Will Nvidia 8600M card hold up if i don't play game?

I'm scared that it might not hold up and thinking of selling my M1530. I don't even play game but would occasionally watch a movie while hooking up to a tv. So will it hold up for a long time or it might die within 2 years?

 

Does it ever go above 60C?

 

I have been gaming (Battlefield 2) with my 8600m GT in my Dell for 3 years and I run it hot with a modded driver. It shows no signs of weakness at all. Just be sure to clear out the dust that builds up at the fan end of the card's heat duct (I shaved a few degrees off the temp doing that recently).

 

As an XPS M1330 owner I would like to point everyone's attention to the news that NVIDIA has admitted to a major manufacturing screw-up, which is seeing thousands of its GPUs overheating, burning out and failing.

There has been a class action brought against the company in the United States and affected customers will be entitled to compensation, provided they have one of the affected GPU's. These are the 8400M and 8600M. A settlement was agreed in the courts only recently and it looks like NVIDIA got off pretty lightly, but only time will tell. As there are potentially many thousands more with this GPU outside the US there now is hope that we can finally get justice over this matter.

As a European citizen I would ask any European customers who have suffered the problems due to the fault, whether you own Acer, Apple, Asus, BenQ, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, LG, MSI, NEC, Sony, Toshiba (Yes, all these computer companies have used these GPU's) to make a lot of noise and keep contacting both your computer manufacturer and file a complaint with a consumer rights office in your own country. This has to be brought to the attention of the European courts for anything to happen here.

Here's a link to the official NVIDIA Settlement website:

http://www.nvidiasettlement.com/

Remember, so far this only refers to US customers so if you bought your system outside the US this does not cover you. The only way to get justice is to kick up a big fuss and to bring this to the attention of the European Courts. You can use the site to see which computer models have been covered in the settlement.

Here is a news article on the sorry story:

http://apcmag.com/nvidia_disaster_thousands_of_gpus_faulty.htm


Finally, I would ask everyone affected to pass this information on by posting in forums, social networking sites, etc. This was a big surprise to me as Dell told me just a month ago that there is nothing wrong with the 8400M GPU although I have had my motherboard replaced 3 times since the summer of 2007 when I purchased my XPS M1330 for nearly €2,000.

Thanks

 

If you don't do extreme gaming and regularly clean your notebook you should be fine.

Should be noted not ALL G84M/G86M chips were defective, they just have a very higher than average failure rate. My 8400M GS has been going strong in my Vostro 1500 for 3+ years but I have a discreet card (not soldered onto the motherboard like most chips).

 

thanks everyone, i think im going to sell my m1530, cant afford to risk it since its out of warranty

 

Unfortunately OOW M1530s are hard to sell, might try your luck on Ebay. Completed listings show 200-800 (I would never pay 800 for a laptop plagued by the defective Nvidia chips)

 

In my old ASUS laptop with the 8600M, it would work just fine surfing or watching movies, but then bluescreen within minutes of starting a game. Though with these chips YMMV greatly, as there are some that can't even boot because their GPU completely failed. If it ever stops working, you could always try to 'bake' it, which seems to work for some people.

 

I can easily get $500+

Its only been used for 1 year. I mainly use my macbook more. I heard about the graphic card so i was a little worried.

 

just saw a tutorial on youtube, what a crazy idea but i guess it works. If i decide to keep my dell and if it ever fails then that would be my last resort.

 

I would try Ebay, again it was badly plagued by the defective Nvidia chips, unless you find some poor bloke who has no idea.

 

There are many repair services on ebay for bad video. Copper shims are also available to lower gpu temps greatly.

 

Yeah but they wont do a good job (probably just reflow) and it will fail pretty soon after they "repair" it. Even if they reball it, that's not a permanent fix because the problem isn't just because of bad solder.

I would get whatever you can for it now, put the money towards something with sandy bridge (the IGP could be almost as powerful as your 8600m).