How to check GPU of Early 08 MBP???

[kolax]

They will all die at some point. Nothing lasts forever. Just that the NVIDIA 8600M will die quicker than other GPU's.

I had my MacBook Pro a year before my GPU died. I do intense things that take the GPU to its limits (gaming) and encoding video always sends the GPU temperature as hot as the CPU too.

All MacBook Pro's with the NVIDIA 8600M have an extra year warranty on that part, and if it failed outside that year I'm sure you would be able to put a good strong legal case forward.

Supposedly the MacBook Pro's built in September have updated NVIDIA 8600M's that don't have this issue - so I'd assume (or hope anyway) that Apple is using these to replace anyone that has a failed GPU. I certainly hope I don't end up with a failed one again in 6 months time..

 

[anirudh]

ok, everyone on this forum tells me to strees out the GPU of the early 08 MBPs to the limit and hope that it fails the test and the apple guys replace the GPU. Are the replacement GPUs perfect? I mean arent also one of the faulty batches?

 

[daneoni]

I got mine replaced and it seems to be working well thus far and it passed the test

 

[anirudh]

so did you stress out and 'spoil' the original GPU purposefully, or it just died a 'natural' death ???

 

[daneoni]

so did you stress out and 'spoil' the original GPU purposefully, or it just died a 'natural' death ???

Stressed out...

 

[anirudh]

ok, sorry if this sounds stupid, but how am I supposed to 'stress out' my MBP? Also, what happens after its stressed out? What if the logic board blows up or anything?

 

[pdxflint]

ok, sorry if this sounds stupid, but how am I supposed to 'stress out' my MBP? Also, what happens after its stressed out? What if the logic board blows up or anything?

After it's "stressed out" the way I think you're asking for instructions on "how to do it" I guess it'll break... And your logic board will have to be replaced. I'm sure someone here can give you ways to stress out your MBP, and then you can go knock yourself out... and have fun. While you're at it you may as well stress out the keyboard, the optical drive, the battery, the power adapter (you can wind up and unwind the cord until it fails..) and open and close the display/lid until the hinges fail, or the display connector fails, or the latches fail, or you bend your lid. Maybe they'll all be covered by Apple, and they'll just give you a replacement machine so you can... uhmm... do it all over again.

But seriously, why are you so worried about this? If you have to be this concerned about something then don't buy it. You'll sleep better.

The 8600 gpu is covered for two years. The newer ones are covered for 1 year. You can buy Applecare and your whole machine is covered for 3 years. For lots of folks it's peace of mind. Abuse generally isn't covered, and if you're deliberately trying to get your laptop to fail, you can probably make it happen. I don't think that's quite in the spirit of what a decent warranty is all about.

 

[daneoni]

ok, sorry if this sounds stupid, but how am I supposed to 'stress out' my MBP? Also, what happens after its stressed out? What if the logic board blows up or anything?

After it's "stressed out" the way I think you're asking for instructions on "how to do it" I guess it'll break... And your logic board will have to be replaced. I'm sure someone here can give you ways to stress out your MBP, and then you can go knock yourself out... and have fun. While you're at it you may as well stress out the keyboard, the optical drive, the battery, the power adapter (you can wind up and unwind the cord until it fails..) and open and close the display/lid until the hinges fail, or the display connector fails, or the latches fail, or you bend your lid. Maybe they'll all be covered by Apple, and they'll just give you a replacement machine so you can... uhmm... do it all over again.

But seriously, why are you so worried about this? If you have to be this concerned about something then don't buy it. You'll sleep better.

The 8600 gpu is covered for two years. The newer ones are covered for 1 year. You can buy Applecare and your whole machine is covered for 3 years. For lots of folks it's peace of mind. Abuse generally isn't covered, and if you're deliberately trying to get your laptop to fail, you can probably make it happen. I don't think that's quite in the spirit of what a decent warranty is all about.

As lame as his sarcasm was...he's kinda right. Dont fret about it...you have 2 yrs. I only stressed mine because it froze on me a few days after i got it, which is why i decided to properly stress it out once and for all and get a replacement.

You dont seem to have any symptoms yet in which case just relax until you actually have issues

 

[anirudh]

@pdxflint

Lay off the sarcasm man.. Anyways, thanks for the helpful comments (no sarcasm here). You are right I guess, no use worrying. Is it happens, then I'll c.

@daneoni

Thanks for all your help. Hope I dont get the failure (or should I hope I get it )

 

[nikhsub1]

If you have an Apple store near you, go there, tell them you saw artifacts on you screen when you woke the laptop and that you'd like them to run the Nvidia GPU test. If your machine passes the test...you're good...if not....then...

This is totally incorrect. I have had 2 GPU's fail now... 2nd one only lasted 4 months. The nvidia GPU test that the Apple stores now perform will only work on GPU's that are DEAD or having a problem. If the GPU is working fine then test will show it is working fine, it can't predict if the part is from the bad batch or not...