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I think all 8600 chips have faulty packaging, it's the question of heat-cold cycles load. Mine was dead in 1 1/2 year, others' in 1/2 year, someone's maybe in 3 year or never, but it's a timebomb. Also interesting that Apple has just released an SMC update only for MBPs with 8600 that reprograms the fan control to 'improve high load performance'. Maybe they try to keep the GPU top temperatures lower to push the moment of death further.
 
My GPU temperature sensor show the GPU running at a steady 94°C. I haven't had any problems with it though. Does this seem a little hot?

Yeah that seems really hot. IIRC mine has never gone above 80 degrees C. And it's a steady 94 degrees? Unless you're steadily playing a game, it should definitely cool down.
 
My GPU temperature sensor show the GPU running at a steady 94°C. I haven't had any problems with it though. Does this seem a little hot?

My GPU under normal usage is generally in the region of 66C 8600GT on a 2.4Ghz Penryn, built September 08. You might want to look at why it is constantly running so hot, even under extreme load mine rarely breaks 85C
 
I think all 8600 chips have faulty packaging, it's the question of heat-cold cycles load. Mine was dead in 1 1/2 year, others' in 1/2 year, someone's maybe in 3 year or never, but it's a timebomb. Also interesting that Apple has just released an SMC update only for MBPs with 8600 that reprograms the fan control to 'improve high load performance'. Maybe they try to keep the GPU top temperatures lower to push the moment of death further.

that was my exact arguement for getting my old 2.2 8600gt replace with a brand new unibody, i told the apple tech, so your just trying to push me until im out of my apple care so you can bill me $900 for a logic board replacement.
they know there faulty, all of them, they just want to make sure no one knows that. Thats whats beautiful about having your hardware all soldered (GPU esp) on one logic board...to cover up incidents like that, they just tell the unsuspecting person, yea your logic board is bad it will need to be replaced...when really it should be...the video card has died once again for the 3rd time...


it was not a few days after i had a unibody replacement.
 
Extended warranty now 3 years?

I don't know whether to curse Apple or praise them. My 2.2 SR MBP is turning 2 years old in about a week, and I've been preparing to sell it. (I've had the MLB replaced once because of the video card) I bought a new iMac, and uninstalled my almost new 320GB HD from my MBP and sold it to a friend. Now Apple extends the warranty another year, and I think I might just keep it for a while now, although I'd want to get that WD Scorpio HD back. How long ago did they extend the warranty another year? At least I had a good excuse to get a new iMac!

Edit: Oh I see on the TS2377 article it was modified just yesterday (May 29).
 
94º C is hot in general, but video cards are built to work under temperatures up to 120º C. Like CPU's, they have a heat threshold, which when met, will shut down the computer. The overheating is not related to the failing chips, the chip memory is just faulty.
 
As far as I know, it covers every MacBook Pro with a 8600M GT. The specific models affected are just those that may be more prone to failure.

Hmm... Do we know of anyone with a 2.6 17" that has failed? I have one and so far OK, but who knows when...
 
Thank god for the extension in warranty, now i can used this hot kettle for another year before i have to sell it on :D
 
I said it in another thread on the same topic, but I'll say it again. Thank you Apple. Although there really should be a recall, and at least a replacement unibody upon the first failure, this additional year of warranty is an act of extremely good faith on the part of Apple. Good job Apple!
 
so um yeah...

Quick Question. i decided on a whim to put 6gb of ram in to my 17" sr i bought it may 07 and mlb has failed 2x. my question is. is it wise for me to put that much in and will it make a significant difference? by the way i put in the 6 recently. bought it from owc. is this a good or a bad idea???
 
Apple's leaving the door open to extending this coverage even further than three years, at least by my reading of this line in their article on the graphics issue:

Apple will continue to evaluate the repair data and will provide further repair extensions as needed.
 
Yeah, I think they're waiting nvidia to finally tell the naked truth about what went wrong with those chips. I hope nvidia comes clean soon.
 
"These computers were manufactured between approximately May 2007 and September 2008":confused:

My 2.5GHz MBP was manufactured end October 2008 according to coconutIdentityCard. Gives this Apple the option to exclude me from the warranty?
 
...well its cheaper for :apple: to give you a new video card than a whole new laptop and they look like the "good guys" by the PR move to extend the warranty for another year...

...they probably have piles of those 8600 GPU's sitting around since no one wanted to buy a timebomb:D
 
I'm not sure if this was already mentioned, so I apologize for not reading the over 1,600 replies on this thread. Anyway, I got mine replaced about a month ago free of charge because the video went out. I asked the guy if they were going to replace it with the same one, and he replied "no". But since I was just excited that I did't have to pay(no applecare), I forgot to ask what the difference was.

I have a hunch its the excact same(a ticking time bomb). Does anyone know any additional info on this???
 
I'm not sure if this was already mentioned, so I apologize for not reading the over 1,600 replies on this thread. Anyway, I got mine replaced about a month ago free of charge because the video went out. I asked the guy if they were going to replace it with the same one, and he replied "no". But since I was just excited that I did't have to pay(no applecare), I forgot to ask what the difference was.

I have a hunch its the excact same(a ticking time bomb). Does anyone know any additional info on this???

Some say there are "fixed" 8600's, but I don't think there's anything substantial to indicate that. Most would say that all 8600's are fatally flawed.
 
I have a hunch its the excact same(a ticking time bomb). Does anyone know any additional info on this???

Noone knows anything about it, but some people have seen their motherboards replaced more than once.
 
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