NVIDIA’s Answer To Defective GPUs: Buy New Ones

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VR-Zone claims to be in possession of a leaked NVIDIA memo that offers the company’s OEM partners a solution for the problematic GeForce 8M series GPUs. The solution? Buy their new GPUs.

NVIDIA is committed to providing our customers with quality products that push the edge of technology and also continuously improve product quality and reliability. To help improve the product quality and ensure smooth and uninterrupted product supply during the current “end stage” of life cycle, NVIDIA strongly recommends that customers transition to this latest revision of the NB8E-SET GPUs as soon as possible. These latest revision units utilize “Hitachi” underfill packaging material that improves product quality and enhances operating life by improved thermal cycling reliability.
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While I think that all of this has been blown way out of proportion since I havn't even heard of anyone having a problem with this chipset, their PR department should be drawn and quartered for this.

Bottom line, don't say anything if you don't have something good to say.

It would have been better to simply say their new product has been altered to keep this from happening again. But to urge people to PAY to buy new laptops is idiotic. Who spins it that way? Ah well, this is still old news.
 
At first I thought it wasn't good of nvidia to say that, but then I read their explanation, and nvidia's trying to please the customer, even though it's at the oem's expense, but not really that much. You can't always please both the oem 100% and the end-user 100%.

So nvidia should attempt to please the end-user more in a binding case like this.
 
I'd also like to add, ati never offered to replace anyone's non-HDCP gpu with one that was, so nvidia isn't any more guilty than 99% of all other companies these days.

Few companies are out to make a good product. The companies like that are long gone. 2 that come to mind right away are 3dfx.

I admire 3dfx for not releasing the Voodoo5 6000, since many shipped would've had problems. That might have let them go on for a little longer. Nvidia and ATI generally tend to just release products with problems. And I'm not only talking driver problems, I'm talking defects or advertised features not included.
 
no2censorship said:
I'd also like to add, ati never offered to replace anyone's non-HDCP gpu with one that was, so nvidia isn't any more guilty than 99% of all other companies these days.

Few companies are out to make a good product. The companies like that are long gone. 2 that come to mind right away are 3dfx.

I admire 3dfx for not releasing the Voodoo5 6000, since many shipped would've had problems. That might have let them go on for a little longer. Nvidia and ATI generally tend to just release products with problems. And I'm not only talking driver problems, I'm talking defects or advertised features not included.
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I meant 1 company; sorry; also, I don't know what happened to my edit/delete.
 
I still love the Nvidias if only because my games love them :D (yes I know I pluralized their name)
 
Advil said:
While I think that all of this has been blown way out of proportion since I havn't even heard of anyone having a problem with this chipset.
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You have yet to seen the countless forums threads all over the internet on how nvidia's mobile 8-series defect design.

Unless you updated your bios, your fans would be running 24x7 in loud and super loud mode.
 
Hmm I wasn't aware the 8M series GPUs had problems. I have a 8800M GTS in my laptop and I haven't had any problems.
 
DTN107 said:
You have yet to seen the countless forums threads all over the internet on how nvidia's mobile 8-series defect design.

Unless you updated your bios, your fans would be running 24x7 in loud and super loud mode.
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Yes, we've seen all the threads about how the design is defective. But almost no threads about anyone who actually has a problem.
 
Have these words: All about money.

Hey its reason why I got laid off work. But at least I had a good Christmas despite the scrooge of Canadian Tire (fits their ads).
 
There are actually lots of people with issues. Go over to http://www.notebookreview.com. It mainly affects the 8600m and lower cards. If it wasn't an issue Nvidia would have never paid out for extended warranties and released a firmware update. This problem hurt Nvidia a lot as many laptop manufactures switched to ATI like Lenovo.
 
Yeah but how many of these people with reported problems actually have problems and aren't just AMD Fanboys? I still have yet to have a issue with any of my Nvidia cards. The only one I have that isn't working is a really old Nvidia card that I shelved, my 4mb AGP Riva 128 card doesn't get much usage anymore.

I do have cards other than Nvidia as well though, my Ubuntu laptop has a aging ATI 9600 Pro Turbo card in it. It works well for what I use it for.
 
Maximus825 said:
Yes, we've seen all the threads about how the design is defective. But almost no threads about anyone who actually has a problem.
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Bosses Dell m1330 had issues... Dell blamed it on the GPU, and replaced the mobo.

Far as I know, still works.
 
The problem is real.It's a design flaw,not an invention by the Inquirer or "ATI fanboys".The memo only reflects Nvidia's arrogant and cavalier attitude towards consumers.They seem blissfully unaware that their GPU's are facing real competition for a change,and that their chipset business is on the way out due to Intel's i7 platform.Alienating laptop manufacturers with something like this is the last thing they needed.
 
Evil said:
Yeah but how many of these people with reported problems actually have problems and aren't just AMD Fanboys? I still have yet to have a issue with any of my Nvidia cards. The only one I have that isn't working is a really old Nvidia card that I shelved, my 4mb AGP Riva 128 card doesn't get much usage anymore.

I do have cards other than Nvidia as well though, my Ubuntu laptop has a aging ATI 9600 Pro Turbo card in it. It works well for what I use it for.
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This issue is with laptop video cards only. It is real. Nvidia didn't set aside $200 Million dollars for warranties and take a huge stock hit (~$3 Billion capital lost) over fan boys. They could care less about end users complaining. Its the laptop manufacturer's who end up paying the money to warrant their products and went after Nvidia because it cost them millions in laptop repairs. Dell and HP extended their warranties on affected products just to cover this problem, which cost big bux. The problem is real. No fanboyism.
 
Will the new Mac desktop line (iMac and Mini) to be announced in a couple weeks at Mac World include the newer revision of Nvidia GPU's or will Apple be shipping out garbage hardware? I sincerely hope they will include the new revisions that don't have this heat issue (planning to get a few).
 
Advil said:
While I think that all of this has been blown way out of proportion since I havn't even heard of anyone having a problem with this chipset
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Maximus825 said:
Yes, we've seen all the threads about how the design is defective. But almost no threads about anyone who actually has a problem.
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Evil said:
Yeah but how many of these people with reported problems actually have problems and aren't just AMD Fanboys?
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The Quadro FX 1600M (aka 8700GT) in my work laptop failed a few months ago. When I asked HP to send a different card as a replacement (something HP will usually flat-out refuse) citing this issue, they sent me a 2700M without even flinching.
 
Maximus825 said:
Yes, we've seen all the threads about how the design is defective. But almost no threads about anyone who actually has a problem.
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vostro 1400 owner here and the new bios degrades performance of the video system......yay.......my most recent laptop a 1525 does not have the Nvidia video option because of the problems it may be subject to.......
 
my sister-in-laws hp laptop was sent off for defective video issues. $400 repairs on a $900 laptop. HP told her she might get her money back if they receive retribution money for the defective gpu. I think she stands a better chance now.
 
NVIDIA is simply following the M$ model of business. If it worked for Bill & Co., why shouldn't it work for Huang?
 
MS has deeper pockets then NV first of all and they are not a one trick pony like NV. GPUs are NVs bread and butter, if their brand name gets seriously damaged, why would anyone buy a NV GPU. You gotta ask yourself AMDs latest GPUs are only comparable to NVs latest, so why are they losing so much market share if they perform equally(I think NVs are actually better). I think NV needs to fire a bunch of people in their PR/Marketing department first because this whole thing has been so mishandled.
 
This is a bit off topic as this is about AMD and not Nvidia but with all of Nvidia's problems why on earth is AMD's stock still barely above the $0.00 mark? I know people have been buying their 4800 series cards like mad and yet their value right now is at $2.12 a share? They need to do something quick before it is only Intel + Nvidia.

As someone above me mentioned on the Nvidia side more than likely I've never experienced a issue with Nvidia as I don't have a notebook with one of their newer cards in it. So I was lucky and missed that bad release on NV's part.
 
Evil said:
This is a bit off topic as this is about AMD and not Nvidia but with all of Nvidia's problems why on earth is AMD's stock still barely above the $0.00 mark? I know people have been buying their 4800 series cards like mad and yet their value right now is at $2.12 a share? They need to do something quick before it is only Intel + Nvidia.

As someone above me mentioned on the Nvidia side more than likely I've never experienced a issue with Nvidia as I don't have a notebook with one of their newer cards in it. So I was lucky and missed that bad release on NV's part.
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In my opinion, if AMD's stock was to crash, a corporation like samsung, IBM, or maybe even SUN might buy them out. It'd be like finding a ferrari at your local junk yard, and the only problem with it is the rusted exterior, and a few patches of junk in the interior.
 
Evil said:
Yeah but how many of these people with reported problems actually have problems and aren't just AMD Fanboys? I still have yet to have a issue with any of my Nvidia cards. The only one I have that isn't working is a really old Nvidia card that I shelved, my 4mb AGP Riva 128 card doesn't get much usage anymore.

I do have cards other than Nvidia as well though, my Ubuntu laptop has a aging ATI 9600 Pro Turbo card in it. It works well for what I use it for.
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There are more than a few of my friends online that I can't play with because they are having their laptops replaced due to bad Nvidia GPU's. This problem is definately real.

Don't ask me why they use laptops to game I have no idea.
 
Evil said:
This is a bit off topic as this is about AMD and not Nvidia but with all of Nvidia's problems why on earth is AMD's stock still barely above the $0.00 mark? I know people have been buying their 4800 series cards like mad and yet their value right now is at $2.12 a share? They need to do something quick before it is only Intel + Nvidia.

As someone above me mentioned on the Nvidia side more than likely I've never experienced a issue with Nvidia as I don't have a notebook with one of their newer cards in it. So I was lucky and missed that bad release on NV's part.
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I wouldn't read too much into stock prices right now. The tech industry as a whole has been hit hard. Technically AMD's stock has lost less then Nvidia's in a simple YTD calculation, both have lost 70+% of their value. Even more stable companies that diversify (many sources of income) like M$ and Intel have lost ~50% of their value in the last year. But stock values don't equal profit numbers, they representative more of investor confidence and speculation.
 
I'd like to see a single one of the people bitching about Nvidia to propose a reasonable solution.

NVidia pulled the remain stock of defective chips, has been paying out to OEMs to cover warranty extension costs, and yes, has advised them to upgrade to newer products immediately rather then continuing to use defective chips.

What the hell else do you want them to do? Issue a recall on a million laptops because they have an increased failure rate? That's idiotic. They're not bursting into flames, they're failing. That's what the extended warranties are for. Get over it.
 
Evil said:
This is a bit off topic as this is about AMD and not Nvidia but with all of Nvidia's problems why on earth is AMD's stock still barely above the $0.00 mark? I know people have been buying their 4800 series cards like mad and yet their value right now is at $2.12 a share? They need to do something quick before it is only Intel + Nvidia.
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They have a crummy balance sheet and prospects for continued growth are far from set in stone. Stock prices anticipate future profit and growth, and right now AMD is bleeding dry. Doesn't matter how much of something you sell if you're not making a profit, or if your future past the next few months is uncertain.

Then there's the fact that we're in a historic bear market of epic proportions. :)

And yes, if it is just Intel and Nvidia, we're doomed. I'm an Nvidia guy but we all remember how crummy the GPU market was in 2006 when the 8800 series was the only game in town: prices and parts that didn't budge for an entire year while ATI failed to respond with a competitive part.
 
Nemesis999 said:
I'd like to see a single one of the people bitching about Nvidia to propose a reasonable solution.

NVidia pulled the remain stock of defective chips, has been paying out to OEMs to cover warranty extension costs, and yes, has advised them to upgrade to newer products immediately rather then continuing to use defective chips.

What the hell else do you want them to do? Issue a recall on a million laptops because they have an increased failure rate? That's idiotic. They're not bursting into flames, they're failing. That's what the extended warranties are for. Get over it.
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reasonable solution you say? how about they nip it in the bud instead of knowingly letting it get as far as it did?

They sat on it, they are getting screwed over, they deserve it along with any FUTURE reprocussions that may be coming their way.........
 
oh and FYI I ran windows vista machine rating before I applied the latest BIOS to my DELL Vostro 1400 and it was 3.8...... after the BIOS update and new drivers, it dropped down to 3.6......and before any of you say "well it's only 5.3% drop", remember that these cards did not come cheap in these laptops I paid an extra $100 to get this option and now peole pay an extra $150.......
 
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