So I have a bad 8600GT... Now What?

Hey guys,

I have a defective 8600GT in my XPS m1530. My temps have been at high as 95 degrees, I idle at 65, and the card slows down around 80 or so. Therefore, I cant do much gaming because once I hit 80 degrees, everything slows down.

I know all the 8600GTs are defective and Dell put the bios update out, but it hasnt helped me at all. I also know that Dell extended my warrenty by a year, but my real question is what would you guys do?

If Im willing to wait a while and be gentle with my 8600GT, could I possibly replace my laptop once m1530s are not being made anymore, and get something new? I did that with my 3rd gen ipod, returned it once 4th gens came out and I got a nice new 4th gen =]

What should I do?

 

how long are you willing to wait?

 

I can wait a year, if it means i get a nice nextgen XPS.... I can game on my desktop, its just nice to be able to on my laptop

 

I don't think the 8600 downclocks itself until above 100C. I could be wrong though, have you monitored the clock speeds while gaming to confirm this? Anyways, theres a ton of threads instructing how to lower temps.

 

The Nvidia defect had nothing to do with high temps - it's stress due to warming and cooling. Unless you are seeing the symptoms (Multiple images, random characters on the screen, lines on the screen or no video signal) then you are not yet a victim of the Nvidia bug.

 

well then why are my temps so high? I hae it proped up an everything...

 

I would guess a deficiency of your cooling. When it's running full load and giving you these temp readings is there hot air being exhausted from the vent? The weakest link in the chain is the thermal pad - if thats not working properly you wont have the heat transfering to the heatsink. Unfortunately the pad is quite deep so you cant just replace with thermal compound (hence the need for the copper mod).

 

Sorry to hijack sorta.

So on one vent you should feel cold air and on the other hot air?

I think on my back by the bottom of my monitor I feel hot and on the bottom underneath i feal cold?

 

chances are with the temperatures your running.. its only a matter of time till the GPU fails...

 

i had the same problem my heatsink wasnt seated corrected, call up dell and they will fix it for ya, my gpu was maxed out at 100 degrees but now its maxing out at 80.

 

I would wait 60 days. send various emails keep track of the ID tickets numbers.

then hit up [email protected]

or [email protected] he either reads it or his staff does and you will get a call back from Executive Support or Global resolutions some other team its delegated to and they resolve anything. I got a direct call back within 20 hours.

And enjoy your new Studio XPS 1640, like your bad 3rd gen IPod you got a nice new 4th gen if you play this right, you'll end up with a new lappy easy.

You have the defective 8600GT documentation press release, and temps running high, Dell taking responsibility extending your Warranty. Play this right let them know you are the "victim" an innocent customer and tell them this is unacceptable. Hang those high temp overheating number over their heads like DUI court hangs you with a .09 breathalizer test, once they have that number against you on paper its game over you can't argue with a number on paper. Play that will DELL. Your GPU temps hits 80 your machine becomes useless.

 

Yup, call DELL and have them fix it for you iffin it's under warranty. Why put up with it?