Thinkpads Forum

My T61 was bought in 2007. In the summer of 2008, NV GPU crashed after half an hour's Warcraft game. Then mainboard was replaced freely because it's still in warranty. The GPU is "01R", seems to be the improved type. But today I see a pic of a GPU which is also claimed to be the improved type. But it's "01W". So I'm confused. Which type is the REAL improved type?

http://forum.51nb.com/attachments/month ... FTWhva.jpg

http://forum.51nb.com/attachments/month ... IMxJ9A.jpg

Admin edit: Removed inline images (the second one was way over-sized). Please keep them ~ 50KB and post a note in the subject line (i.e. *PIC*).

jbcdidgosir wrote:So I'm confused. Which type is the REAL improved type?

Any such GPU manufactured starting August 2008, regardless of the type labeling. I wouldn't bother about the type at all, but only about production date.
See forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?p=642947#p642947 for specific technical explanation in this matter.

Those photos could both be genuine replacement chips, or fakes, the only way to know for sure is if they came from a board refurbished by Lenovo or NOT. If Lenovo refurbished the board then you can be pretty sure they got the chip direct from nVidia, so it's good. If it's a 3rd party board, then you can be pretty sure it's a fake, since nVidia doesn't sell them to anyone other then OEM partners like lenovo. Basically they lose a lot of money when they make one, these chips are only profitable when mass produced. The fake chips that have flooded the market are old ones pulled off scrap computers and have new dates etched on them. If we were to assume that those chips are on genuine lenovo boards, then they are good and were manufactured....

chip 1: 2010, 21st week

chip 2: 2010, 43rd week

However I'd prefer to have a board from an 08/08 system that has never failed rather then an old board that has gone through the stressful reballing process. The chips on laptops build in 2008/august will usually have a date of 08/20 to 08/29 on the same location those chips are marked 10/21 and 10/43. Chips made earlier in 2008 may be good too, but there is no way to tell short of a (destructive) forensic examination. The updates on the GPUs were done quietly and were treated more like quality control then a revision. This decision was economically motivated because if the chip was officially revised, billions of dollars of inventory would be difficult or impossible to sell. They (nVidia) weren't selling to accept the loss so they figured it was cheaper to sell them then pay to fix the ones that failed. From a dollars and sense perspective it's hard to say if it was wise or not, but from a public relations perspective, it was a horrible choice.

Regarding your board, since you got it replaced for free, and your board has the new GPU, then you're very lucky. Many people getting free repairs got old GPU chips from 2007. Lenovo only replaced chips that were bad, if a board getting refurbished worked, they used the chip that was on it.

TuuS wrote:Those photos could both be genuine replacement chips, or fakes, the only way to know for sure is if they came from a board refurbished by Lenovo or NOT. If Lenovo refurbished the board then you can be pretty sure they got the chip direct from nVidia, so it's good. If it's a 3rd party board, then you can be pretty sure it's a fake, since nVidia doesn't sell them to anyone other then OEM partners like lenovo. Basically they lose a lot of money when they make one, these chips are only profitable when mass produced. The fake chips that have flooded the market are old ones pulled off scrap computers and have new dates etched on them. If we were to assume that those chips are on genuine lenovo boards, then they are good and were manufactured....

chip 1: 2010, 21st week

chip 2: 2010, 43rd week

However I'd prefer to have a board from an 08/08 system that has never failed rather then an old board that has gone through the stressful reballing process. The chips on laptops build in 2008/august will usually have a date of 08/20 to 08/29 on the same location those chips are marked 10/21 and 10/43. Chips made earlier in 2008 may be good too, but there is no way to tell short of a (destructive) forensic examination. The updates on the GPUs were done quietly and were treated more like quality control then a revision. This decision was economically motivated because if the chip was officially revised, billions of dollars of inventory would be difficult or impossible to sell. They (nVidia) weren't selling to accept the loss so they figured it was cheaper to sell them then pay to fix the ones that failed. From a dollars and sense perspective it's hard to say if it was wise or not, but from a public relations perspective, it was a horrible choice.

Regarding your board, since you got it replaced for free, and your board has the new GPU, then you're very lucky. Many people getting free repairs got old GPU chips from 2007. Lenovo only replaced chips that were bad, if a board getting refurbished worked, they used the chip that was on it.

Thank you very much for your detailed reply!

I think my new main board is a brand new one because it seems very new, no rust, no dust. And the most important is that the GPU is new.