NVIDIA's GeForce 9600M causing issues in 17-inch MacBook Pro?

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1924473

http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/05/nvidias-geforce-9600m-causing-issues-in-17-inch-macbook-pro/

 

good job apple.

 

Blame Apple's design.

 

I have a feeling that in the future Apple will be going soley to ATI for their video cards. When the MacBook Pro had the X1600 I do not think there were any problems reported, but when Apple started using Nvidia with the 8600M GT and now the 9600M GT all it does is give Apple problems and cost them in the end. Time to go back to ATI. Just my opinion. God Bless

 

I think not just apple but all manufacturers need to look into this. I know it lost dell a lot of customers and im sure it happened to a lot of other manufacturers as well. Not another good day for nvidia's mobile team.

 

Now I just gotta hope the Nvidia 9400m doesn't find a way to have problems too, maybe being integrated less likely for failure/problems ??

 

Nah, just more costly to replace.

 

loool! Well that made me feel better

(Yay for Apple Care - I would be covered right?)

 

Yeah i dont see any reason they shouldn't cover it. It just stinks that it could happen out of warranty.

 

*bursts into tears* :cry:

 

That's bad news. It begs the question though; why is this just happening on the 17s? All MBPs have the same GPU.

 

No offense, but why do people find the need to post every single Apple news story here? It's not like people visit this site and this site only; if they're here, they're avid users of Apple products, and most likely they go to sites such as AppleInsider, MacRumors, and obviously, Engadget or Gizmodo. I don't feel like I'm only speaking for myself here.

 

Chil out dude. I discussed this issue promptly when dell had it in the news. I actually sold mine with the 8000 series gpu because of it. Not everyone will catch it on those news sites, and this is a way to give them a heads up. Notice all of the people that have commented werent aware of it.

No need to get in a huff about it.

 

Well, I for one am hearing about this first on this forum. But I got my warranty so I won't be too worried.

 

No need to get defensive, I wasn't saying it in an antagonistic tone. In fact, I believe I said "no offense" in the beginning (though apparently, you still did take offense.)

 

It gives us stuff to talk about, plus its a nice option if I happen to miss something while I surf mac sites.

 

Different batch of cards. Who knows we might see this is some of the new 15 inch.

 

Now that the idea of bad cards is out there more people might start coming forward stating that they had their cards die too. Its just a matter of time.

I wonder what nvidia is going to do about this. They have done pretty much nothing for the 8000 series cards in particular the 8600m gt.

 

If only ATI made half decent chipsets.

 

Huh ?? Are you saying that ATI currently does not make compareable GPU's to Nvidias ?? If so you may want to look at some of the current ones out such as the ATI Mobility 4850, 4870's, etc. that are comparing nicely against Nvidia's current 9000 series GPU's. I hope this helps. God Bless

 

even the 3870 is better than the 9600m gt

 

Isn't it possible that the MBP is just too slim to cool the GPUs properly? I don't recall any other model having issues with the 9600 GPUs.

 

Everything is possible nowadays

 

I really wonder how many machines are really affected.

The 9600M GT is a warm card when pressed. Just ask a HP dv5 owner. But also the firmware and drivers for it under Mac OS are not stellar.

I doubt this'll prove to be a hardware issue. But if it does, then ouch for all the people who dished out 2899+50 bucks or more.

The Apple support thread isn't growing that fast but an amount of people have the exact same symptoms.

 

Remember apple has a proven history of deleting posts on their site that might make them look bad when hardware problems arise...not saying they are doing that, but its a possibility that they let only a few post and deleted the others.

 

Pretty much every company that has there own forums do that. Dell does it too. But wouldn't you delete posts that made your company look bad?

 

Honestly, i wouldn't. It is rather deceptive. Instead i would quickly evaluate the situation and determine the best solution to fix it now would be, and then also figure out how to prevent it in the future from happen - and implement those ideas.

Also, its not really like its a bad one on apples fault - the guilt really lays in nvidia hands.

 

You're kidding me? Is this why most people who have troubleshooting with their Macs trying to keep it on the downlow? Because the company promotes such behaviour?

 

Amd FTW !!!

 

Bah... a thin design also lead to a worst airflow -> more heat =/

 

I don't seem to have this problem. I played WoW for a good while and everything ran perfect, no problems at all.

 

worrying...

the question is; is this software or hardware?

could be that the screen is 1920x1200 on 17" compared to 1440x900 on 15" MBP. that could push the card consistently harder.

 

The thinness of the 17 inchers shouldn't be a problem, especially considering the 15" are actually .03" thinner than the 17". It may be a factor of the display, but I've heard that this happens even on reduced settings, with the 9600. As suggested before, bad batch, perhaps?

 

This essentially means that apple care should be bought.

 

Does anyone know the size and quality of the heatsink in the 17-inch MBP? MBP run fairly hot with the quiet fan. The lack of airflow in the unibody aluminum construction might be a factor in overheating.

Is it poor thermal paste application once again? Or is it NVIDIA incompetance again?

 

http://www.product-reviews.net/2009/03/06/apple-17-inch-macbook-pro-problems-from-nvidias-geforce-9600m/

 

Just today, I notice I have this problem ONLY when I'm in OSX. When I'm in World of Warcraft the blue flickering issue doesn't exist. So this leads me to believe this is a OSX issue.