Intel went public with a press release this morning that describes a “design issue” in the Cougar Point Intel 6 Series chipset that supports their new Sandy Bridge CPUs. While this press release does not mention recall, it does say Intel is contacting OEMs to get it fixed at a cost of $700 million. Make sure your Sandy Bridge motherboards are registered! A special thank you to Andrew Edney for the heads up, the Intel RSS Feed and to Engadget.
Intel Design Flaw
This design flaw does NOT affect the actual Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs but DOES affect the chipset. This means that your new Sandy Bridge motherboard is probably affected and you should contact your motherboard vendor (or retailer) soon for further instructions.
Intel 6 Series Chipset
The Intel 6 Series chipset is a part of your Sandy Bridge motherboard and controls your PCI Express slots, SATA controllers, audio, USB, LAN and RAID controllers.
What is a Chipset?As we have talked about on The BYOB Podcast, the chipset controls most of the features on your motherboard. Check out the Intel 6 Series chart below. If your motherboard has H67 or P67 on the box then you are probably affected. Intel will be telling us more very soon.
Timeframe
Intel said that although they have fixed the flaw, updated versions of the chipsets will not get to customers until late February. This means that we will not start to see updated motherboards until April. Ugh. Really?
I guess I am glad I waited on the purchase of a Sabertooth motherboard with the P67 chipset.
Cougar PointIMPORTANT: This chart is NOT a list of affected parts but a complete list of their Cougar Point chipsets!
What Do We Do Now
We wait to hear from our motherboard manufacturer. Make sure your board is registered and that you keep all of the packing material, invoices and extra parts. I do not know how they are going to fix this yet, but the chipset is not just something you can replace. I would say your system is fine to keep using but I see a complete tear down in your future.
Ugh.
Timothy Daleo
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The full Intel Press release is at:
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PARTIAL INTEL PRESS RELEASE
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, 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.
Thanks Tim – well I'm glad I held off ordering mine!