Sandybridge design flaw recalls beginning!!

Drum2 · 31 Jan 2011 at 18:57

Westyfield2 said:
That's a PR-mans arse-covering if ever I saw one!

Well they also said: "Intel expects that over 3 years of use it would see a failure rate of approximately 5 - 15% depending on usage model."

Westyfield2 · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:00

Drum2 said:
Well they also said: "Intel expects that over 3 years of use it would see a failure rate of approximately 5 - 15% depending on usage model."

Yeah just saw that.

Intel estimates that something like 5% of systems could develop problems over a three-year life span, assuming typical laptop usage patterns. Beyond that time window, the failure rate might rise further. For systems with heavier usage patterns, the failure rate during that initial three-year window could be as high as roughly 15%. That's obviously high enough to warrant the drastic action Intel is taking.

The first evidence of the problem cropped up during extended testing by PC makers, after the chipsets had passed the initial validation stages within Intel and within the OEMs. Intel says it learned of the problem last week; understanding and characterizing the problem then took a few days. That analysis concluded last night, and the company put shipments of its chipsets on hold this morning. From what we can gather, Intel partners were only very recently notified of the problem, too.

If it's going to be late Feb before there's motherboards with the new silicon out there, I wonder if the price of the CPUs will massively drop as people that haven't already bought will be waiting for the new motherboards...

ajf · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:03

Gibbo said:
Intel have told us not to do so. Also our RMA rates suggest no issues as do our long term testing stations.

Hence when we know more we shall give further update.

Also if we removed Sandybridge from our website, we'd be giving our competitors one huge helping hand in their sales.

When we know more, we shall pass it on but that will be 24hrs or more away................

In all fairness, surely Intel are in a better position to judge the scale of the issue than rmas for just a couple months?

One competitor by the way has put a warning to customers about the issue so they are at least aware and have suspended shipping.

chippy08 · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:04

So how can we test for this deffect on our motherboards ?

Danny091 · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:04

******* are in discussion with Intel as to the finer details of the issue, and at present there is no need for customers to return products, and this will continue to be the case until such time as Intel advise on any necessary course of action.

In light of these events, ******* have decided to temporarily suspend all shipment of Sandy Bridge architecture until further notice.

From a competitor.

Phlebas · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:07

.:SAmSuNG:. said:
So will they let people keep buying effected boards? If they don't wont they have to cover lost profits of sellers?

Why? Sellers have no "rights" to profits. They would have a contractual right to reclaim lost costs as a result of any tangible defect (eg RMA costs) but not lost profits.

THE_EGG · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:09

Danny091 said:
From a competitor.

******* are in discussion with Intel as to the finer details of the issue, and at present there is no need for customers to return products, and this will continue to be the case until such time as Intel advise on any necessary course of action.

In light of these events, ******* have decided to temporarily suspend all shipment of Sandy Bridge architecture until further notice.

A wise move that makes sound fiinancial sense at the moment - people will still be purchasing hardware - and it's only Sandy Bridge CPU's and 1155 motherboards that are affected. Think of the outlay involved in the cost of admin for RMA's - it's best to just remove the affected items from stock. What I like and admire about ****'s approach is that it shows the concern some retailers have for not wanting to continue selling the general public sub-standard goods unlike some retailers I could mention. Bravo to **** whoever they may be

hiresh_j · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:09

Wow, I was meant to be ordering on tuesday as well. First hitachi capital rejected me for finance for a 2500k build, now this?

Some greater powers at work here that are preventing me from buying!!!

BloodyL · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:10

chippy08 said:
So how can we test for this deffect on our motherboards ?

You'll need an artificial test chamber and an electron microscope along with various other pieces of high tech.

Seriously, stop worrying about it.

maj · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:14

So for those like me that have our Sandybridge items but haven't installed them yet, is it worth while keeping them or not? Apologies if this has been answered previously somewhere in here.

zAndy1 · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:15

Seeing as this doesn't affect Sata Ports 0 or 1 (the 6GB ones) and they're the only ones I'm using anyway for my internal HDD and blu-ray drive then I can use mine safe in the knowledge I aren't affected by this. Load of fuss about nothing, how many people use more than 2 Sata ports anyway, bet not that many, just use the 2 unaffected ports and it's a non-issue.

.:SAmSuNG:. · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:16

So your not going to return yours? Enjoy trying to sell it when you upgrade.

Nocky24 · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:21

.:SAmSuNG:. said:
So your not going to return yours? Enjoy trying to sell it when you upgrade.

As I said earlier, for someone who sells hardware quite regularly (like me) this bad press will affect resale value big time, so I'll be changing. It's a non-issue at the moment though.

Westyfield2 · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:25

Dig at Apple

Nocky24 said:
It's a non-issue

To be fair to Intel, at least they haven't come out saying it's non-issue and giving bumpers for people's motherboards!...

zAndy1 · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:27

.:SAmSuNG:. said:
So your not going to return yours? Enjoy trying to sell it when you upgrade.

I'm not saying I'm not going to return it, what I'm saying is for 90% of users it's probably a non-issue anyway. It's a lot of hassle swapping the motherboard, basically means stripping the whole machine down and starting from scratch and I might take the view that for the hassle it causes and the fact it's not going to affect me anyway I might just live with it. By the time I upgrade again the motherboard will be worth next to nothing anyway, probably £40 or something, if I haven't had it replaced I might sell it for £20, big deal I've lost £20 over the 3 odd years I've had it, certainly not going to lose any sleep over that.

Nocky24 · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:30

Westyfield2 said:
To be fair to Intel, at least they haven't come out saying it's non-issue and giving bumpers for people's motherboards!...

LOL! True, I've been there, done that. Managed to nab 3 free bumpers off em, but that's another story

Fair play to Intel for standing up to the problem.

By the way, what will happen to those people who have oem copies of win7 assigned to these faulty boards?

chaparral · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:33

zAndy1 said:
It's a lot of hassle swapping the motherboard, basically means stripping the whole machine down and starting from scratch

Changing motherboards can also cause problems for people with OEM windows..

zAndy1 · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:35

chaparral said:
Changing motherboards can also cause problems for people with OEM windows..

Not if you swap it for the same board surely?

Nocky24 · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:36

Nocky24 said:
By the way, what will happen to those people who have oem copies of win7 assigned to these faulty boards?

chaparral said:
Changing motherboards can also cause problems for people with OEM windows..

Just seen above post,

If it's the same board will it affect this?

muggs · 31 Jan 2011 at 19:38

Gibbo said:
Intel have told us not to do so. Also our RMA rates suggest no issues as do our long term testing stations.

so if they dont do a recall but admit there is a fault(like they have), can the customer get a swap or refund just on the fact that the board has a fault, even tho it may not be showing it yet?