NvidaGate...the saga continues

[Butthead]

INQUIRER confirms Apple Macbook Pros have Nvidia bad bump material

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/12/09/apple-macbook-pros-nvidia-bad


Bad news for current MBP owner that have 9600GT GPU's in them.

What is Apple's response going to be, denial until problems crop up?

Are both MB & MBP lap burners when playing games or other software that stresses them as reported in the INquirer? What happens when OpenCL is implemented on Snow Leopard and these potential GPU problems crop up a year from now?

Scroll down to the bottom of the linked page, past the email exchanges

When we ran our finding past Nvidia prior to publication, Mike Hara replied: "You asked me specifically if the 9400 and 9600 used in the MacBooks were free of all bad bumps. I responded to you that the combination of material underfill and bump is different from the combination that was exhibiting the bump crack field failures earlier in the year."

We find this problematic. If the bumps were not a problem at all, why were they changed on the 9400? The 9400 is a much cooler-running chip than the 9600, so why change the part that is less likely to die? If the 9600 with 'good bumps' is being phased in, why bother with the qualification costs, time, and inventory hassles if it is not a problem?

The other problem comes down to heat. The new Macbooks run hot, very hot. T he net is filled with reports of them overheating and hanging. This is most often seen when gaming, a task that stresses the GPUs hard, and results in a 'black screen of death'. These beasties run extremely hot.

*edit*...oh damn, can't edit post title..."NvidiaGate"

 

[PeterQC]

So, they killed an MBP to find that the bump of the 9600m GT had a lot of lead. I know don't enough about GPU to speculate any further, but I believe you can't conclude that early. Who knows, it might be a new alloy, one that use a high lvl of lead, but has different properties. They should have tested the bumps from a faulty 8600, then I might be able to believe this article.

 

[Butthead]

So, they killed an MBP to find that the bump of the 9600m GT had a lot of lead. I know don't enough about GPU to speculate any further, but I believe you can't conclude that early. Who knows, it might be a new alloy, one that use a high lvl of lead, but has different properties. They should have tested the bumps from a faulty 8600, then I might be able to believe this article.

Same alloy, different set material ...if you believe that makes a difference

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/16060

Stopped using that (previous) underfill, kept using high-lead bumps, but we changed the underfill. And now we don't see the problem."

And techreport is making a conclusion, based on assurances from nVidia, lol.

Unless GeForce 9600M GPUs suddenly start failing in droves, MacBook Pro users can probably breathe a collective sigh of relief and go back to flaunting their notebook choice on Internet forums.

time will tell, good luck on all the early adopters of the updated MBP...let's hope OpenCL & Snow Leopard under utilize the GPU's of those older MBPs when the updated lines come out