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Just after news leaking out (unconfirmed by NVIDIA) that all G84 and G86-based GPUs from NVIDIA were fundamentally flawed, it looks like the news continues to get worse as apparently all G92s and G92b-based cards (8800 series, 9600 series, etc.) are suffering the same fate.
The realization that there was an epic problem across the board started months back when folks with Apple MacBook were seeing large-scale failures across the board, and then calls from the HP and Dell camps echoed “Me too!” until it was realized the problem with the NVIDIA graphics cards was epidemic.
The news continues to get worse as the Inquirer reports the failure reports are continuing on up the food chain and unfortunately the marketplace is a mix of old-bad-designed cards and newer repaired ones, with no way to know what you will be getting.
With class-action lawsuits expecting to follow this realization at some point, I have to imagine that if you just hold out for another few months (or buy an ATI card) you should be safe.
Update #1: Uber_Tiny has posted a clarification that things might not be as bad as originally reported by INQ, check out his reply below.
Thanks The Inquirer!
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September 4th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
There was no news leaked out by any one about any failure of the G92b-based cards (8800 series, 9600 series, etc.). This was an outlandish BS remark made by Charles from the INQ. This is not the first time that he has done this and it saddens me that people are actually following and taking his words for truth. He is not a part of the media in which he thinks he is. His words can not be trusted in any shape or form. Below is information you may want to read on before posting outlandish lies without making sure you double check the probability of the truth behind it.
“We know that there are some failures that are associated with our chips. We know that its related to specific combinations of the chip, the deisgn of the notebook…depending on the design of the thermal solution…and all of the software that goes on top of it…sometimes it will fail. Most of the notebooks are fine…certain notebooks have this problem.”
Also:
Myth 1 – NVIDIA has denied responsibility for the failures and is blaming suppliers and partners.
In our announcements accept responsibility for the failures. We DO call out the material failure but we also acknowledge that our suppliers and notebook designs because this is true and we need to disclose this in our official statements to the SEC. We would not go on record with the SEC making such bold claims if they weren’t true. See our Form 8-K statement below.
Myth 2 – There is an “official story” that the problems were limited a batch of a few bad parts for HP.
We have never issued a stated this. See our public statements below.
Where is source for that?
Myth 3 – NVIDIA is forcing a fix on notebook makers
The idea that a supplier like NVIDIA can dictate a fix to the world’s largest PC makers is preposterous.
The truth isthe notebook makers determining their own course of action and we are supporting them.
Where is source for that?
Myth 4 – NVIDIA is trying to cuts our financial liability.
We put aside $200M to help partners solve this problem for consumers. As far as we know NVIDIA is the first and only chip maker to help fund the cost for repairs.
Myth 5 – This affects desktop chips, G92, G94, etc.
We have only seen this problem on notebooks. We just reiterated this during an official financial call. Once again we would not say this if it wasn’t true. Note we have not disclosed the specific GPUs but we have stated this impact previous generation GPUs and that current gen GPUs are not in production.
Fact
Charlie has an obvious bias against NVIDIA and he has no sources to back up his claims. Out of all of the hundreds upon hundreds of notebooks models designed with NVIDIA chips in the last few years, only a small number of these have experienced the problem. Within this small number of models, only a small percentage actually experiences the chip failure. It is highly unlike a notebook user will experience the problem. And we have never seen this problem on desktop.
Other Useful Information
“Separately, NVIDIA plans to take a one-time charge from $150 million to $200 million against cost of revenue for the second quarter to cover anticipated warranty, repair, return, replacement and other costs and expenses, arising from a weak die/packaging material set in certain versions of its previous generation GPU and MCP products used in notebook systems. Certain notebook configurations with GPUs and MCPs manufactured with a certain die/packaging material set are failing in the field at higher than normal rates. To date, abnormal failure rates with systems other than certain notebook systems have not been seen. NVIDIA has initiated discussions with its supply chain regarding this material set issue and the Company will also seek to access insurance coverage for this matter. “
You can read more about this situation here > http://www.geforce3d.net/forums2/showthread.php?t=4145
September 4th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Uber,
Damn interesting followup, we surely appreciate you taking the time to post a clarification like this for readers that are running into this story for the first time.
I’ve amended the original story to link to your post for further clarification for users.
September 4th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Not a problem MR.Editor and thank you for the link in your blog. Just trying to get the correct information out.
November 6th, 2008 at 2:09 am
My question is everyone knows these cards are bad why isn’t nvidia recalling these and replaceing the whole line haveing a bios update to speed up the fans on laptops and kill battery life don’t sound like a fair solution.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:16 am
darkheart,
Cost. Unless there is a class-action lawsuit I sincerely doubt NVIDIA and the distributors selling their chips (Dell, Apple, etc.) would even humor the idea of doing such a thing.
NVIDIA already threw 2.2 billion of their own money into the “repair pot” to help lessen the burden of repairs for 3rd party providers, but no word yet on any one of them rolling out replacement programs.
November 6th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Yhea but being a good company and just ethicly they should they know the chips are bad I have a hp with the bad chip they repaired it 2 times now the first time I got the black screen the second time the wifi stopped working. It’s not right as a consumer that when it is repaired they replace the bad chip with another bad chip I don’t care about their cost if they had put out a quality product they wouldn’t have this problem. My beef is after the laptop warrenty expires we are stuck with laptops with a greatly reduced lifespan from a chip design flaw. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lawsuit wasn’t in the works their own stockholders a sueing them. As for the distributers they can pass the cost to nvidia it is their chip thats bad dell hp ect are just as much victoms as the end users are
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:15 pm
-darkheart “Yhea but being a good company and just ethicly they should they know the chips are bad I have a hp with the bad chip they repaired it 2 times now the first time I got the black screen the second time the wifi stopped working.”
nvidia does not make wifi chip unless i am mistaken.