Nvidia Reports Large Quantities of Defective Notebook Chips

[dietcokefiend]

I highly doubt that. I never saw more than 70C on my Vostro 1500 with its 8600 GT, even after long periods of gaming.

And I think this whole ordeal explains a) why the 8400M G in my Asus died and got replaced last month, and b) why its still running at 80C or thereabouts even when not gaming.

What I dont get is for the most part each notebook runs with their own special thermal profile. Some notebooks enjoy running a fan on low at all times, others spin up at any hint of warmth, while others need to light a fire on your crotch before it will decide to vent the heat.

NVIDIA releases thermal guidelines to notebook manufacturers on best temperatures for the chips to operate in, and the notebook maker builds a cooling system that can adequately cool the CPU and GPU. If your GPU is pushing 120C, you have some massive problems. Either the fan isnt turning on (not NVIDIAs problem), too small heatsink (not NVIDIAs problem), or improper thermal paste/pad application (again not NVIDIAs problem).

If the defect is in fact a chip problem like it is always under load and putting off excess heat I could understand the situation. But most of these notebooks are not running under constant load (you would notice horrible battery life).

For the most part it sounds like NVIDIA's GPU lineup cant handle the heat under higher loads (maybe 100C instead of 120-150C) and failing sooner.

[Sharkonwheels]

First Montevina is delayed, giving Puma an advantage, then this happens.

I sense the market shifting very soon. Should be interesting.

I dunno - it's not easy to stop a freight train.
C2D is far and away leaps and bounds better than AMD - and I'm an AMD 'fanboy' - I still have a couple Athlon XP's around the house!

But, comparing, for example, my work Latitude D630(T9300/4GB/160GBx7200RPM/Nvidia 128MB Quadro NVS 135M) against even the BEST AMD has to offer, is really no contest.

Sad, too, because I've always rooted for AMD - I'm the only sucker in my whole company with an AMD-based server (HP Proliant DL145), even though we ALMOST bought some Sun Micro 8-way Opteron boxes for VMWare Infrastructure.

Ended up going Xeon with VT

Maybe this is their chance - I hope so.
The era where the AMD64 chips ruled was great - innovation was happening, speed was increasing by leaps and bounds, stuff was good. But what RELATIVELY AFFORDABLE discrete gfx does AMD have for notebooks? There's not much there. Do they even have something competitive with the 8600M GT?? At a reasonable price, that can be put in a sub-$1000 notebook?

I want :
14.1" 1680x1050 LED backlit
T9300 equivalent
4Gb RAM
160GB 7200 RPM drive
DVD-Super with at least Blu-Ray Read ability (for HD for above screen)
Discrete Graphics at least equivalent to NVidia GeForce GO 8600M GT+256Mb DDR3

and I want it for $899, so by the time you factor in tax, it's still under $1000

I don't need any stupid LED lights on the backside of the LCD, no whacky Logitech GameLCD, I don't need any computer-controlled lighting, it doesn't need to have a cigarette lighter - I want a freaking BASIC GAMING LAPTOP.
And I don't want to have to get a 2nd mortgage to afford it! Keep the cutsie paint jobs, the cutsie slipcases - give me function, not flim-flam!


T

[rbg08]

I just had to have my whole system board replaced on my M1330 last month. I was having weird video problems along with blue screens and the system not booting at all. Dell's diagnostic utility couldn't locate the problem, but I suspected the Nvidia 8400M GS was the issue.

Good thing I got a 3 year warranty on my Dell.

[Jstn7477]

I have to have the motherboard replaced on my X205. The video cards (8600s in SLi) have already been replaced but still overheat after ~2 minutes. I don't really like NVIDIA anymore after their GTX 280 pricing fiasco, my laptop dying twice, my 7800GS dying after less than a year, and the fact that I have mostly used AMD/ATI for the last 6 years, with no dead parts. Right now I am typing on an Athlon XP 2.2GHz with 2GB ram and an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. It still runs flawlessly, and can run TF2 and any HL2 game at very high settings. I just hope that AMD grabs a lot of market share and keeps the competition going.

-J.B.

[Sharkonwheels]

The articles mentioning this, that I have read, mention Nvidia giving money/discounts/write-offs to OEM's...

Have any consumers received anything, considering they are DIRECTLY affected by the defective chips?
Guess it's moot, because most of the affected sysems shoud still be under warranty...


T

[dietcokefiend]

The articles mentioning this, that I have read, mention Nvidia giving money/discounts/write-offs to OEM's...

Have any consumers received anything, considering they are DIRECTLY affected by the defective chips?
Guess it's moot, because most of the affected sysems shoud still be under warranty...


T

Well the consumer should hopefully be getting the "money" in terms of warranty coverage. The manufacturer (Dell, HP, etc) kinda got screwed when this happened... well at least the place that handles warranties.

[player_13]

If it involves the 8400GS in my XPS 1330, then it makes sense why it's running at high temps (over 100 degrees centigrade) while playing games like WC3 at max settings.

Hmm, it might.. I'm having same heating problems with my dv2700t. Overheating and shutting down while playing games. Cpu idles at ~60C instead of ~40C due to them sharing same heatsink; and GPU idling at 70C is never good and topping out at 100C++.

[SideSwipe]

yeah my go7600 idles at 70C too while using a notebook cooler. havent used it to play games in a long time though

[lunateck]

Foul play conspiracy by Nvidia? Jack up your performance by lowering the lifespan? Hmm....

[Fredly]

I've suspected that the problem in my dv2500t was due to the 8400M GS. I sometimes get crashes and blue screens, and interestingly enough, something will only go wrong if I'm doing something that is video-associated. No video, the computer seems to work okay, though it can still get hotter than I would like. I've been looking for driver updates for months, but to no avail. It's a pain.