# Intel Identifies Sandy Bridge Chipset Design Error, All Shipments Stopped



## btarunr (Jan 31, 2011)

As part of ongoing quality assurance, Intel Corporation has discovered a design issue in a recently released support chip, the Intel 6 Series, code-named Cougar Point, and has implemented a silicon fix. In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives. The chipset is utilized in PCs with Intel's latest Second Generation Intel Core processors, code-named Sandy Bridge. Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support chip from its factories. Intel has corrected the design issue, and has begun manufacturing a new version of the support chip which will resolve the issue. The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are affected by this issue. 






The company expects to begin delivering the updated version of the chipset to customers in late February and expects full volume recovery in April. Intel stands behind its products and is committed to product quality. For computer makers and other Intel customers that have bought potentially affected chipsets or systems, Intel will work with its OEM partners to accept the return of the affected chipsets, and plans to support modifications or replacements needed on motherboards or systems. The systems with the affected support chips have only been shipping since January 9th and the company believes that relatively few consumers are impacted by this issue. The only systems sold to an end customer potentially impacted are Second Generation Core i5 and Core i7 quad core based systems. Intel believes that consumers can continue to use their systems with confidence, while working with their computer manufacturer for a permanent solution. For further information consumers should contact Intel at www.intel.com on the support page or contact their OEM manufacturer.

For the first quarter of 2011, Intel expects this issue to reduce revenue by approximately $300 million as the company discontinues production of the current version of the chipset and begins manufacturing the new version. Full-year revenue is not expected to be materially affected by the issue. Total cost to repair and replace affected materials and systems in the market is estimated to be $700 million. Since this issue affected some of the chipset units shipped and produced in the fourth quarter of 2010, the company will take a charge against cost of goods sold, which is expected to reduce the fourth quarter gross margin percentage by approximately 4 percentage points from the previously reported 67.5 percent. The company will also take a charge in the first quarter of 2011which will lower the previously communicated gross margin percentage by 2 percentage points and the full-year gross margin percentage by one percentage point.

*Updated 2011 First Quarter and Full Year Outlook*
Separately, Intel recently announced that it had completed the acquisition of the Infineon Technologies AG Wireless Solutions business, which will now operate as the Intel Mobile Communications group. The company also expects to complete the acquisition of McAfee by the end of the first quarter.

The effects of the chipset issue and these transactions are incorporated into the company's revised outlook. The company now expects first-quarter revenue to be $11.7 billion, plus or minus $400 million, compared to the previous expectation of $11.5 billion, plus or minus $400 million. Gross margin percentage is now expected to be 61 percent, plus or minus a couple percentage points, compared to the previous expectation of 64 percent, plus or minus a couple percentage points. Spending (R&D plus MG&A) is now expected to be approximately $3.6 billion, compared to the previous expectation of approximately $3.4 billion.

The full-year revenue growth percentage is now expected to be in the mid-to high teens, compared to the company's prior expectation of approximately 10 percent. Full-year gross margin is now expected to be 63 percent, plus or minus a few percentage points, compared to the previous expectation of 65 percent, plus or minus a few percentage points. Spending (R&D plus MG&A) is now expected to be $15.7 billion, plus or minus $200 million, compared to the company's previous expectation of $13.9 billion, plus or minus $200 million. Research and development (R&D) spending is now expected to be approximately $8.2 billion, compared to the previous forecast of $7.3 billion.

All other expectations for the first-quarter and full-year remain unchanged. With the exception of McAfee, the outlook for the first quarter and full year do not include the effect of any acquisitions, divestitures or similar transactions that may be completed after Jan. 31. The acquisition of McAfee is subject to customary closing conditions.

*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## johnnyfiive (Jan 31, 2011)

haha


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## btarunr (Jan 31, 2011)

Thanks to DonInKansas for the tip.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 31, 2011)

Holy sh@% that sucks.


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## overclocker! (Jan 31, 2011)

i feel sorry for people who bought it.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 31, 2011)

All I know is there is a lot of E-peen hurting right now.


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## hardcore_gamer (Jan 31, 2011)

See what over-confidence can do :shadedshu


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## GSquadron (Jan 31, 2011)

That is really normal, it is Intel after all


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## newtekie1 (Jan 31, 2011)

overclocker! said:


> i feel sorry for people who bought it.



It isn't so bad, Intel is accepting RMAs on the affected processors.  This is why I never buy the first revision of a processor release.  Though to be fair, this isn't an issue with the processor, it is a problem with the integrated chipset.



Aleksander Dishnica said:


> That is really normal, it is Intel after all



It isn't like AMD hasn't had some pretty big issues with their silicon...TLB anyone?


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## Reaper83 (Jan 31, 2011)

Thats what happens when your only concern is quantity and not quality...


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## happita (Jan 31, 2011)

Upgrading from an i7 setup to a sandy bridge now won't get you a huge performance boost such as waiting for the i7 sandys. Then that will be for the highend epeeners 
But seriously, it's going to be great to see how it competes with Zambezi.


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## DoomDoomDoom (Jan 31, 2011)

It would explain the odd issue I get to where my system doesn't immediately recognize my second hard drive. Intel's partners need to get on the ball about RMAs for affected boards.


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## Cheeseball (Jan 31, 2011)

So is H67 and P67 affected?


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## bear jesus (Jan 31, 2011)

Is this all of the 6 series chip sets? as in everyone who bought them is effected? 

Bad news for Intel but I'm sure a $700,000,000 hit won't be too bad for them in the long run.

 The share price


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## oily_17 (Jan 31, 2011)

Cheeseball said:


> So is H67 and P67 affected?



Yeah both, you can see a list here -

http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?codeName=37529


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## Static~Charge (Jan 31, 2011)

newtekie1 said:


> It isn't so bad, Intel is accepting RMAs on the affected processors. This is why I never buy the first revision of a processor release. Though to be fair, this isn't an issue with the processor, it is a problem with the integrated chipset.



Which is even worse, because the chipset is soldered to the motherboard. This will require you to send the board back to the manufacturer for repair/replacement.

Intel has stopped shipment of the defective chipset, but what about those boards already on the shelves? Are they being recalled? Is there any way for end-users to identify if they have the defective chipset on their board?


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 31, 2011)

bear jesus said:


> Is this all of the 6 series chip sets? as in everyone who bought them is effected?
> 
> Bad news for Intel but I'm sure a $700,000,000 hit won't be too bad for them in the long run.
> 
> ...


It didn't even drop a dollar, lot less than what happened to Apple when Steve Jobs took time off a few weeks ago.

This doesn't seem to be the biggest problem they have had.

Also in before every AMD troll claims victory


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## bear jesus (Jan 31, 2011)

[H]@RD5TUFF said:


> It didn't even drop a dollar, lot less than what happened to Apple when Steve Jobs took time off a few weeks ago.
> 
> This doesn't seem to be the biggest problem they have had.
> 
> Also in before every AMD troll claims victory



 come on, the stock market is so stupid, a sudden drop of like 25 cents is shocking and the end of the world


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## madrooster (Jan 31, 2011)

It still hasn't been confirmed as to which chipsets are affected, it may not be all chipsets.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 31, 2011)

[H]@RD5TUFF said:


> It didn't even drop a dollar, lot less than what happened to Apple when Steve Jobs took time off a few weeks ago.
> 
> This doesn't seem to be the biggest problem they have had.
> 
> Also in before every AMD troll claims victory



I agree. Keep the trolling down and leave it to the professionals. This is bad news for a lot of our tech brothers.


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## bear jesus (Jan 31, 2011)

As it's the chip set is this bad news for the board makers?


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## cadaveca (Jan 31, 2011)

bear jesus said:


> As it's the chip set is this bad news for the board makers?



Yes/No. It may affect future purchases, so may have a negative impact on overall P67 board sales, but as this is Intel's problem; it'll be up to them to deal with the OEMs.


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## DonInKansas (Jan 31, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> I agree. Keep the trolling down and leave it to the professionals.



We can't all be as pro as you, MailMan......

Just a blip on the radar.  This will only really matter in the longrun to Intel hatin' AMD fanboys and the extreme enthusiasts who push their stuff hard enough that this becomes an issue.


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## xbonez (Jan 31, 2011)

As one of the early adopters of Sandy Bridge, I'm not so bothered myself because

Its a chipset problem, not a problem that affects the Processor directly. Motherboards weren't that expensive (I got mine for 150 bucks). yes, 150 isn't cheap if your motherboard dies in a month, but in a video conference with Anandtech, an Intel rep said that Intel believes these errors (regarding the SATA bus) will take 3 years or more to surface for end-users (take it with a pinch of salt), and will affect only about 15% of the customers (also, a pinch of salt).
Early adopters rarely are the ones who stick with a system for 3 years, and 3 years down the line, if my motherboard dies, I wouldn't mind shelling out some more money for a motherboard (God knows how much they'll sell for at that point).
Also, from what I've gathered, these errors do not affect the SATA ports on the Marvell controller, or the SATA 6GBps ports (again, 3 years down the line, chances are we'll all have moved on to them)

Any issues you read about people burning their chips/socket etc etc are almost certainly unrelated and an ID10T error caused by pushing far too much voltage to a 32nm chip.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 31, 2011)

DonInKansas said:


> We can't all be as pro as you, MailMan......
> 
> Just a blip on the radar.  This will only really matter in the longrun to Intel hatin' AMD fanboys and the extreme enthusiasts who push their stuff hard enough that this becomes an issue.



Ya see its simple. For every fanboy comment that is made against Intel karma notes. AMD will have something equal or worse happen to them in return. E-peen destruction everywhere. The world of peen will end as we know it.


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 31, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Ya see its simple. For every fanboy comment that is made against Intel karma notes. AMD will have something equal or worse happen to them in return. E-peen destruction everywhere. The world of peen will end as we know it.





TheMailMan78 said:


> I agree. Keep the trolling down and leave it to the professionals. This is bad news for a lot of our tech brothers.


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## Solaris17 (Jan 31, 2011)

happita said:


> Upgrading from an i7 setup to a sandy bridge now won't get you a huge performance boost such as waiting for the i7 sandys. Then that will be for the highend epeeners
> But seriously, it's going to be great to see how it competes with Zambezi.



i dont get why everyone is bringing up e-peen. Are you confused? it doesnt affect stuff like benchmark scores SB users will still school you. its a SATA chip for christ sake. it doesnt effect anything else on the board.

This message is brought to you by Solaris17 a non SB user.


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## xbonez (Jan 31, 2011)

Also, worth noting:



> the flaw is restricted to a performance issue and *cannot cause data loss.*


(taken from Intel's official announcement of the flaw) 

So, unless you're all about benchmarking HDD speeds, you have nothing to worry about. Even if you are, you have nothing to worry about for atleast a couple of years.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 31, 2011)

Solaris17 said:


> i dont get why everyone is bringing up e-peen. Are you confused? it doesnt affect stuff like benchmark scores SB users will still school you. its a SATA chip for christ sake. it doesnt effect anything else on the board.
> 
> This message is brought to you by Solaris17 a non SB user.



E-peen: A state of mind that the victim is left believing he/she has the 133test hardware. It can also be diagnosed as "Hey look I have the latest sh!t!" bug.


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## PaulieG (Jan 31, 2011)

Even if the affects will take 2-4 years to show up, it will have impact on reselling the board. For that reason, I will be returning my board as soon as I am able to. That is certain.


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## Solaris17 (Jan 31, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> E-peen: A state of mind that the victim is left believing he/she has the 133test hardware. It can also be diagnosed as "Hey look I have the latest sh!t!" bug.



99% of the forum your argument is invalid. its a SATA chip it has nothing to do with actual sandybridge performance just the performance of HDD's assuming your chip is bad.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 31, 2011)

Solaris17 said:


> 99% of the forum your argument is invalid. its a SATA chip it has nothing to do with actual sandybridge performance just the performance of HDD's assuming your chip is bad.



Please see "Hey look I have the latest sh!t!" bug. Early adopters do so often for E-peen.


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## cadaveca (Jan 31, 2011)

Solaris17 said:


> 99% of the forum your argument is invalid. its a SATA chip it has nothing to do with actual sandybridge performance just the performance of HDD's assuming your chip is bad.



if data cannot get from the hdd to the ram for the cpu to crunch, you bet it affects performance.


Shocking claim, coming from you. Or is it?


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 31, 2011)

Solaris17 said:


> 99% of the forum your argument is invalid. its a SATA chip it has nothing to do with actual sandybridge performance just the performance of HDD's assuming your chip is bad.



It affects only boards using a SATA controller other than Marvell.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 31, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> if data cannot get from the hdd to the ram for the cpu to crunch, you bet it affects performance.
> 
> 
> Shocking claim, coming from you. Or is it?



lulz Hes trying.


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## Solaris17 (Jan 31, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> lulz Hes trying.



if your into benching your SSD every 5min then that could be a problem in about 2 years. i dont understand how the claim is so shocking im not on the latest hardware.


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## cadaveca (Jan 31, 2011)

You don't have dead baords sitting in your computing room. 


I do. 


Maybe this is the cause of my problems? Can't say for sure, but you bet I've had issues. You don't have the hardware, so even commenting on it seems foolish from that perspective...with no experience with the issues surrounding the chipset, how can you even claim what/how this bug affects users?

Not to single you out(although I am), without concrete evidence as to how this bug plays out, making comments on how this bug affects users is just not the right approach.

Leave that to the experts. And the Intel experts think that this is a large enough issue to make a public statement, and to start recalling boards from OEMs.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 31, 2011)

Solaris17 said:


> if your into benching your SSD every 5min then that could be a problem in about 2 years. i dont understand how the claim is so shocking im not on the latest hardware.



I was talking about the e-peen.


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## devguy (Jan 31, 2011)

As was mentioned already, a lot of motherboards available have a separate SATA/RAID controller (usually Marvel), so just use that in case you are affected.  I hear Intel is actually manning up on the situation.

And no one is going to stop the haters from hating on Intel about this.  I remember the TLB B2 Phenoms and how much shit was thrown at them by client-system Intel enthusiasts.  I mean, sure it was a big deal in the Server space (Barcelona), but myself and 4 others I know who had a B2 Agena powering a desktop workstation never encountered the bug to this day.


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## Solaris17 (Jan 31, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> You don't have dead baords sitting in your computing room.
> 
> 
> I do.
> ...



commenting isnt foolish. I dont have an intrest in your dead boards nor do i believe they are related to the SATA problem. if the board is dead I can almost garentee it isnt an issue with this as it said nothing about the board dying only that performance will degrade. Not owning the hardware has nothing to do with the fact that i can read. In fact i think im a little less bias'd in that aspect because im not the one with dead SB boards in my room all butt hurt and using a SATA chip as an excuse to bash intel. I hardly consider you an expert more like someone with money to blow, dont assume that im somehow intellectually inferior to yourself the stench of ignorance is extreme.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 31, 2011)

devguy said:


> As was mentioned already, a lot of motherboards available have a separate SATA/RAID controller (usually Marvel), so just use that in case you are affected.  I hear Intel is actually manning up on the situation.
> 
> And no one is going to stop the haters from hating on Intel about this.  I remember the TLB B2 Phenoms and how much shit was thrown at them by client-system Intel enthusiasts.  I mean, sure it was a big deal in the Server space (Barcelona), but myself and 4 others I know who had a B2 Agena powering a desktop workstation never encountered the bug to this day.



And thats my point. EVERYONE runs into problems. Intel, AMD it don't matter. It just matters to the fanboys and their e-peen. I'm glad Intel came out and said "hey we F@#ked up" instead of denying the issue and the EU suing them 10 years from now.


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## xbonez (Jan 31, 2011)

It doesn't affect the 6GBps SATA ports either. 3 years down the line, I really hope we've all moved on to that.


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Jan 31, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> lulz Hes trying.








lulz your not ?


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## cadaveca (Jan 31, 2011)

Solaris17 said:


> commenting isnt foolish. I dont have an intrest in your dead boards nor do i believe they are related to the SATA problem. if the board is dead I can almost garentee it isnt an issue with this as it said nothing about the board dying only that performance will degrade. Not owning the hardware has nothing to do with the fact that i can read. In fact i think im a little less bias'd in that aspect because im not the one with dead SB boards in my room all butt hurt and using a SATA chip as an excuse to bash intel.



I'm not bashing intel. I was bashing them where? You sound alot more angry about this than I do, but you always like to complain, from my experience.

I'm just stating facts. If it was a non-issue, there would have been no statements, and no recall of the older chips.


It affects me directly...I now have boards that I will have issues selling, as they were from before release. And no, they are not dead due to overvotling the cpu...at least not intentionally. I had a problem from day one, even had to return cpu for testing. The cpu tested fine.

I commend Intel for taking steps so early to deal with the problem, 100%. This is much better than nVidia with thier issues with certain chipsets, that Mr NV never answers direct questions about.


So all I can say...Good job intel, for maknig sure your customers get all they should out of your products.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 31, 2011)

[H]@RD5TUFF said:


> http://www.surreal-reality.com/Images/funny/look_sir_trolls.jpg
> 
> lulz your not ?



I don't need to try. I'm a natural. But in this case what I said is true.


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## LittleLizard (Jan 31, 2011)

I would seriously expected that if there was going to be trouble with sandy bridge, it would be the processor with the Graphics & CPU on one die design. But not the chipset.


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## Easy Rhino (Jan 31, 2011)

this will have little to no impact on the stock price of intel nor will it be a major inconvenience for customers.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 31, 2011)

LittleLizard said:


> I would seriously expected that if there was going to be trouble with sandy bridge, it would be the processor with the Graphics & CPU on one die design. But not the chipset.



Its the everyday shit that gets you. Not climbing Everest for the first time.

@Easy Rhino:

Your Rhino looks fat.


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## cadaveca (Jan 31, 2011)

Easy Rhino said:


> this will have little to no impact on the stock price of intel nor will it be a major inconvenience for customers.



It's had a little impact already, especially considering the annoucement of a major succesful deal that should have caused thier shares to increase in price today. So the actual imapct on shares isn't exactly transparent.


But, you are right...the boards have been on the market for less than a month. Personally I think this will affect the OEMs like Dell and HP more than anyone else, as they build units in the order of 1000's at a time. they probably have 100.'s of 100's of unit ready to ship, that must now have boards replaced.

That deal I speak of? Here:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20030028-17.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20


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## LittleLizard (Jan 31, 2011)

Easy Rhino said:


> this will have little to no impact on the stock price of intel nor will it be a major inconvenience for customers.



impact it had. But it wont last more than a few days unless another design flaw shows up.

edit: 





TheMailMan78 said:


> Its the everyday shit that gets you. Not climbing Everest for the first time.



Lol. That means that if i thought of a financial standard to stop the UE from going bust, i should try it first which i cant cause it will destroy the market if something goes wrong?


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## Solaris17 (Jan 31, 2011)

Easy Rhino said:


> this will have little to no impact on the stock price of intel nor will it be a major inconvenience for customers.



I think so as well. Even with the knowledge of knowing the controllers are defective if it fail in 2 years or even less I seriously doubt it will be that big of an issue. The boards will get replaced like any other component. Knowing that its defective doesnt change the fact that any part in your PC can die at any time. If intel is backing it and manufacturers support their customers i dont see the issue.


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## Easy Rhino (Jan 31, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> It's had a little impact already, especially considering the annoucement of a major succesful deal that should have caused thier shares to increase in price today. So the actual imapct on shares isn't exactly transparent.
> 
> 
> But, you are right...the boards have bene on the market for less than a month. Personally I think this will affect the OEMs like Dell and HP more than anyone else, as they build units in the order of 1000's at a time.
> ...





LittleLizard said:


> impact it had. But it wont last more than a few days unless another design flaw shows up.



intel's stock price is still 3.5 points higher than its YTD low despite this recall and bad PR. in fact, it has been hovering between 20 and 25 for the past 5 years. this is a blip.


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## cadaveca (Jan 31, 2011)

Easy Rhino said:


> this is a blip.



Sure. I agree 1000%. But it does strike me that they timed this annoucement at the same time as the deal to try to lessen the impact...I was expecting an overall price gain today, due to them securing more of the tech market with the infineon deal. Instead, it's gone down...just a knee-jerk reaction, for sure. more than pricing, I am concerned about shares changing hands...who's selling, and who's buying...


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## LittleLizard (Jan 31, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> Sure. I agree 1000%. But it does strike me that they timed this annoucement at the same time as the deal to try to lessen the impact...I was expecting an overall price gain today, due to them securing more of the tech market with the infineon deal. Instead, it's gone down...just a knee-jerk reaction, for sure. more than pricing, I am concerned about shares changing hands...who's selling, and who's buying...
> 
> http://forums.techpowerup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40456&stc=1&d=1296502752



well, then the price will be the same by tomorrow morning. 

On a side note, The share market is like the roulette. You place your money on a number (company). The amount of shares is your bet. The other shareholders are the other players on the table. The destiny is the croupier. If you put it in the right company, you will be rich by night. If you bet on the wrong one you will a lot less richer by nightfall and the other shareholders who bet on the right one are richer.


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## Solaris17 (Jan 31, 2011)

LittleLizard said:


> well, then the price will be the same by tomorrow morning.
> 
> On a side note, The share market is like the roulette. You place your money on a number (company). The amount of shares is your bet. The other shareholders are the other players on the table. The destiny is the croupier. If you put it in the right company, you will be rich by night. If you bet on the wrong one you will a lot less richer by nightfall and the other shareholders who bet on the right one are richer.



Like you said thats true for all companys you put stock in its a gamble. I dont think investing in intel is a mistake though problem or not. Your not going to be poor over night.


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## yogurt_21 (Jan 31, 2011)

hmm that's an annoying issue. i mean if it were me i'd be weighing the pita of taking apart my rig with the cost of a raid controller. I think the raid controller would win. 

at least they caught it before an epidemic of "why are my hard drives failing." It'll be old news in a few weeks.


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## cadaveca (Jan 31, 2011)

Solaris17 said:


> Like you said thats true for all companys you put stock in its a gamble. I dont think investing in intel is a mistake though problem or not. Your not going to be poor over night.



You'd be right on that one, we can agree on that for sure. Intel is back to pre-recessionary stock pricing, and has been for some time now. This doesn't make them a problem for long term holders, but it does affect those that make micro transactions several times throughout the day.


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## PaulieG (Jan 31, 2011)

A smart investor will buy during times like this. It is how the long term investor makes money in stable companies. It's also the worst time to sell, especially if you realize that a small mistake will not bring down a giant. My Intel stock will stay right where it is. May even buy a few shares today or tomorrow. Keeping an eye on the market.


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## Solaris17 (Jan 31, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> You'd be right on that one, we can agree on that for sure. Intel is back to pre-recessionary stock pricing, and has been for some time now. This doesn't make them a problem for long term holders, but it does affect those that make micro transactions several times throughout the day.



Agreed, for people that make transactions throughout the day with multiple companys a drop like this can effect them negatively for sure. they just lost money. If it was me, I would hold intel isnt going anyware fast. Though I think we can agree on more then you think Dave Troll threads dont bring out the best in me. I find myself playing devils advocate alot. I can say negative things about intel for this as well. I just dont think it will make the situation any better. Realisticly speaking is going to inconvienece people that have already bought SB going without a rig to return a board assuming manufacturers comply is also a PITA. To people this effects its also going to be bad. Their is good that i hink can come out of it however. Prices will drop for 1st gen SB unless they force a recall. Meaning that if anything intel will get more money from the mistake. The new "fixed" boards will probably hold the same price as current boards because it was their "mistake"


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## Robbaz (Jan 31, 2011)

I'm going to help you all out with some humor.


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## brandonwh64 (Jan 31, 2011)

Robbaz said:


> I'm going to help you all out with some humor.
> 
> http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/4858/dirtyjobrobbaz.jpg



This would have been a good picture if it had mike rowe in the driver seat of the bulldozer LOL


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## Easy Rhino (Jan 31, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> Sure. I agree 1000%. But it does strike me that they timed this annoucement at the same time as the deal to try to lessen the impact...I was expecting an overall price gain today, due to them securing more of the tech market with the infineon deal. Instead, it's gone down...just a knee-jerk reaction, for sure. more than pricing, I am concerned about shares changing hands...who's selling, and who's buying...
> 
> http://forums.techpowerup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40456&stc=1&d=1296502752



they pulled a steve jobs. he announced he was going on medical leave on a non-trading day and after they announced 10 million ipads sold.


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## TheLaughingMan (Jan 31, 2011)

brandonwh64 said:


> This would have been a good picture if it had mike rowe in the driver seat of the bulldozer LOL



I second that.


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## btarunr (Jan 31, 2011)

If only Intel kept the chipset industry open, they could have avoided the inevitable blot on the entire platform. Sandy Bridge processors are unaffected, but since Intel is the only chipset provider, the processor's sales too might get affected by partially-informed, fully-skeptical buyers. Had someone like say NVIDIA been allowed to make a chipset for Sandy Bridge, at least buyers of Sandy Bridge would have opted for motherboards that use the NV chipset, and Intel would have at least sold Sandy Bridge processors in the process.

Oh well, they can clear off LGA1156 inventory.


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## Robbaz (Jan 31, 2011)

brandonwh64 said:


> This would have been a good picture if it had mike rowe in the driver seat of the bulldozer LOL





TheLaughingMan said:


> I second that.



You guys win


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## Easy Rhino (Jan 31, 2011)

gotta love the knee-jerk reaction stock trolls


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## brandonwh64 (Jan 31, 2011)

This is the new background to my phone!! thank you

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4052/dirtyjobmikerow.jpg


----------



## Kreij (Jan 31, 2011)

Sell all your Intel stock NOW !!! You're going to need the money to buy ammo for the 2012 zombie apocolypse.

On topic ... This is not really a big deal at all. Some people may be affected in 2 to 3 years?
Yawn.


----------



## Solaris17 (Jan 31, 2011)

Kreij said:


> Sell all your Intel stock NOW !!! You're going to need the money to buy ammo for the 2012 zombie apocolypse.
> 
> On topic ... This is not really a big deal at all. Some people may be affected in 2 to 3 years?
> Yawn.



oh noes the controller on the board might go bad after the normal enthusiest hold time on a mobo! whatever shall we do?!


----------



## Kreij (Jan 31, 2011)

Not only enthusiast hold time, but 3 years is typical for corporate hold time too.
This is definitely not as worrisome as the zombie apocolypse ... or the hurricane headed for the already flooded areas of AU, or that new zit you noticed yesterday.


----------



## Mindweaver (Jan 31, 2011)

WOW, I was just comparing p67 boards earlier at newegg, and everyone I tried to click on took me to a discontinued Item page! So, I came here to check the forums and seen this.. I just checked Newegg and they are only listing 9 1155 boards now.. I just got my SB parts in today.. WTF...


----------



## Solaris17 (Jan 31, 2011)

Mindweaver said:


> WOW, I was just comparing p67 boards earlier at newegg, and everyone I tried to click on took me to a discontinued Item page! So, I came here to check the forums and seen this.. I just checked Newegg and they are only listing 9 1155 boards now.. I just got my SB parts in today.. WTF...



idk about you but im about to mad profit from people selling SB on the forums.


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Jan 31, 2011)

I'm unclear on what's effected. I have like 3 sata controllers on my evo. One 3.0 and two 6.0. Which is supposed to have the issue?


----------



## cadaveca (Jan 31, 2011)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> I'm unclear on what's effected. I have like 3 sata controllers on my evo. One 3.0 and two 6.0. Which is supposed to have the issue?




Here you go:



> Bottom line: if you are a consumer who's run out and grabbed a high-end laptop or desktop gaming rig in the last few weeks with an Intel quad-core processor billed as Intel's Second Generation Intel Core Processor, then you potentially have a problem.
> 
> Intel: main points of Sandy Bridge chipset flaw:
> 
> ...





One week from being notified, to implementing a fix, and notifying customers is an awesome turn around.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20030070-64.html#ixzz1CeNXSnPD


----------



## Mindweaver (Jan 31, 2011)

Solaris17 said:


> idk about you but im about to mad profit from people selling SB on the forums.



I'll take a cheap faulty in 2 years 1155 board..lol just use sata 6 when your 3.0 SATA controller dies FTW.. 




LAN_deRf_HA said:


> I'm unclear on what's effected. I have like 3 sata controllers on my evo. One 3.0 and two 6.0. Which is supposed to have the issue?



Just 3.0 SATA controller not the 6.0 from what i've read.


----------



## 15th Warlock (Jan 31, 2011)

Looks like it's affecting only the 3Gbs SATA ports, good thing my mobo has 6 other 6Gbs SATA ports (2 from P67 and 4 from dual Marvel controllers) which are backwards compatible with my SATA 2 drives, so I'll just move my drives to those ports in the meantime. 

Gigabyte (and all other mobo manufacturers as of this moment) has not addressed this problem yet, so I'm gonna hold my horses until I receive any info from them, no point in going the RMA route as all mobos in the channel must have the same issue. 

Will wait for Intel to update their chipsets and distribute them, then I hope GB will do he right thing and recall their p67 mobos. 

IMHO Intel did the right thing by informing their user base about this problem, and doing a recall, I applaud them for that. 

All hardware companies have had bad products batches in the past, it's impossible not to, as complexity increases for these parts. I'm glad Intel is addressing the issue and will take care of its costumers, to me that's all that matters in the end


----------



## bear jesus (Jan 31, 2011)

If Intel was able to reproduce the issue with stressing the chip then surly high usage would bring the issue out sooner?

If say you run the computer 24/7 with near constant hard drive usage would that not speed things up?

I think the main problem is killing resale value and looking at the sale forum most of us like to sell on our old hardware.


----------



## Solaris17 (Jan 31, 2011)

Mindweaver said:


> I'll take a cheap faulty in 2 years 1155 board..lol just use sata 6 when your 3.0 SATA controller dies FTW..
> 
> 
> 
> ...



when in doubt sata card it they all have a ludicrous amount of pci-e slots now anyway.


----------



## Mindweaver (Jan 31, 2011)

Solaris17 said:


> when in doubt sata card it they all have a ludicrous amount of pci-e slots now anyway.



I see a 3ware 9650SE in my future..


----------



## Hayder_Master (Jan 31, 2011)

that's cuz they want seal people with new socket which is no different from 1156 chipsets, shit on u INTEL


----------



## arroyo (Jan 31, 2011)

It looks like that:

Intel = great CPUs + bad chipsets (P55,P67,H67)
AMD = medicore CPUs + great chipsets (890GX, 890FX)

I would like to see a misalliance like this:
Intel 2600K + AMD 890FX board = THAT WOULD BE AWESOME


----------



## cdawall (Jan 31, 2011)

newtekie1 said:


> It isn't so bad, Intel is accepting RMAs on the affected processors.  This is why I never buy the first revision of a processor release.  Though to be fair, this isn't an issue with the processor, it is a problem with the integrated chipset.
> 
> 
> 
> It isn't like AMD hasn't had some pretty big issues with their silicon...TLB anyone?



at least the TLB bug didn't require me or you to take the said affected part go offline for x number of days to ship it all the way back to the manuf. wait X number of days for them to go oh this was part of that bad batch wait X number of days for it to show back up on your doorstep to get reinstalled into your PC. so instead thanks to intel any of these that have already found there way into a server just went offline because intel fucked up. this is not a little thing this is a big thing letting bugged parts out is an issue that is way there is a pending lawsuit against Nvidias flawed chipsets/IGP's. 

the TLB bug required a patch readily available on AMD's website and later built into windows. not that big of a deal for a server environment chipset taking a shit on you BIG DEAL.


----------



## meran (Jan 31, 2011)

wow i was supposed to buy this shit


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Jan 31, 2011)

Why did newegg just take down the SB procs? I get the boards, but not the cpus.


----------



## Mindweaver (Jan 31, 2011)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> Why did newegg just take down the SB procs? I get the boards, but not the cpus.



Yea, but what good is a processor with out a MB? I would say they did this to help there Customer support team. 

They are throwing a party at the AMD camp!  I'm not laughing to hard i have a P67 board that arrived today..


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Jan 31, 2011)

When amd had a problem with their actual processors I don't recall them being taken down. Shit makes no sense. And newegg shouldn't care that they can't sell boards with the cpus. If someone wants to buy a cpu let them, this is just a needless loss in sales.


----------



## Mindweaver (Jan 31, 2011)

I never said that it was right. Maybe they are looking back at that very problem and want to handle it different with this problem. idk?


----------



## niko084 (Jan 31, 2011)

Read about this earlier today...

Kinda sad I just ordered a 2600K and an ASUS P8P67 PRO...
Guess I'll have to see and if it starts to screw up I'll warranty it :-/


----------



## meran (Jan 31, 2011)

niko084 said:


> Read about this earlier today...
> 
> Kinda sad I just ordered a 2600K and an ASUS P8P67 PRO...
> Guess I'll have to see and if it starts to screw up I'll warranty it :-/



after destroying all your hdds


----------



## KieX (Jan 31, 2011)

From UK retailer's message about the news:



> Motherboards with devices connected to Ports 0 & 1 remain unaffected.


source

So on most motherboards, that is 2 intel ports plus 2 marvel ports (unaffected)... if I count properly you need 5 or more hard drives to have a small chance of developing a fault over 3 years (estimated).

I don't see why the fuss.


----------



## PVTCaboose1337 (Jan 31, 2011)

This reminds me of the Intel Pentium chip problem way back.  It is almost undetectable to the end user.  Only a few can notice it.  Glad to see Intel is doing the right thing, unlike last time this happened.  Last time they denied it.


----------



## niko084 (Jan 31, 2011)

meran said:


> after destroying all your hdds



Doesn't say anything of the sort simply degrading performance.
Don't make it sound to be some epic huge unrecoverable problem.


----------



## PaulieG (Jan 31, 2011)

meran said:


> after destroying all your hdds



Read the information in a little detail, it will not destroy drives. It will degrade performance. So, no real risk to hardware. It's also unclear as to what percentage of boards may experience this problem at all. I'm gonna hold on to my chip and board, and not overreact because I'm happy with it. When March or April comes, and the board partners decide how they are going to handle recalls, then I will probably send it in for replacement.


----------



## Psychoholic (Jan 31, 2011)

I am glad i purchased mine when i did, seeing as how newegg took them down.  

Should anything happen, it will just give me an excuse to move to SATA 6GB


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Jan 31, 2011)

I'm bugged mostly by resale value decrease. I'm fine with using the sata 6 if I even need to. Be nice if they could find some way to test if your particular board will be one of the 15% possibly effected after 3 years. Man this really does sound like a minor issue.


----------



## TheGuruStud (Jan 31, 2011)

newtekie1 said:


> It isn't like AMD hasn't had some pretty big issues with their silicon...TLB anyone?



You mean the bug where you had to be at 100% load and all cores virtualized with pigs flying overhead for the error to occur?

Yeah, whew, catastrophe averted getting that TLB fixed. That was all intel hype.


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Jan 31, 2011)

Explanation of the exact cause of the issue http://www.anandtech.com/show/4143/the-source-of-intels-cougar-point-sata-bug

Wonder if a bios change could fix it, though they'd have probably suggested it already. Undervolting may be sufficient to indefinitely hold it off.


----------



## cdawall (Feb 1, 2011)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> Explanation of the exact cause of the issue http://www.anandtech.com/show/4143/the-source-of-intels-cougar-point-sata-bug
> 
> Wonder if a bios change could fix it, though they'd have probably suggested it already. Undervolting may be sufficient to indefinitely hold it off.



after reading that undervolting wouldn't do anything the bias is fucked up and now its leaking they need to replace the gate.



> If you have a desktop system with six SATA ports driven off of P67/H67 chipset, there’s a chance (at least 5%) *that during normal use some of the 3Gbps ports will stop working over the course of 3 years. The longer you use the ports, the higher that percentage will be.* If you fall into this category, chances are your motherboard manufacturer will set up some sort of an exchange where you get a fixed board. The motherboard manufacturer could simply desolder your 6-series chipset and replace it with a newer stepping if it wanted to be frugal.



that sounds pretty shitty use more than port 0/1 and you could end up with just ports 0/1...as for the people asking earlier guess that means all of the overclockers pushing these boards will never notice


----------



## Thefumigator (Feb 1, 2011)

Just some observations...
What about making them work as SATA 1.0 (150m/s), it may be slow for some SSD, but still enough for most regular HDD and DVD rewriters of course... Not sure if its possible, I've never seen on bios cmos setup an option to turn your SATA 2.0 connectors to SATA 1.0 (maybe on windows device manager...). Also not even sure if this could help the chipset.

Buggy chipsets... what's next? buggy VGAs? Not that I found ok to see buggy hardware around, but I believe that is not big deal, if for some reason I get something buggy I would just solve it with a workaround... my Phenom 9500 worked ok for me, and that intel mobo sounds like an amazing deal if e-tailers do price drop for clearance. I would fix it with a pair of cheap SATA controllers I have sitting somewhere...


----------



## bear jesus (Feb 1, 2011)

One thing that is confusing me is everyone quoting 3 years as a definitive thing, if users have been having issues reporting it to Intel and then Intel reproducing the problem all within a month that would suggest to me if you have drives under heavy use on those ports it will wear them down pretty fast.

I know I'm far from a good example and not even using the chip in question but my PC runs 24/7 and is always either reading or writing to the primary drive which i always put on the first port of the on chip controller, would that mean if i had given in and bought something from the sandy bridge line i would be at a higher risk of wearing out the connection than most normal users?


----------



## Taskforce (Feb 1, 2011)

You know i think its about time they start making motherboards with sockets for chipsets along with unlimited CPU bandwidth, that way when its time to upgrade we wont have to buy a whole new board with practically the same features.


----------



## virtue (Feb 1, 2011)

i blame will.i.am


----------



## cadaveca (Feb 1, 2011)

I think the whole 3-year thing is due to most mobo's having a 3-year warranty..so within the board's warranty, it wil lfail, and as time goes on, the chances of failure are greater...so at the end, there may be a very high percentage of boards that fail.


5% isn't bad, most manufacturing is about 10%, AFAIK, so well within norms. It's the increasing percentage over time that is the problem, IMHO.


----------



## Zen_ (Feb 1, 2011)

> Intel told Anandtech regarding the frequency of the flaw: "over 3 years of use it would see a failure rate of approximately 5 - 15% depending on usage model." If the issue does manifest itself, you will experience slower read and write performance, *but data integrity, according to Intel, won't be an issue.*
> 
> Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20030052-1.html#ixzz1Cf8r0uRE



Don't know whether I'll exchange my board ASAP or wait for the ports to die...it's so annoying RMA'ing a vital component and not having a computer for over a week.

Also, I just noticed newegg has deactivated ALL socket 1155 motherboards, if someone hasn't posted that already.


----------



## cdawall (Feb 1, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> I think the whole 3-year thing is due to most mobo's having a 3-year warranty..so within the board's warranty, it wil lfail, and as time goes on, the chances of failure are greater...so at the end, there may be a very high percentage of boards that fail.
> 
> 
> 5% isn't bad, most manufacturing is about 10%, AFAIK, so well within norms. It's the increasing percentage over time that is the problem, IMHO.



thing is we are seeing reports now under heavy use they die. stupid things like i was looking at one of these for my HTPC those drives are almost constantly running as it runs as a DVR as well so yea dead mobo would piss me off.


----------



## Psychoholic (Feb 1, 2011)

Oh well.. if you dont feel like waiting on the RMA if and when your 3gb ports die, SATA 6GB Drives can be had for as little as 59 bucks these days.

EDIT : Not sure if the Intel 6GB ports are backwards compatible, probably not or they wouldn't have included the 3gb ones.


----------



## chevy350 (Feb 1, 2011)

Micro Center pulled all the 1155 boards as well. Just got off the phone with them to see where I stand "if" something should go wrong. Being I bought it before the defect was found and still under their 30-day warranty I can just bring it back in and get something else. Unfortunately I now only have this 1155 cpu so I'll just swap cable over to the Marvell ports and see what Asus does in the near future and if it ever dies or not.


----------



## 15th Warlock (Feb 1, 2011)

Psychoholic said:


> EDIT : Not sure if the Intel 6GB ports are backwards compatible, probably not or they wouldn't have included the 3gb ones.



They are


----------



## Dave65 (Feb 1, 2011)

Why has NewEgg pulled all there SB CPUs also if this is just a motherboard problem?


----------



## Jstn7477 (Feb 1, 2011)

Glad I bought my new laptop (Toshiba A665D-S6091 with AMD P940/M880G/SB850) for a nice price instead of waiting for Sandy Bridge laptops (if those use the same or similar chipset).


----------



## ..'Ant'.. (Feb 1, 2011)

Well I'm happy that I didn't upgrade to Sandy Bridge and I was about to also.


----------



## Psychoholic (Feb 1, 2011)

Hrmm... since they are backwards compatible anyways, why doesnt intel just drop the 3gb ports and use only the 6GB ports, wouldn't that be a pretty simple fix? lol



15th Warlock said:


> They are


----------



## [H]@RD5TUFF (Feb 1, 2011)

Psychoholic said:


> Hrmm... since they are backwards compatible anyways, why doesnt intel just drop the 3gb ports and use only the 6GB ports, wouldn't that be a pretty simple fix? lol



Because the controllers aren't mature enough, which is why they have the SATA 2 ports.


----------



## xBruce88x (Feb 1, 2011)

edit: and that ^

I guess b/c a controller with 6 6GB ports would have cost more than 2 6GB and 4 3GB (or however many..)


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Feb 1, 2011)

Just switched to sata 6, aside from my samsung making the most alarming noise ever on start up it went fine. Can't tell a dif.


----------



## Mussels (Feb 1, 2011)

at least the problems only on the boards, and not the CPU's.


----------



## btarunr (Feb 1, 2011)

Mussels said:


> at least the problems only on the boards, and not the CPU's.



Yeah, but without the boards, the processors are useless. Every LGA1155 board uses that faulty chipset today. So the entire platform is hit because there's no alternative chipset provider.


----------



## Robert-The-Rambler (Feb 1, 2011)

*Well.....*

Being an early adopter is akin to parachuting with just one chute. If it doesn't work you are SOL and stuck waiting for an RMA with an ETA that is TBA.


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Feb 1, 2011)

In the pc world everyone is always an early adopter of something or another. Unless you only ever buy year old used parts for your upgrades.


----------



## Syborfical (Feb 1, 2011)

Intel Epic Fail !!!
So glad I like to wait for second Gen Technology


----------



## 15th Warlock (Feb 1, 2011)

btarunr said:


> Yeah, but without the boards, the processors are useless. Every LGA1155 board uses that faulty chipset today. So the entire platform is hit because there's no alternative chipset provider.



I have to agree with you, there's no point in continuing to sell processors if all the mobos in the channel have this defect.

Although I love my SB system (I'm yet to see any performance degradation ), and I appreciate Intel's sincerity and the fact that it looks that they're willing to do anything to solve this problem and please their costumers, there's no denying that Intel wouldn't be in this position if manufacturers like VIA, SiS, Nvidia and even Ati weren't out of the Intel chipset business.

Even though some chipsets from those manufacturers were not as fast as Intel chipsets, there would have been a backup platform for SB CPUs.

Now the damage is done, and this has marred what would've otherwise been, one of the most successful hardware launches in recent history.

And even though SB procs are perfectly fine, and the bug itself isn't as crippling as most ppl are trying to make it sound, the fact that SB sales have effectively ended for the time being (both mobos and CPUs) could have been prevented if there were more chipset manufacturers giving ppl different choices to enjoy this new architecture.



LAN_deRf_HA said:


> In the pc world everyone is always an early adopter of something or another. Unless you only ever buy year old used parts for your upgrades.



Yes, this is the price to pay if you want to be in the bleeding edge of technology, I mean, C'mon, I bet that if ppl saying they are glad they weren't guinea pigs for Intel's new procs would've been offered a free upgrade to a SB system, most of them would've gladly accepted it


----------



## Psychoholic (Feb 1, 2011)

Heck, i'd still buy one new from newegg..  and slap some 6GB drives in that system and call it a day.  They should just keep selling them with some sort of disclaimer.


----------



## Deleted member 74752 (Feb 1, 2011)

I knew something was up after blowing up 7 OS installs in a row lol.

Seriously tho, for those with mb's already in hand don't rush to rma them just yet. I think the one month estimate is wildly optimistic and there is no sense in going without your pc any longer than necessary. Just use the SATA 6.0 Gb's connectors until replacements become widely available...then rma the mb.


----------



## Web (Feb 1, 2011)

I have no regrets being an 'early adopter' and don't have a problem removing the board(s) for rma when the time comes... shit happens


----------



## hv43082 (Feb 1, 2011)

Freaking a mang. Just sold my i7 mobo and CPU and bought SB combo and now this news. Sigh.


----------



## TAViX (Feb 1, 2011)

I see price cutting on the mobos for Sandy Bell!

btw, if the make a chipset revision they should also revise USB 3.0 instead of ancient 2.0. This way everybody will be happy in the end...


----------



## R3DF13LD (Feb 1, 2011)

Wow dat was just great it hits the "Xeon" c200 series chipset too 

Source


----------



## Bundy (Feb 1, 2011)

Hmmm, so Intel say that not a lot of customers are affected but they allocate $700 million to fix their problems? 
I was thinking about getting a SB but was unsure. I'm quite sure now! Looks like there will be a delay


----------



## Mussels (Feb 1, 2011)

percentage wise, very few intel customers have sandy bridge platforms at present. So it is only a small amount of customers.


----------



## chevy350 (Feb 1, 2011)

yup, mainly gonna be HP, Dell, Acer an them guys who got hurt the most lol....I'll wait an see how everything turns out before I try to RMA


----------



## HellZaQ (Feb 1, 2011)

The boys didn't show


----------



## PaulieG (Feb 1, 2011)

I just sent an email to a contact at Biostar-USA to see if there is talk about handling boards that need to be fixed or replaced. I'll post whenever I hear back from the rep.


----------



## mtosev (Feb 1, 2011)

One happy user with the LGA1366 socket. Too bad for them screwing their latest socket.


----------



## Silverel (Feb 1, 2011)

Yanno... Goddammit.

I've been an AMD guy since my K6-2, every single motherboard I've had has died in one way or another after a handful of years. Nothing else gone bad, just motherboards. Strictly AMD chipsets too. Granted, I've done my fair share of OC'ing in the past, but I just figured it was the cost of keeping a board for 2+ years at a time. So finally I've gotten to the point in my career where I have a fair amount of money stashed away for a nice rig and I go to Intel. Pick up a new P67 board and Sandy 2500k, well look at my specs I guess.

You can imagine my reaction on hearing this news 

Then I started digging into what was actually the problem with the board. Anand has a nice article up that goes into some detail and what can cause the SATA 2 to fail. Basically sticking your motherboard into an oven and over volting the SB. 

Yeah, I'm not planning on any of that nonsense. On top of that, the SATA 3 ports will still work regardless and if I REALLY need more SATA 2 ports, I'll probably end up with a PCIe RAID card anyway. So, while defective these early boards might be, all reports point to over volting in the short term, and regular use at around the ~3 year mark for points of failure. For the SATA 2 ports.

I can deal with that.


----------



## MicroUnC (Feb 1, 2011)

eh...

waiting for the revision...


----------



## Initialised (Feb 1, 2011)

Expect recall notices from the major MB manufacturers over then next 48 hours.


----------



## PaulieG (Feb 1, 2011)

Initialised said:


> Expect recall notices from the major MB manufacturers over then next 48 hours.



Not sure about this, as this is a response I received from a contact at Biostar...

"Hi Paul

At this moment we don’t have any official statement yet due to we have not yet been contact by Intel nor by our Biostar HQ office in Taiwan regarding the issue.  We most likely won’t get a response until next week because Taiwan is currently on a one week Holiday break, Chinese New Year.  However at this moment we are putting hold on the items until we can further clear things up."


----------



## Molignar (Feb 1, 2011)

Just a heads up for anyone in Canada who purchased through NCIX and hasn't seen this yet.....


http://forums.ncix.com/forums/?mode=showthread&forum=116&threadid=2309652&pagenumber=1&msgcount=1&subpage=1


http://forums.ncix.com/forums/?mode...did=2309652&pagenumber=1&msgcount=1&subpage=1    - Just incase I screwed the hyperlink  (trying to do this on the go)


----------



## PaulieG (Feb 1, 2011)

Molignar said:


> Just a heads up for anyone in Canada who purchased through NCIX and hasn't seen this yet.....
> 
> 
> http://forums.ncix.com/forums/?mode=showthread&forum=116&threadid=2309652&pagenumber=1&msgcount=1&subpage=1
> ...



I really hope that US retailers like Newegg, Tiger Direct etc. post something similar soon.


----------



## Initialised (Feb 1, 2011)

Paulieg said:


> Not sure about this, as this is a response I received from a contact at Biostar...
> 
> "Hi Paul
> 
> At this moment we don’t have any official statement yet due to we have not yet been contact by Intel nor by our Biostar HQ office in Taiwan regarding the issue.  We most likely won’t get a response until next week because Taiwan is currently on a one week Holiday break, Chinese New Year.  However at this moment we are putting hold on the items until we can further clear things up."


I can't say who, yet, but I have seen an email with text in the form of a formal statement from one MB manufacturer so far and similar nosies from another.


----------



## CDdude55 (Feb 1, 2011)

Very unfortunate for Intel. Hopefully they roll out with revised boards with fixed controllers soon.


----------



## Molignar (Feb 1, 2011)

Just thought I'd cut and paste this for any Gigabyte owners aswell who haven't seen it yet who are waiting on a timeframe for new boards...

-- Notice: Motherboards Based on Intel® 6 Series Chipsets --
-- GIGABYTE Acknowledges Intel’s Alert for Regarding 6 Series Chipset --

Taipei, Taiwan – February 1, 2011 – GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co., Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards and other computing hardware solutions, today announced that GIGABYTE has been alerted by Intel about a 6 series chipset design error. GIGABYTE is working closely with Intel® to minimize the inconvenience to customers and retail stores with regard to related issues.

A recent statement from Intel indicates that they expect full 6 series chipset volume recovery in April, 2011. GIGABYTE will produce and deliver new motherboards with the updated Intel 6 series chipset when the new chipsets become available. GIGABYTE prides itself in having the highest service quality in the industry, and as such we will resolve this issue with minimal impact on our customers.

Additional information will be added to the official motherboard website and the GIGABYTE Tech Daily blog as the situation develops.


----------



## 15th Warlock (Feb 2, 2011)

Molignar said:


> Just thought I'd cut and paste this for any Gigabyte owners aswell who haven't seen it yet who are waiting on a timeframe for new boards...
> 
> -- Notice: Motherboards Based on Intel® 6 Series Chipsets --
> -- GIGABYTE Acknowledges Intel’s Alert for Regarding 6 Series Chipset --
> ...



Good, April it is then. 

Our SATA 3 ports should get the job done in the meantime  

Thanks for the info


----------



## segalaw19800 (Feb 2, 2011)

My Dream came true..  HA HA HA..   I Know I'm an ass...


----------



## xbonez (Feb 2, 2011)

*Newegg's information* as posted by hertz9753 here



> Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you. Newegg has recently become aware of a design issue that is affecting recent models of Intel Sandy Bridge platform motherboards. We are working with Intel to identify the exact nature of this problem.
> 
> As always, Newegg remains 100% committed to our customers' total satisfaction. In keeping with our commitment to our customers, we are extending the return period for your motherboard by 90 days or until replacements become available from the manufacturer, whichever is greater. Intel expects to have a new revision of the P67 & H67 chipsets out around April, at which point first-run motherboards with this issue will need to be physically replaced in affected systems.
> 
> ...




*Currently chatting with Amazon to see if any updates on their end. Will update ASAP.*

EDIT

Here's Amazon's reply:



> I'm sorry. We don't have any update in our website. Please contact the manufacturer ASUS for more information.
> You can usually find contact
> information listed in the product manual that came with the item.


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## Mussels (Feb 2, 2011)

seems that newegg is good, gunna replace everyones boards.

amazon seem to be doing it a crap way, and telling you to deal with asus.


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## Zen_ (Feb 2, 2011)

Mussels said:


> seems that newegg is good, gunna replace everyones boards.



Well, they can't replace them yet because there is nothing to replace them with. They have offered refunds. 

I'm curious how long the full refunds will be good for...I like my current board but if there's something better by the time the redesigned P67 boards ship out, perhaps a free upgrade.


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## Mussels (Feb 2, 2011)

Zen_ said:


> Well, they can't replace them yet because there is nothing to replace them with. They have offered refunds.
> 
> I'm curious how long the full refunds will be good for...I like my current board but if there's something better by the time the redesigned P67 boards ship out, perhaps a free upgrade.



at a guess, it goes up the food chain. every bad board that suppliers have can be passed back to their supplier, who passes it back to intel for a replacement.


overall intel is the only one who really loses out, as everyone gets replacements.


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Feb 2, 2011)

All teh sandy cpu's and motherboards have been pulled from newegg. I chatted with a newegg rep named Andrea and she said that they dont expect anything sandy bridge related until around April of this year.


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## Zen_ (Feb 2, 2011)

Wow, if retailers are not expecting any new SB boards until April surely there will be an interim solution? Anyone who wants a midrange Intel system (i.e. not 1366) would have to buy older 1156 parts.


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## Mussels (Feb 2, 2011)

Zen_ said:


> Wow, if retailers are not expecting any new SB boards until April surely there will be an interim solution? Anyone who wants a midrange Intel system (i.e. not 1366) would have to buy older 1156 parts.



the interim solution is to not buy sandy bridge, or buy from the dodgy dealers who'll sell you the faulty boards.


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## Munki (Feb 2, 2011)

I can only laugh


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## Wiselnvestor (Feb 2, 2011)

Looks like Amazon and FutureShop are following Rules of Acquisition #189.


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## yogurt_21 (Feb 2, 2011)

*Newegg stops selling sandy bridge cpus*

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/sandy-bridge-sata-fail-chipset,12122.html

seems like newegg pulled all sandy bridge stock. wonder how long it's going to take for this to work itself out. kinda odd as for me raid controller beats incovenience and now customers aren't even going to be given that choice.


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## R3DF13LD (Feb 2, 2011)

Why's on april? IMHO there's sumthin fishy about this and maybe to counter amd i'm not sure


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Feb 2, 2011)

R3DF13LD said:


> Why's on april? IMHO there's sumthin fishy about this and maybe to counter amd i'm not sure



Doubt it. If that were the case, they could just release new CPU's.


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## R3DF13LD (Feb 2, 2011)

A big recall n to revise it? isn't cheaper that way?


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## yogurt_21 (Feb 3, 2011)

idk it does seem like an odd reason to recall, perhaps there is more to it.


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## CDdude55 (Feb 3, 2011)

R3DF13LD said:


> A big recall n to revise it? isn't cheaper that way?



That's what they are currently doing. Eventually revised boards will hit the market in the coming months.


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## R3DF13LD (Feb 3, 2011)

CDdude55 said:


> That's what they are currently doing. Eventually revised boards will hit the market in the coming months.



With sumthin new embeded on it


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## Flanker (Feb 3, 2011)

looks like intel still remembers the lesson they learnt from the pentium fdiv bug


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## MicroUnC (Feb 3, 2011)

I can still use SATA 3 GB/s with no broblem  Not a big deal.


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## Mussels (Feb 3, 2011)

i'm honestly shocked at how people dont care, because they seem to think 2-4 sata ports is enough.


you people scare me.

there there hard drives, its ok... the scary people cant reach you.


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Feb 9, 2011)

Newegg has reposted the Sandy Bridge CPU's.


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## PaulieG (Feb 9, 2011)

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:


> Newegg has reposted the Sandy Bridge CPU's.



It's funny that they reposted the 2600's but not the 2500's.


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## Deleted member 74752 (Feb 10, 2011)

I don't know why they took them down to start with...nothing wrong with the cpu's.


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Feb 10, 2011)

rickss69 said:


> I don't know why they took them down to start with...nothing wrong with the cpu's.



CPU's I linked are gone now.


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