Are Nearly All GeForce 8 and GeForce 9 Series Cards Faulty

[Apoptosis]

This article says the are: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/ ... reportedly

A little digging revealed what this, and more, is all about, and it's far uglier than just the 'notebook' version. It seems that four board partners are seeing G92 and G94 chips going bad in the field at high rates. If you know what failures look like statistically, they follow a Poisson distribution, aka a bell curve. The failures start out small, and ramp up quickly - very quickly. If you know what you are looking for, you can catch the signs early on. From the sound of the backchannel grumblings, the failures have been flagged already, and NV isn't playing nice with their partners.

Why wouldn't they? Well, the G92 chip is used in the 8800GT, 8800GTS, 8800GS, several mobile flavours of 8800, most of the 9800 suffixes, and a few 9600 variants just to confuse buyers. The G94 is basically only the 9600GT. Basically we are told all G92 and G94 variants are susceptible to the same problem - basically they are all defective. Any guesses as to how much this is going to cost?

From the look of it, all G8x variants other than the G80, and all G9x variants are defective, but we have only been able to get people to comment directly on the G84, G86, G92 and G94, and all variants thereof. Since Nvidia is not acknowledging the obvious G84 and G86 problems, don't look for much word on this new set either - if they can bury it, it will drop their costs.

In the end, what it comes down to is that the problem is far bigger than they are admitting, and crosses generational lines, process lines, and OEM lines. Nvidia is quick to point the finger at everyone but themselves, but after a while, the facts strain those cover stories well past breaking point.

[KnightRid]

Well if it fails, it fails. NO sense for me to take it off overclocking settings now ;)

Still wish Nvidia would come out and claim responsibility if they are in the wrong! I hate it when companies try to bury bad things instead of admitting to them and fixing them. Would make me go back to ATI if they keep it up.

Mike

[martini161]

glad i got an xfx

[stev]

This reminds me of the time when Intel had some major issues with float-point calculations with their processors a little while back. Only the AMD processors could truly calculate the results. Intel has been know for that bug a few times in the past.

Wonder what the issue are with the Nvidia GPUs. Then again, The ATI series of cards are looking even better now.

[geokilla]

I just placed an order for a BFG 9600GT OC for $70 AR from NCIX. Hopefully the 9600GT won't be bad.

[InspectahACE]

Did they happen to say anything about the 200 series also or nah? I've read a few people have had to RMA their GTX280's(mostly from either Newegg or another place)... very small amount of reports that I've seen..that and I'm getting scared that my 280 is a little on the faulty side too with the issues i've been having

[FZ1]

I haven't read a lot about this...what exactly is "faulty"? i.e.- they cards fail, they artifact, they don't run as fast as advertised???

[DMB2000uk]

Break completely, or artifact to the point they need to be RMA'd.

It's something to due with the wear and tear of the heat up and cool down from the turning on and off the card. Something in the chip can't cope and as a result it kills the card.

Dan

[mr_noname111]

Never trust Inq.

On a side note, my personal experience with 8/9 series cards has been fantastic. I've owned a 8800GTS 320, a 8800GTS 512, and currently a 9800GX2. I haven't had a single problem with these cards.

[stev]

Break completely, or artifact to the point they need to be RMA'd.

It's something to due with the wear and tear of the heat up and cool down from the turning on and off the card. Something in the chip can't cope and as a result it kills the card.

Dan

Heat can kill a bunch of electronic components. If the cooler on the cards can run for 30 seconds after powering down, just like today's cars do, that may be of some great help. All Nvida needs to do is to add a cap to store the energy needed.

The heat coming off of these cards is like a hair dryer. Ever turn the hair dry off and hold the barrel. It's still hot.

[aircommando13]

I'm trying to sell my rig, I hope the 9600 GT doesnt epic fail before then, it's the most valuable thing in my box!

[Bio-Hazard]

I'm not to worried about my card, it seldom gets much over room temp except when gaming ......................... and then it maxes out at around 40c................

[Sovereign]

If my card craps, I have a 7900GTX that I can use while eVGA sorts out my 9800GX2...glad I kept one of the old cards on hand (the other remains for sale lol).

[FZ1]

My GX2 seems to be OK so far

[Apoptosis]

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/ ... -parts-bad

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/ ... esktop-g86

Just a few chips are being changed... no recall yet.

[DMB2000uk]

I dobt Nvidia can foot a recal if the problem is a widespread as the inq suspects.

I guess they are trying to make the best of a bad situation, and i can't see any way for them to get out of this without making their customers put up with potentially screwed up parts.

Dan

[FZ1]

<- that my GX2 doesn't go bad