Man, first the crappy yields (and prices) on 200 series cards and now this? Nvidia needs to clean their act up.

Also, if a driver update made my laptop louder and battery life worse, I would be pretty upset. I realize it is to spare the GPU, but still.

regnez

Ummmmm, my m1530 with a 8600m GT just arrived today.....

OGHowie

That's a shitty fix. How about a recall, yo?

itchytooth

as INQ says, NVIDIA opens itself a can of whoop-ass ([www.theinquirer.net])

ATI rules!

wetboxersguy

Nvidia needs to think what are they doing, i remember that they were also guilty about a lot of crashes on windows vista.

Mike918

Still better than ATi :D

kumuasata

Still don't know why you'd ever get a notebook gaming rig over a desktop. More expensive and less customizable in the end.

But alas, this is an unfortunate turn although I doubt nVidia is jonesing for money right now.

HotFootMcCook

@Metkis: I don't know about you, but I'd be willing to heave a 25lbs. rig and monitor over rather than have at least $800 out of my pocket for something that's probably of lesser performance.

But, to each his own, and I do love my 30lbs. rig :D

HotFootMcCook

@HotFootMcCook: Makes LAN parties easier. It's really about the portability. I never really got it either.

Metkis

What about Macbook Pros? they use the 8600M GT. Well, now that I think about it, they dont use the same drivers as PCs, so im sure this glitch is for PC versions only eh?

goaliegeek

Here at Dell the 7900 series laptop cards on the Inspiron E1705 and other models are pretty prone to failure within 6 to 12 months of purchase.

Nintenboy01

Just saw this, curious about the MacBook Pro since I just got one and noticed it runs EXTREMELY hot sometimes even without gfx-intensive apps. Hopefully this will be addressed by Apple sooner rather than later.

Prosumerist

"Where's your messiah now?"

~Integrated Chipset

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

"Nvidia is taking a $150-$200 million hit on its earnings for the quarter"

Which translates into a 20% hit on their stock price yesterday... well, in pre-trading to day:

Pre-Market: 14.35 -3.68 (-20.41%) Jul 3 7:05am ET

unspellable

and I meant that they "coupled with the fact the smart fan drivers didn't kick in as soon as they should've regarding temperature".

AllThingsWireless

BTW: Those degrees are in celsius, not fahrenheit.

AllThingsWireless

I bought my wife a Dell Inspiron e1708 with a GeForce 7800. I always noticed that it had temperatures of up to 80 freaking degrees many times *WITH* the fan running at TOP speed. I called tech support and they told me that it was natural and only to get worried if it's above 90.

Of course, stuff like this is bound to happen when you are in a desparate race for the best and fastest computer hardware. We always knew that MB's mfg's would purposely OC the CPU's by a marginal 0.5% to 2% to show that their MB was superior on tests back in the day. So I'm guessing nVidia probably engineered the clock speed higher than it should have gone and coupled the smart fan drivers to kick in sooner.

AllThingsWireless

Sounds like some kind of s Crysis.

strider_mt2k

God damn, I hope this will fix the issues Macbook Pro owners are having! I could fry eggs on mine. *banghead*

freakerz

Oh lovely. I just bought a Gateway P-6860FX with an 8800M GTS. Looks like I may need that service plan after all.

Dook_In_The_Urinal

I've been struggling with this, too... GeForce Go 7600 -- or maybe 7800... something like that. In my Inspiron 9400. Didn't have any problems until I installed Linux, and fired up a slick 3D screensaver. Spent loads of time trying to figure out WHAT was overheating and causing a "safety shutdown" before I noticed it only happened when the screensaver was on!

daed

Just had my nvidia card fail on me this week. GeForce 6800 in a 2 year old dell.

dcmidnight

I bought an HP dv2312us about a year ago, and I had to send it in to have the Motherboard replaced, although I'm pretty sure it had to be video. There was a BIOS patch to update the fan algorithm. The first thing to go on my GeForce 6150 was the VGA's red pin. I got green and blue, but no red on external monitors. Then, the monitor would not turn on and the machine wouldn't boot. All because of overheating.

Lurch89

That having been said, my continual problems with battery life (two batteries, COMPLETELY dead within four months each, i.e. fully charged, pull the AC power, and it dies like there's no battery present), screen dimness, and ergonomics have guaranteed that my next system (coming soon; I graduated this year) will NOT be a laptop. Might pick up an Eee PC or something for wandering web-duties so I'm not chained to my desk, but the primary computer will NOT be another laptop.

daed

Im hoping that ATI releases something better the GTX 280 so I can crossfire them in an intel board
nvdia is pretty awesome though

pellier

@HotFootMcCook: I bought mine for architecture school. I needed high-res and horsepower for running CAD, Photoshop, and various 3D modeling and rendering applications. The systems at school lacked the resolution and power to be more than barely tolerable (the grad students would frequently press-gang a whole row of 'em to process their renderings), and hauling stuff back and forth between home and school on a flash drive or external HDD is very inconvenient, and fragile. Never mind how packed the labs get a week before a project's due!

Some people really do benefit from portable power, expandability be damned.

daed

@goaliegeek: It's a hardware issue not a driver issue. There is a driver "fix" that makes the fan turn on sooner to help keep it cool. In what way is that a PC issue that your mac is immune to?
(Granted, I did not take the time to do your research for you and see if your card is a previous gen card)

~RTFA

SgtMac02

Well nuts...anyone have an issue with a 8400M? If I had some wood to knock on I'd say how mine is doing, damn metal cubicle.

tonyn84

Last time I had an nVidia card I couldn't do anything with 3d graphics for more than two minutes without BSODing. Tried different driver versions, nothing worked except switching back to an ATI cards.

I even had a nVidia nForce mobo.... can't say I'm surprised to see nVidia products failing again.

RigorMortis

The 8600M GT in my Vostro 1500 failed after 6 months of use. If you have a Dell and want more control over your fans just download i8kfanGUI. You can use it to set the exact temps you want the fans to kick in on low and on high.

UrbanAce

For you HP notebook owners here is the link to the issue. [h10025.www1.hp.com]

axiomatic

@Dook_In_The_Urinal: I have a Gateway P-6831FX with the same card so I looked on Gateway's support site. No updated driver yet. Though with how long it takes Gateway to put up new drivers, you are better off finding one with a hacked INF that will do the same thing.

I haven't had an overheating problem yet and I've played games in 5+ hours shifts on my laptop. So I'm not too worried.

MantisDragon

@strider_mt2k: Heyo!

MrBlahBlah

i remember the day that the 8800 came out, and people laughed at ati fanboys like me. well what? yeah. uh-huh. :) stopping now.

dedalus987

I might. My vaio vgn-sz680 has an 8400 which:
Randomly has the display driver die and restart.
Randomly goes super-Tron-like polygonic in the middle of TF2.

It's not horrible. At worst I have to switch out of and back into programs. But it does get annoying.

Caidence

My MBP has always run a little hot but a simple free utility like smcFanControl lets you do whatever you want with the fans already, and yes, it'll cool things down just fine.

The Turtle

@SgtMac02: The Macbook Pro has the 8600M GT. If that chip is affected by this, then the MBP is affected by this. And Nvidia's driver "fix" won't help Mac owners, either.

I'm thinkin' it's time for an ATI graphics card. They're looking a lot better than they used to be, and they actually have Linux drivers now.

fpn1010

No mention on the Sony support site for my VGN-AR520E with an 8400GT(M) on board. It's been problem free for a year now, but not used for much gaming unless I am travelling. (...knocks on wood while crossing fingers furiously...)

(knocks on wood again...just to be safe...)

nuttykiwi

my 8400M GT!? YOU CUNTRAGS!

Do you realize I tried to play CRYSIS on that thing!?

Actually I made it through OK but the framerate was Shit. Thank god I was wary enough to use my extra cooling mat.

Overheal

I hope my 8600m GT will be hokay :(

MastaFalse

@Prosumerist: Hopefully it doesnt. Just did the latest Apple update this morn and nothing was there. Thank God for the AppleCare Plan! Maybe mine will fail and I'll get a replacement with a Penryn chip....or a 9-series GPU :) Hey I can dream cant i!?

hkmp5n

I haven't had an Nvidia in a laptop, but their destop cards have had overheating/dying problems for years. I've probably had a dozen of their geforce cards that lasted less than 6 months a piece in very well ventilated desktops used soley for image editing. I gave up and went with ATI after all that grief and haven't had a problem in two years (except for inferior performance of course). It's too bad really as I genuinely preferred the Nvidia cards; they're just impressively unreliable.

hobobobo

Just yesterday, I was wondering about de furure of the m8600GT in my xps 1530. It was so hot I thought it would damage the table.... since fan was full blowing, I dont think the new driver would be very useful.
Any advice regarding cooling stands?

chr71

I've had my card in my Acer TravelMate go to around 120 degrees before, it's normally around 100 most of the time and switches itself off numerous times because of this overheating problem.

vee-media

Weak, my lappie has a Quadro NVS 135M (8400M in disguise.) I wonder if Quadro's are affected as well? They're supposed to be more stable (or something else that justifies the price.)

jamesuschrist

I've had 2 8400Ms fry already. My current one idles @ 70+C and on load hits 100+C. But it's also supposed to be due to the complete crap design of the vostro with no fan/vent for the GPU.

tro11

Hey there is something wrong with the Desktop series too coz I had a meltdown in one of my machines 3 days back and I thought it was my fault, an the machine is not even a few months old.

meher

My GE Force 8400m GS in my 8 month old Dell m1330 just fried my whole system this week. Started glitching a few days ago, so I downloaded the Feb driver, now the whole thing is kaput. Won't even bring up any start up screen.

Agent-199

I bet it's not only the 8M series. I'm on my third GeForce 7900GS card and its still hot as hell.

My first one worked for like 1.5 years, then I started getting artefacts (memory couldn't handle the heat after 1.5 yrs). I had to pay dell to get me a new one (which died 2 weeks after getting installed, lol! Same problem as the first one).

Since they are having problems in getting those cards on stock, I had to wait another month until they proposed me to get a temporary ATI replacement cart. I agreed. 2 another months later I finally got another 7900GS.

This is now my third 7900GS and I bet it won't be my last one since it's still hot as hell.

Wondering if I could call dell to refund my money since it's a clear manufacturing issue (tons of other people experiencing the same on forums...)?

ricdes

Bought a dv9000 last year with a 7600 in it. I've had to send it in 3 times to get fixed, all for the same problems with the video. When it comes back this time, my wife will get it and I'll just build a nice desktop.

NoVA407

The 7600 in my HP laptop has died 3 times in the past year. When it comes back from the latest fix, just going to give it to the wife and build a desktop.

NoVA407

I had one of these card in my laptop. HP had to replace the entire mobo and cooling set up. The new nvidia set up works like a charm now. Laptop is cooler than ever, the card is a built in 6150.

Dudemeister on the Run