cards are affected because I've heard so many complaints and worries on forums about GPU temps.

 

Glad you are safe mon i just hope every buyer has got a good card so far..

 

All this continued bad press about nvidia makes me want to jump on the ATI bandwagon. I personally had a 7800 burn out on my e1705 THE VERY SAME DAY that the first nvidia news leaked about widespread product failure. Why cant ATI implement anything greater than their HD 3650 in more laptop platforms??? Hello??? There is a market for your product!!! Clearly people want an alternative to the nvidia monopoly now... atleast I do. Does anybody know ANYTHING about platforms that have the 3850 or are planning to use it? I need a laptop now, and I am worried about buying anything from nvidia in anticipation of future failure, and am also worried about buying anything from ATI for performance issues. This sucks.

 

Hmm I havn't had any problems with my card. 8800m GTS running right now @ 49c, and I am outside where it is close to 85f

 

anyone know if the 9800 GTS is affected?

 

I think people start to become a little paranoid ....soon we will find out that my GeForce MX440 that I had it 5 years ago was deffective also and that's why it died.
If all the nvidia cards were defective, I think the overclockers would found out first ... but no complain about fried GPUs

 

This thread isn't about g84-86 gpu's and neither are the laptops I sold. They all where 8800m gpu's read......

 

Actually I want another source. Inquirer is not reliable in my honest opinion.

 

and endgadget quoting the inquirer doesn't count either.....