Found this on the Inquirer...

"Nvidia 55nm parts are bad too"

Quote: HOT ON THE heels of its denials that anything is wrong with the G92 and G94s comes another PCN that shows the G92s and G92b are being changed for no reason. Yup, the problems that are plaguing G84 and G86 are the same that affect seemingly all 65nm and now 55nm Nvidia parts.

Kinda makes me glad I'm a regular ATI customer (not that ATI doesn't have their own problems).

Quote: Originally Posted by Fu3lman Found this on the Inquirer... "Nvidia 55nm parts are bad too" Kinda makes me glad I'm a regular ATI customer (not that ATI doesn't have their own problems).

Too true. I've always liked ATI over Nvidia.

meh.......i'll stick to nvidia.i've grow used to reliable 3d accelerated drivers for linux.

I don't consider The Inquirer to be the least bit reputable. But it seems funny that all of the Nvidia cards I have work Great.

Not trying to be a fanboy here ... hell, I've had a majority of ATi cards over nVidia for the past decade, so I think I'm squarely defended on that front ... but I liked the comment one of the posters made when they said that nVidia changing the underfill makes good business practice for a number of reasons that do NOT include their chips being bad. ie, there are several reasons for doing it that have nothing to do with bad chips.

Personally, my 8800GT has been burning fast and remarkably well, and 24/7 folding, for a couple of months now. I think I'd have run into a problem by now ..

-godling

haven't owned an nvidia card for nearly 7 years, so no basis of comparison here

just reporting what i found, apparently a significant number of people have a less-than-trusting demeanor toward the Inquirer, so meh.

The bad chips are a fact, just how extensive the problem is is debatable. Nvidia itself announced that "significant quantities" of the 8400M/8600M chips are failing and they were spending $150 to $250 million to cover warranty repair. This was back in July after a disturbing number of laptops from many makers had their graphics chips fail. Dell actually extended warranties on all affected laptops which will no doubt be charged back to Nvidia.

PCWorld, arstechnica, Engadget, Slashdot and many other sites carried the story long before Nvidia would admit to any problem whatsoever.

And when they did talk, Nvidia declined to divulge exactly which chips were effected. If there is a problem, don't expect Nvidia to own up to it before they are forced to. They have repeatedly stated there is no problem with any desktop gpu products.

But 250 million for warranty repair is nothing if ALL 55nm parts are bad. The failure is heat related and that would explain why any problem would show up in laptops first. A driver update that simply speeds up the fan isn't going to prevent eventual failure of laptop gpu's. But even if the same problem "materials" are used in desktop gpu's, it may never fail because of significantly better cooling in desktop parts and driver updates that reduce stress on problem areas and increase fan speeds.

Or you could be sitting on a time bomb.

This is the reason you buy your cards from companies that offer warranties that are longer than you will need the card.

ALL chips fail sooner or later, it is a fact of life. The only question is whether or not the chip outlasts the warranty.

I've been lucky. All the NVidia cards I've had have been perfect. The 3 or ATI cards have all failed.

It's mainly the notebook chips...not the card chips.........

Yeahhhh.. just bought a laptop with an 8400M. Good thing I got the extended warranty. And my desktop has dual 8800GTs. No problems whatsoever. Got my fingers crossed.