nvidia chips collapsing, ill this affect Apple and the Mac Pro's 8800?

[faumble]

I heard that nvidia was having some deffective chips and after googling it it is true so I want to know if this wil affect apple and the mac pro's nvidia 8800gt? which chip does this one have, the G92 if I am not wrong? is this a deffective chip?
and what about the macbook and macbook pro?


http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/09/nvidia-g84-g86-bad

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/07/nvidia-meltdown-blame-game


Thanks

 

[taylorwilsdon]

Frankly, I'm not entirely sold on the rumor but no, it in no way applies to you. The affected chips are laptop video cards, the 8400 and 8600 chips.

If this is true, then my Macbook Pro is almost certainly affected, as I've had video card related troubles in the past.

 

[faumble]

Thanks, is there someway to verify if there is really a problem with the chips or is there some authority on this?
if it happens to be true, what will happen? wll those of us with the failing chips get replacements, fix, or something of this sort?

 

[Sesshi]

According to some articles, it could extend to desktop chipsets as well, although the difference in cooling and power cycling (laptops are more frequently turned on/off) between desktop vs laptops could make the desktop chips fail much later - i.e. after most warranty periods - making the problem much less of an issue (for NVidia).

But it's all rumour and speculation now. The only way we'll know for sure is if NVidia fesses up. I doubt they'll be giving us the whole truth given the potential nature of such a problem. What can you do? You can't recall millions of laptops and cards to have their GPU's replaced, at least not if you want to stay in business. Wind up fans to compensate? That rep alone is going to have people/OEM's going to ATI in droves. What about people who haven't bought extended warranties? etc. The sooner they lay out what they're going to do the better, although given the reaction it seems like they're determined to band-aid the problem, leave those who experience failure outside the warranty in the cold and ride out the press - although I don't see them getting away with it.

However if the 'desktops less likely to fail due to better cooling / more stable usage cycling' is the case, the Pro occupies a borderline ground. Running as stock in ~20C ambients, the 8800GT in the Pro in general-purpose OS X computing runs slightly hotter than e.g. the hotter card in an SLI setup in a decently cooled gaming machine while in low/mid-level gaming, especially if you have more than one drive bay occupied. If it's working as part of a dual-card setup as I have in one of my home Pros and ambient reaches ~25C, some pretty darned high (and darned laptop-like) temps can be achieved on a constant basis.

If any desktop 'PC' can be considered likely to exhibit heat-accelerated GPU failure based on what has been speculated over about NVidia's problem, it will almost certainly involve Pros alongside badly cooled DIY's, etc.

 

[faumble]

thanks, where did you read about the desktop video cards possibly failing too?
so if it ends up being true it affects the 8800, will apple fix or exchanged the failing videocards? even if it has passed the 1 year warranty since its not the users fault?
also is there someway to test if the chip is a failing one? I imagine if you put the video card to work at its max it will raise temperature and with some kind of software we could measure the chips performance kind of like how s.m.a.r.t. test hard drives?

 

[Sesshi]

Unfortunately everything is speculation (well, not the bit about the Pro providing less air movement for the GPU and also having it work in a hotter enclosure) until, as I said, NVidia fesses up. Until then we won't know how to detect them, whether they're even detectable and exactly what chips are affected, and how they intend to deal with it (spinning fans faster aside).

 

[faumble]

thanks sesshi,
what is an acceptable temperature for the 8800?
mine runs between 45ºC and 58ºC, is this normal?
thanks again

 

[Sesshi]

That's within acceptable limits as far as I know. The real problem comes when you start filling the drive bays and installing more than one card.

 

[faumble]

Thanks again Sesshi
I have 2 cards and all bays full, the maximum i´ve seen the video cards get is 62ºC but its only been a couple of times and after working them max for over an hour, for the record, I always have smcfancontrol and all fans at 1000 rpms...hope there is official word from nvidia or someone soon.
Thanks again

 

[Mackilroy]

Weird, mine averages 10 C cooler than yours (it's 34 C right now). Do you keep your Mac Pro on the floor or on top of your desk?

 

[faumble]

Ive kept it on the floor and on the desk, no temperature difference.
I want to check cause Ive never been sure (and so we are on the same page about our temps), on istat which are the video cards temperature, the one from expansion slots or from power supply? I know common sense would tell its the one from expansion slots but I think it is power supply for 2 reasons, first, the temperature from expanion slots is too low and second cause I only had one power supply (power supply 1) temperature, power supply 2 appeared when I connected the second video card.

Temps attached
Thanks again

 

[Mackilroy]

Power supply ≠ graphics card! Your expansion slots are where your graphics card is, go with those temps.

Also, I'll note I have only one video card and I have 'Power Supply 1' and 'Power Supply 2' in my iStat menu.

 

[faumble]

Thanks!
next time i will go with common sens...lol ..i guess then it is a good sign about their temparature performance, although when I touch them it burns!....and isnt 24ºC too low?
and whats power supply 2?
thnaks again

 

[cluthz]

I heard that nvidia was having some deffective chips and after googling it it is true so I want to know if this wil affect apple and the mac pro's nvidia 8800gt? which chip does this one have, the G92 if I am not wrong? is this a deffective chip?
and what about the macbook and macbook pro?


http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/09/nvidia-g84-g86-bad

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/07/nvidia-meltdown-blame-game


Thanks

The articles clearly say G84 and G86, and you have G92..
The MacBook Pro have G86

 

[faumble]

well, now this is the thing that makes me doubt the expansions slot temperature is real. I ahave just checked the video card's temperature with Speedfan and it says it is at 55ºC, so i do think istat is wrong, 24ºC is just too low!
What do you guys think?

 

[reberto]

GPU's can take up to 100c, you are more than fine.

 

[Spikeanator6982]

well, now this is the thing that makes me doubt the expansions slot temperature is real. I ahave just checked the video card's temperature with Speedfan and it says it is at 55ºC, so i do think istat is wrong, 24ºC is just too low!
What do you guys think?

IDK, but your ambient...wow.. 66 degrees F in the summer? thats a good reason right there why your temps are lower. but that doesnt explain the difference with Speedfan obviously.