Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

NVIDIA’s stock took a pretty big hit last week when it announced that “significant quantities” of “previous-generation” GPUs and mobile and communications processors were defective and that it would take a $250M charge against earnings to repair and replace the affected chips, but the company didn’t say which chips specifically were faulty, nor how many. That might be because the problem is much worse than it even sounds — according to a report in The Inquirer, every single G84 and G86 GPU in the 8400M and 8600M series of cards is affected. Apparently both chips share an ASIC, and the core design suffers from the same heat-related issues. That certainly implicates a “significant quantity” of chips, all right, but this is just a rumor for now — one that’s probably best handled by NVIDIA stepping up and letting its customers know exactly how big the problem is.

[Thanks, Rich]

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Filed under: Laptops

var digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/hardware/NVIDIA_significant_quantities_of_laptop_GPUs_defective’; If you’re the type to watch the late stock tickers, you might have noticed that NVIDIA’s stock just took a pretty big hit, down 24 percent to $13.56 — that’s because the company just informed investors that “significant quantities” of previous-generation graphics chips have been failing at “higher than normal rates,” and that it’s lowering its Q2 estimates due to pricing pressure. NVIDIA will be taking a $150M to $250M charge against earnings next quarter to cover the cost of repairing and replacing the affected chips, but didn’t specifically announce what products were defective, just that they include GPUs and “media and communications processors.” Laptop makers have apparently already been given an updated GPU driver which kicks in fans sooner to reduce “thermal stress” on the GPU, and NVIDIA says it’s talking to its suppliers about being reimbursed for the faulty parts. That’s great and all, but we’d really rather know which chips specifically are failing — if you’re serious about playing in the big leagues, you better come clean, guys.

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