Batch of dud NVIDIA chips on the way :(

bowen · 2 Sep 2008 at 17:14

As many of you probably know, there are some serious problems on the way with the nVidia 55nm and 65nm chips, that is nearly all of the most recent ones. It's a thermal cycling problem, causing a shear between the solder "bumps" and the substrate (PCB), similar to the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death trouble. As it is a thermal cycling issue, it mostly affects laptops, particularly laptops that are going in/out of standby very often.

Came across a really interesting (and technically rich) three part article on my favourite tech tabloid:
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/09/01/why-nvidia-chips-defective
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/09/01/nvidia-should-defective-chips
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/09/01/nv-should
These basically explain everything..

Anyway.. I'm about to recieve a new laptop (from OcUK) with one of the dodgy chips (they are all defective, it's just a case of wether or not they are defective enough to fail..)
Should I underclock the GPU, avoid standby, and hope that I don't see the problems, or let it fail and get a replacement when the chaos ensues?
The case/motherboard is made by Clevo, and as far as I know, they have modular graphics cards. So it should be easy enough to replace with them..

FrostedNipple · 2 Sep 2008 at 17:16

bowen said:
when the **** hits the fan?

change that before you can't reply anymore

bowen · 2 Sep 2008 at 17:28

FrostedNipple said:
change that before you can't reply anymore

Sorry guv. Wasn't aware that this was naughty here.

Caged · 2 Sep 2008 at 18:10

Use it normally and when it fails get it replaced. If this issue is as big as it's being made out to be then everyone will be extending warranties on their products.

matt1 · 2 Sep 2008 at 19:16

Caged said:
Use it normally and when it fails get it replaced. If this issue is as big as it's being made out to be then everyone will be extending warranties on their products.

I'd like to extend my warranty on the ocuk laptops to 3-4 years, but it's just not an option. Go on ocuk

riddlermarc · 2 Sep 2008 at 19:24

The 8600M GT in my Vostro 1700 is running just fine (right now) and I want to use it without worry of it coughing and dying - if you don't use it and it dies you've just wasted X amount of money haven't you. They should be easy enough to replace and in 6-7 months time if/when it blows it will be time for an upgrade anyway

uv · 2 Sep 2008 at 23:37

The inquirer in talking **** about nvidia shocker!