A rant. I own a couple late 2008 Mac Pros, one at the office, one at home (our office runs on Apple and OS X, most people opted for iMacs). Both M Pros came with Nvidia 8800 GTs.
And in less than 1.5 years, both Nvidia 8800 GTs have failed, in two separate machines. The first 8800 GT in my office Pro failed within months of purchase. Applecare replaced it. I expect it to fry any day now.
Second Nvidia 8800 GT failed just yesterday in my home machine. Card didn't even last 1.5 years. Two failures, two separate machines under heavy, but normal, use.
These Nvidia failures come on the heals of our switch to Macs a couple years ago, after repeated Vista headaches.
In our old desktop PCs, we had even more Nvidia failures. Our former desktop PCs had the Nvidia 79XX-GTX line of cards -- each of which failed, repeatedly, with mind-numbingly annoying artifacts and display errors. Replaced some of the cards with Nvidia replacements, and even the Nvidia replacement cards failed just months later. So we took to researching the issue, and what do we find: tens of thousands of consumers complained about the 79XX line, they were failing at an astonishing rate. Turns out they were running too hot and the die/seating/heatsink package was defectively designed.
(And just do a search about the litigation against Nvidia for all the failed notebook graphics cards, affecting everyone who owns Dell, HP, Apple, Asus, etc. The forums here are filled with Nvidia complaints across notebook lines. What a mess.)
So over the last four years, it is no exaggeration to say every Nvidia graphics card I've owned has failed. Failed across multiple machines and platforms. No card has lasted more than 1.5 years, and the longest lasting card was in my home Pro, the 8800 GT, which failed yesterday. Most have failed within months.
Note these cards are not overclocked, "watercooled," or messed with with to boost performance. These were stock installs, using approved drivers, cables, install procedures, etc. The computers receive heavy use -- but that's what these machines are for. People like us spend money for business class desktops and Mac Pros because we use the machines, daily, sometimes for long periods. These Nvidia PCIe GPUs simply should not be failing within months, or a year, from initial purchase under normal use.
I am hoping beyond hope ATI has better quality. I just installed an Apple ATI 4870 in this Mac Pro -- a ripoff at $380.00, but these are work machines and we need them running, so I just wanted to get the damn card in and be done with it. So annoyed I'm even having to waste time with this.
And in less than 1.5 years, both Nvidia 8800 GTs have failed, in two separate machines. The first 8800 GT in my office Pro failed within months of purchase. Applecare replaced it. I expect it to fry any day now.
Second Nvidia 8800 GT failed just yesterday in my home machine. Card didn't even last 1.5 years. Two failures, two separate machines under heavy, but normal, use.
These Nvidia failures come on the heals of our switch to Macs a couple years ago, after repeated Vista headaches.
In our old desktop PCs, we had even more Nvidia failures. Our former desktop PCs had the Nvidia 79XX-GTX line of cards -- each of which failed, repeatedly, with mind-numbingly annoying artifacts and display errors. Replaced some of the cards with Nvidia replacements, and even the Nvidia replacement cards failed just months later. So we took to researching the issue, and what do we find: tens of thousands of consumers complained about the 79XX line, they were failing at an astonishing rate. Turns out they were running too hot and the die/seating/heatsink package was defectively designed.
(And just do a search about the litigation against Nvidia for all the failed notebook graphics cards, affecting everyone who owns Dell, HP, Apple, Asus, etc. The forums here are filled with Nvidia complaints across notebook lines. What a mess.)
So over the last four years, it is no exaggeration to say every Nvidia graphics card I've owned has failed. Failed across multiple machines and platforms. No card has lasted more than 1.5 years, and the longest lasting card was in my home Pro, the 8800 GT, which failed yesterday. Most have failed within months.
Note these cards are not overclocked, "watercooled," or messed with with to boost performance. These were stock installs, using approved drivers, cables, install procedures, etc. The computers receive heavy use -- but that's what these machines are for. People like us spend money for business class desktops and Mac Pros because we use the machines, daily, sometimes for long periods. These Nvidia PCIe GPUs simply should not be failing within months, or a year, from initial purchase under normal use.
I am hoping beyond hope ATI has better quality. I just installed an Apple ATI 4870 in this Mac Pro -- a ripoff at $380.00, but these are work machines and we need them running, so I just wanted to get the damn card in and be done with it. So annoyed I'm even having to waste time with this.
