Sounds more like someone/some people are getting fired soon...
just fire every one from their jobs cause no one makes mistakes in the whole world.
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Intel Announces Setback in Production of Chipsets Destined for iMac Revision
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just fire every one from their jobs cause no one makes mistakes in the whole world.
Intel Fail!
Well at least they found it early on. If they found it later, I'm sure they would have brushed it under the rug and release a P68 chip.
As to firing the guy responsible? I doubt it. I'm sure there is a team working on that section on the chip, then a supervising team to check up on the work. So you are going to fire lots of your top designers?
Well at least they found it early on. If they found it later, I'm sure they would have brushed it under the rug and release a P68 chip.
As to firing the guy responsible? I doubt it. I'm sure there is a team working on that section on the chip, then a supervising team to check up on the work. So you are going to fire lots of your top designers?
Isn't it $700 million? What's several hundred million dollars between friends anyway?
Intel today announced that it has discovered a "design error" in its "Cougar Point" support chip that is part of its implementation of the Sandy Bridge architecture for desktop machines, chipsets that are expected to make their way into the next-generation iMac.The issue, which affects systems utilizing Intel's second-generation quad-core Core i5 and i7 processors, has pushed back production to a projected late February date for the first shipments and an April date for full recovery. Intel is estimating the entire cost of repair and replacements associated with the issue to be around $700 million.
Apple's current 27-inch iMac utilizes the first-generation versions of these Core i5 and i7 processors in high-end configurations, and the company is expected to adopt some of these second-generation versions in an update to the line. The iMac was last updated in late July and is approaching the end of its usual update cycle. The issue cited by Intel in today's release does not affect notebook chipsets such as those expected to be used in a Sandy Bridge update to Apple's MacBook Pro line, which is also due for an update.
Article Link: Intel Announces Setback in Production of Chipsets Destined for iMac Revision
And the outcry of the already blue-ballsed prospective MacBook Pro buyers (on these forums) begins...
Optimistically, it'd be cool if this delay made it so that iMac refreshes would finally be timed to incorporate AMD Radeon HD GPUs on the earlier side of THEIR refresh cycle. As it stands now, you buy an iMac and its GPU is outdated within a couple months due to that poor timing.
There's the design team... the verification team... the signal integrity team... the layout team... manufacturing... manufacturing process. Could even be a bug in the architecture spec. The fact that it works now but could degrade over time tells me it is a signal integrity bug. Or a manufacturing process bug.
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I worked for Intel's motherboard division the last time they had a major chipset bug - the infamous "Memory Translator Hub" bug that forced the recall of motherboards just like this.
I don't recall hearing about anyone being fired then, and I doubt anyone will be fired now. This was a type of bug that, because of its nature, only shows up after a long time, with many more devices manufactured than is reasonable during testing. It's just something that happens. Intel owned up to it quickly, and is moving to fix it.
What I wonder is that, while this does affect notebook chipsets, will notebook OEMs be allowed to ignore it and ship anyway? This bug only affects the 3 Gbps SATA ports on the chipset, not the new 6 Gbps ports. The chipset has two 6 Gbps ports and four 3 Gbps ports. Apple's notebook line (as well as the Mac mini,) only use two SATA ports. Would Intel allow Apple to use the faulty chipset in those products, since Apple could limit them to only using the non-faulty 6 Gbps ports?
Obviously, the iMac can't be updated until this is fixed, because it uses three SATA ports (the Mac Pro doesn't make sense to update, anyway, since it uses a series of chips that hasn't been updated yet, so it isn't ready for an update anyway.) Although they could update the 21-inch model, since it only uses two ports, that would be odd to update the 21-inch but not the 27-inch.
I don't recall hearing about anyone being fired then, and I doubt anyone will be fired now. This was a type of bug that, because of its nature, only shows up after a long time, with many more devices manufactured than is reasonable during testing. It's just something that happens. Intel owned up to it quickly, and is moving to fix it.
What I wonder is that, while this does affect notebook chipsets, will notebook OEMs be allowed to ignore it and ship anyway? This bug only affects the 3 Gbps SATA ports on the chipset, not the new 6 Gbps ports. The chipset has two 6 Gbps ports and four 3 Gbps ports. Apple's notebook line (as well as the Mac mini,) only use two SATA ports. Would Intel allow Apple to use the faulty chipset in those products, since Apple could limit them to only using the non-faulty 6 Gbps ports?
Obviously, the iMac can't be updated until this is fixed, because it uses three SATA ports (the Mac Pro doesn't make sense to update, anyway, since it uses a series of chips that hasn't been updated yet, so it isn't ready for an update anyway.) Although they could update the 21-inch model, since it only uses two ports, that would be odd to update the 21-inch but not the 27-inch.
At Least They Caught Before It Resulted In Big Recall
Couldn't agree more. I respect any engineering/manufacturing company that can nip the problem before it trickles into production/released articles. Means that they are actually testing before they release.
Now if we could only convince the drug companies to follow this model....
Couldn't agree more. I respect any engineering/manufacturing company that can nip the problem before it trickles into production/released articles. Means that they are actually testing before they release.
Now if we could only convince the drug companies to follow this model....
Or offer them at a hefty discount to avoid bleeding too much red. I doubt that quality of either Intel or the ODM would be happy with that kind of product in customer hands though.
I agree. I think the issue is that Intel don't want to ship any of these defective chipsets
The "tweak" is to run slower
They're "tweaked" to run slower to avoid overheating in Apple's "form over function" thin cases.
They're "tweaked" to run slower to avoid overheating in Apple's "form over function" thin cases.
There are many in the channel.
Why else would it cost a whopping $700m PLUS $300m of lost revenue.
Intel's chipsets weren't 'leading the industry' one bit for the last 10 years. They are always a reason not to buy the CPUs.
And after a $700m mistake I would VERY WELL hope that the people responsible for it will get fired. These people earn a lot of money and are highly qualified, they can take it.
Release the MBP anyway
Thank you. It was bugging me a lot that no one was making this point. If the only defective feature in the chipset is one Apple has no plans to use anyway, why not proceed with a release?
I recognize I'm clinging to hope here, but it seems like Apple could reasonably move forward, so the hope is at least somewhat justified. I've been putting up with a tired machine and delaying a new purchase for a while now, waiting for Sandy Bridge and faster I/O options (lightpeak or USB3).
Thank you. It was bugging me a lot that no one was making this point. If the only defective feature in the chipset is one Apple has no plans to use anyway, why not proceed with a release?
I recognize I'm clinging to hope here, but it seems like Apple could reasonably move forward, so the hope is at least somewhat justified. I've been putting up with a tired machine and delaying a new purchase for a while now, waiting for Sandy Bridge and faster I/O options (lightpeak or USB3).
Are you kidding me? Apple was having retailers use up the rest of their stock, supplies were running thin. It looks like they'll have to throw another batch of seriously old hardware for premium prices on the presses.
The MacBooks are long overdue, but the iMac isn't too far behind them. I would also guess late March/early April for both systems. Spring cleaning, and such.
I just built a bunch of machines with the Cougar Point H67 chipset for a non-profit sigh At least I can just use the SATA III ports for now since they appear to not be affected.