NVIDIA Explains

If reports of failing G84 and G86 parts are not bad enough, the report of failing G92 and G94 would certainly make more than a few gamers shudder in fear. After all, these are arguably the two most popular NVIDIA GPUs in recent history. Many of us would be using graphics cards based on these GPUs and we sure do not want our cards to fail on us, do we?

We contacted our regional NVIDIA representative about the issue. We were especially interested in the claims that the G94 and G92 GPUs were also affected. The reply came in real quick but when we read it, it was obvious why. Take a look :

NVIDIA’s highest priority is to ensure complete satisfaction and delight for all of our customers. We fully stand behind our products and are cooperating with our partners to resolve the recently announced notebook field failure issue.

Please remember the following:

1) The issue is limited to a few notebook chips only; we have not seen and don't expect to see this issue on any NVIDIA based desktops

2) Only a very small percentage of the notebook chips that have shipped are potentially affected and the problem depends on a combination of environmental conditions, configuration and usage model

3) We continue to work closely with our partners and have taken the necessary steps to ensure that all NVIDIA chips currently in production do not exhibit the problem

As a result, it is very unlikely that your NVIDA based notebook product is affected

Again, we truly appreciate our customers passion for our products and apologize for any inconvenience. We are dedicated to delivering quality products that raise the bar on graphics performance across the spectrum from the world’s fastest gaming desktops to the sleekest ultra-portables available.

Verdict? Canned reply. They did not even bother to address our questions on the G92 and G94 parts. We e-mailed NVIDIA again, stressing the questions on the G92 and G94 parts. However, they chose to send us the same reply, ad verbatim. Do they even READ our e-mails????

Conclusion

Many people are wondering now. Should they get a notebook that uses NVIDIA graphics? Should they buy an NVIDIA GeForce graphics card for their desktop PCs?

When it comes to the G84 and G86 GPUs, both mobile and desktop parts should be avoided. I would personally avoid any notebook that uses these parts, if only to save me the hassle of sending my notebook back for the GPU to be replaced by a similarly short-lived GPU.

The reliability of the NVIDIA G92 and G94 parts are still to be determined. Unfortunately, NVIDIA's refusal to talk about these two parts do not make it any easier for users to decide whether to buy or not. Until and unless something definitive on the issue arises, it would be safer to just avoid graphics cards based on these two GPUs.

Do note that the new NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+ uses the new 55 nm version of the G92 GPU. If NVIDIA corrected the problem in this new GPU, it may not be affected by the problem we discussed above. Again, the operative word here is "may". If you are worried, just get the new GeForce GTX 260 or the ATI Radeon HD 4870!

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