Sandy Bridge design flaw - Intel halted on NASDAQ - updated 2/8/11.

Page 7 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

ZipSpeed

Golden Member
Aug 13, 2007
1,302
170
106
Well this stinks. I've been waiting patiently for a new SB-based laptop and I can't wait much longer.
 

Locut0s

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
22,205
44
91
Wonder what I'll sell to customers looking for a new build now?

I could of course build an older i5, i7 system but that wouldn't really be fair to them once they do eventually fix this issue. This will probably simply mean a hault on most new system builds for now, which will suck for our business.
 

Tsavo

Platinum Member
Sep 29, 2009
2,646
37
91
No not a CPU issue but a motherboard chip issue.

If intel would have let others make chipsets, like in the rambus days, this would not be as bad. But for the next several months there will be no good chipsets on the retail market.

At least Intel fesses up to, and will replace their defective products. Getting Nvidia or AMD to even look at and acknowledge longstanding bugs is impossible.
 

StinkyPinky

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2002
6,992
1,284
126
This should help keep those DDR3 prices down. :thumbsup:

DDR3 prices are going to plummet initially one would think? All those potential customers now not buying.

Could be a good time to get more RAM...if I needed it. Which I don't.
 

Engineer

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
39,230
701
126
Z68 sounds all fine and good, but who's to say it couldn't also have a fault of some sort?

Anything could have a fault. Even the newly altered P67/H67 chipsets could have a flaw. Nature of the beast when you have hundreds of millions/billions of transistors to check.
 

MrTransistorm

Senior member
May 25, 2003
311
0
0
Well this stinks. I've been waiting patiently for a new SB-based laptop and I can't wait much longer.

Depending on how the SATA ports are used in a SB laptop, it may not be affected. If the laptop only uses the two 6 Gb/s ports, then the 3 Gb/s port degradation is moot.
 

StinkyPinky

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2002
6,992
1,284
126
In breaking news, AM3+ motherboards suddenly flood the market. :p


I wish...
 
Last edited:

Diogenes2

Platinum Member
Jul 26, 2001
2,151
0
0
Depending on how the SATA ports are used in a SB laptop, it may not be affected. If the laptop only uses the two 6 Gb/s ports, then the 3 Gb/s port degradation is moot.
Still, OEM's are not going to sell laptops or desktops with the defective chip set ...
 

Dadofamunky

Platinum Member
Jan 4, 2005
2,184
0
0
Chaos breaks out in early adopter land!

Now I'm REALLY glad I did my build now - if iId waited a little longer I'd have no stuff to play with. It does suck though since my RAID set is on the SATA 2 ports. Since I'm planning on an SSD installation in a month or so I'll just run that on a SATA 3 port and move the Spinpoint F3s over as well... assuming I can use the (undocumented) Marvell SATA 3 controller on my mobo. I might not even bother with a mobo swap, which I dread.

Looks like it's gonna be kind of a long wait for everyone who wanted to do an SB build. That REALLY sucks.
 

Cebu

Member
May 19, 2000
71
0
66
I feel kind of special with my new SB build now since all new SB builds have been placed on hold until the fix is released.
 

Castiel

Golden Member
Dec 31, 2010
1,772
1
0
If amd had bulldozer ready now would have been the perfect time to release. They HAVE to be kicking themselves now.

BTW - I'm downclocking. If i burn up this chip i'm not sure where i can get a replacement. MC still sell them?
 

dudeofdur

Member
Sep 29, 2008
110
0
0
This is what Asrock customer service sent me:

"SANTA CLARA, Calif., 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 (and the Intel® C200 Series Chipset), 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. 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.

If you believe you may be affected by this issue, please contact your place of purchase, or your Intel Field Sales Representative.

To chat with an Intel Support Agent, click here and then click on Chat.

This applies to:

Intel® 6 Series Chipset
Intel® C200 Series Chipset"

click here just takes you to http://www.intel.com/support/feedback.htm?group=chipset
 

drizek

Golden Member
Jul 7, 2005
1,410
0
71
Yes, like if there is a problem in a G1 AMD product, they will just sell you the new G2 instead of fixing the G1.

I hate AMD for doing that.