Update on Radeon 7970m (Sager/Resellers)

I don't want to get involved in this fight, but to put it simply: yes. Why would AMD - a huge, global, multi-national company, put something on their site about a bad batch of GPUs shipped to Sager Notebook? There is nothing that warrants this.

 

^ So that people that pay over $200 for their products know about it. Is the customer so insignificant nowadays? Just because you are a member here, you know about it. What if you weren't? I'm sure there are several people that purchased from Sager or its resellers/Clevo builders that are not members here. How would they expect to hear about it? Oh and XoticPC is the only company that has been sending emails. The others have simply said that they "do not know when they would be receiving the next batch", which has obviously been delayed because of the defect. It is immaterial if oyu feel that there is nothing that warrants this. I feel there is, you don't. I am not saying you are wrong. I would suggest you do the same. Also, if I were in your place, I would have no problem waiting for months before receiving my GPU. However, I am not in your place. I only have before July 10th to get my notebook. After that, I will not be able to game on it until December. The point of purchasing a gaming laptop right now is kind of lost then. Also annoying is the fact that my CC has already been charged and my laptop might take up to two months to arrive. Now come back and say that it is completely okay to be kept in the dark and learn about the delays from forum threads.

Oh and it is HIGHLY unlikely that it was just the small batch delivered to Sager that was faulty. Chips are manufactured by the thousands per batch. Not by the hundreds. This is obviously a speculation, but it is highly probably that other vendors that have he 7970m are also going to be affected.

 

Yeah, I saw that thread right after I made that post.

 

Does anyone know if the newer Optimus drivers that nv released could be installed on any laptop or did they require hardware changes? 'Coz Optimus went through a similar phase and now it is much better. Enduro will most likely follow a similar path.

 

... and so, we wait. :-|

 

Lol... who did you say is frustrated about being without a laptop? I forget. For the record, I'm not at all frustrated about it. You clearly are

I would expect people to hear about the delay from whoever took their money, the people directly responsible for sending you a product. AMD didn't take my money. Mythlogic did, so they told me about the delay. Xotic isn't the only company letting their customers know. They all should be. If yours isn't keeping you informed, then you need to be upset with them. Your anger is misguided. If AMD put a statement on their website, I'd never see it anyway because I never go there, nor would I assume, do most other people. That's why the company you do business with is responsible for letting you know.

As far as whether or not they're the only ones, you may be right. Clevo seems to have been the only one to find the defect so far though. You should be happy that Clevo found the problem before it got to you. It would have been far more frustrating and time-consuming to get the finished product and have to send it back for repairs right away.

 

^ To be honest, I don't know about that. It would cost the resellers/builders a ton of money, but if the product got to us broken, there wouldn't really be a backlog. Sure I'd have to ship my laptop back for a week or so but right now I am gonna have to wait for over a month so I don't know. That being said, no one would actually do that coz its kinda unethical lol.

 

Anyone hear of any rumors about Asus or MSI putting a 7970m in their next laptops? Or at least their current ones? ETA perhaps?

 

Where did you hear that it's going to be over a month? It should be a matter of a week or two delay unless something else happens.

 

Those that ordered theirs some time last week will probably be getting their laptops around June 15-20.

 

Agreed, For sure less than a month, May-June is a great rush for builders to renew their config (even more with Ivy Bridge and new 28nm technologies). I expect Asus (no clue on MSI) to release one of their ROG computers upgraded soon.

Note : Apple new Macbook models are nearly there (WWDC 2012), Competitive Laptop configuration from constructors to be expected !

 

^ I thought ASUS only uses nVidia products?

 

OMG I received email of my unit shipment. I survive!!!!!!!!

 

Yeah, I wouldn't hold my breath for AMD-laden MSI laptops. I guess ASUS is likely the same, with some kind of exclusive agreement with NVIDIA.

 

^ Also, ASUS does not use the x80m in their laptops. They only go as high as the x70m I believe.

 

Me 2 !!

Ill be ready to dominate demonic hordes next weekend.

 

Blargh. It is as suspected, Malibal is semi-officially delayed until further notice. That was inferable though, as everything that has befallen Mythlogic has also befell Malibal (being that they are both small-ish builders and all). Major blargh.

Is MALIBAL Effected By The 7970M Defects Found In The 2nd Shipment? - Page 5

 

I am waiting mine....

 

O dear god... laptop's been shipped! I will receive my P150EM by next Wednesday and I shall a detailed and thorough review of it. I don't care if it's in the middle of my finals!

 

I'm personally furious atm as I ordered on the 29th along with two friends and I'm now seeing people who ordered after us saying their laptops are on their way being shipped. I really can't see a good explanation for this.

 

Xotic kinda irked me with my order. I placed my initial order Mar 8th (before deferred shipping was even an option), and my last order on the 29th when the 7970m hit their website. Even though I placed my order early and explained to them that I will be leaving the country in June, my order was still placed in the second go around. I had to cancel because I can't wait that long. Thankfully my buddy is a Sager dealer and he got me one that will be here Tuesday.
Not to blame Xotic for AMDs screw up, but I know I ordered earlier than some of the others getting their orders before me... Kinda the same thing when I pre-ordered my G73JH...

 

Congrats!!

 

Is there going problem with AMD card on the first batch similar to second batch?

 

First batch works good, the second batch is messed up...

 

Perhaps, but that can't all be attributed to the delay. Even without it they (I'm in that group too) likely wouldn't have received their units until the first or second week of June. If Clevo hadn't caught the problem, it would have likely added 2 weeks at the very least to get the units returned, repaired, and sent back.

Either way, these things happen, especially in the tech world on brand new products. I think if you're ordering something like this, you kind of have to plan for the inevitable delays. I'm fortunate in that I'm out of the country anyway, so even without this delay, Mythlogic would have been waiting another week and a half until I'm back in the US and can get my hard drives sent to them.

 

In the case of Malibal (and I am assuming Mythlogic), they have to wait for their supplier to test the first batch again too. So that adds an artificial delay there even though they may end up getting the first batch--eventually.

 

I for one would just like to thank both Myth and Xotic (particualarly Justin) for keeping us updated incredibly quickly of the situation and staying on top of user questions.

It's great service that you guys probably barely have time for between all the other work you're doing with dealing with actual orders and it's been very helpful to all of us. I'm still not 100% sure what's going on with my laptop, but I feel much better knowing people like you guys are on top of it.

Thanks!

 

Thanks!

We do try and keep everyone updated the best we can on sometimes limited information =)

 

Amen to that! Both great companies.

 

I still haven't receieved any new on my order...

 

Leave it to AMD to finally make a worthwhile product and then ship it out in short supply and half broken. no wonder they're constantly bankrupt.

 

Neither have I.... I also had to contact them to get my order into production as my "verification assistant" never answered my emails. If this is just some error that I haven't been contacted and mine too is being delayed I will be very upset. I could've cancelled my order and bought an alienware off ebay already..

 

@m3n00b & odin2347, if either of you want to email or PM me your order numbers I can look for you. If you have ordered anytime after 5/3 you would be on the next shipment.

 

Well that answers my question. Sigh.

 

And for being patient. I know they probably have the same question thrown at them several hundred times a day.

 

Well neither of them can be blamed. The customer is furious as he had planned a lot of things based on the ETA and the resellers are helpless as they are not the real reason for the delay.

 

The awesome response from the awesome and totally knowledgeable customer support guys over at AMD -

Yet to be released? LOL. No wonder their products are messed up. I hope the guys doing the VLSI design are a bit more knowledgeable than these people.

 

So you should be in the first batch. The more you customize your laptop, the more time it'll take in production.

 

I agree 100%.

I personally will be canceling my order and purchasing a cheaper $1300 laptop to tide me over until next year.

Waiting over a month for a laptop is unacceptable to me.

 

Yeah I wouldn't mind waiting except July is the only time that I really got free to game on a gaming laptop. I would assume that two months was a pretty big safety margin but apparently not.

Also, I am a bit annoyed that Mythlogic already charged my card. AFAIK, all the companies I have done business with, both big and small, do NOT charge my card until the order has been shipped, or, in this case, until the laptop goes into production/is being built because at that stage, they have actually started working on my laptop. I mean for all I know, my order might go into production a MONTH from now and I'm not sure it is very nice that they have money for a month without really working for it.

 

SHHHH don't say that. Apparently saying that is whining, complaining, being annoying and unacceptable and not at all the fault of the manufacturer. It is yours for not anticipating this delay and for preordering something.

 

Well I just downgraded to the 670m. Saved 200 bucks and I'll have my laptop within 2 weeks. Derek from Xotic was very helpful!

 

Unfortunately no, I am in the second batch. The reasoning I was given was that they basically put all the laptops on the production line with no regard to real order number priority since they assumed all the laptops placed would receive one. Then after they started finding out that the second batch of cards were defective they just sent out/continued with the ones that weren't. So although I ordered earlier my actual laptop was placed "down further" on the line so others who luckily were placed on the line before mine (and my two friends) received theirs. Even though I "ordered' mine first. Very very frustrating but xotic is doing all they can to help. All be it not a whole lot is possible at this point.

 

Why didn't you downgrade to the 675m instead? While 7970m >>> 675m, 675m >> 670m.

 

I'm gonna eventually upgrade it so I'll save money. there isn't a huge difference anyway

 

That's probably a good call then, for the time being!

 

Yeah, this is what really annoys me the most. I was charged around the 29th of April on my card. I didn't think much of it until all these delays started happening. If you think about it, thats money you either have to pay interest on or money that you could have earned interest on. I know I am splitting hairs here..but I am definitely borderline on cancelling my order.

 

Why is nv being so stupid and withholding their flagship? Is it 'coz they have seen the 7970m performance and are trying to better it? Coz that would mean AMD really beat nv this time. But if not, they are losing out on so much, especially now. I'm sure a ton of people would switch to nv. It would be like what $100 more expensive?

 

I got my 150em with 7970m and ivy bridge tuesday from powernotebooks, ordered on the 29th of april.

I'm not on the computer right now but i ran some benchmarks, 3dmark 2011 gave me 5900. On the Battery life side of things, i'm able to run diablo 3 for about 90 minutes running off the 7970m at max all settings 1080p before the battery gets drained.

I've had one blue screen since Tuesday caused by amd drivers, and the drivers have been pretty terrible at detecting games and switching automatically (i had to manually set diablo 3 and a few other games to use the 7970m) But other then this has performed fantastically.

 

^ How did you figure out it was because of the drivers? Or did Windows give you an error report?