Is a burnt out video card possible?

[estevancarlos]

I'm not too knowledgable on the details of my 2011 Macbook. I was told regarding my old 2008 Macbook that plugging it into a separate screen, for dual monitor purposes, could result in overheating the board and burning it out. I may be describing the issue improperly. However my question is can this happen? Could it happen on a 2011 Macbook? I'm considering whether to use it on a 32in LCD TV regularly so that's why I ask. Thanks in advance.

 

[leman]

I'm not too knowledgable on the details of my 2011 Macbook. I was told regarding my old 2008 Macbook that plugging it into a separate screen, for dual monitor purposes, could result in overheating the board and burning it out. I may be describing the issue improperly. However my question is can this happen? Could it happen on a 2011 Macbook? I'm considering whether to use it on a 32in LCD TV regularly so that's why I ask. Thanks in advance.

If the card can be connected to the external monitor than it is designed to drive two monitors and if it breaks, you will get a free repair under warranty. That said, whoever told you that lunacy is either a big joker or has no idea about computers. The facts: yes, it is possible to damage electronic components if you run them under high load for prolonged periods of time without sufficient cooling. However, powering two monitors is not high load (unless you play demanding computer games on them all the time), the cooling system is designed to deal with any amount of heat the card can generate and the card itself has failsafes which prevents it from going kabumm (such as slowing down when temperatures have passed a safe level). So don't worry and just use your machine. Its built for that.

P.S. The issue with the 2008 model is that it had a faulty graphics card (factory error) which was bound to fail at some point or the other.

 

[estevancarlos]

Thanks for the reply. I guess my previous issue is just related to the 2008 model.

 

[snaky69]

Thanks for the reply. I guess my previous issue is just related to the 2008 model.

The 2008 15" and 17" Macbook Pro had a graphics card MANUFACTURING defect that would result in premature failure due to heat cycling. This is probably what you heard about, it only affects computers with the nVidia 8600GT graphics card, which were in late 2007 and early 2008 models.

Run your computer on an external monitor to your heart's content, you're not going to damage anything.