Q: New iMac 27inch screen flickering/tearing/shutoff

LOADS of my posts deleted as well.

That seems to be what you get for trying to help people. Including Apple!

Warren Beasley wrote:
Well, I have a related question I'd like to ask you, and everyone here who may be knowledgeable regarding computer graphics cards.

Would running the iMacs below the default native screen resolution do anything to help extend the life of the GPU, the CPU or the computer in general, since it wouldn't have to work quite as hard to draw the screens?

I know that things like videos might not look quite as nice, but is there any real advantage to lowering the screen resolution, insofar as the life of the computer is concerned?

Thanks!

The only things that I'm aware of that would shorten the life of a GPU are overclocking, overvolting, or overheating. As the GPU in this case is in a stock configuration (overclocking and/or overvolting are things you'd do in order to get more performance out of the card) and the stock temps, from my experience, appear to be well within acceptable limits, reducing the screen resolution isn't going to appreciably extend the life of the card.

Schwa72 wrote:
The only things that I'm aware of that would shorten the life of a GPU are overclocking, overvolting, or overheating. As the GPU in this case is in a stock configuration (overclocking and/or overvolting are things you'd do in order to get more performance out of the card) and the stock temps, from my experience, appear to be well within acceptable limits, reducing the screen resolution isn't going to appreciably extend the life of the card.

Just curious. How do you know with certainty that the ATI Radeon HD 4850 card is in a stock configuration in the new i7 iMacs? Does it show this in the System Profiler? My new iMac hasn't arrived yet, so I can't verify this for myself. The reason why I ask, is because I have read a few comments here and there which seem to suggest that Apple may possibly be overclocking the card, which could possibly be why these various screen problems are occurring.

Any thoughts?

Warren Beasley wrote:

Schwa72 wrote:
The only things that I'm aware of that would shorten the life of a GPU are overclocking, overvolting, or overheating. As the GPU in this case is in a stock configuration (overclocking and/or overvolting are things you'd do in order to get more performance out of the card) and the stock temps, from my experience, appear to be well within acceptable limits, reducing the screen resolution isn't going to appreciably extend the life of the card.

Just curious. How do you know with certainty that the ATI Radeon HD 4850 card is in a stock configuration in the new i7 iMacs? Does it show this in the System Profiler? My new iMac hasn't arrived yet, so I can't verify this for myself. The reason why I ask, is because I have read a few comments here and there which seem to suggest that Apple may possibly be overclocking the card, which could possibly be why these various screen problems are occurring.

Any thoughts?

Good point. I don't know with absolute certainty that the HD 4850 is in a stock configuration...that's just an assumption. However, given the fact that the i7-860 supports DDR3-1333MHz memory, but that's not even an option available from Apple, I'd be really, REALLY surprised if the HD 4850 is shipped with a factory overclock.

Recieved my iMac i7 8GB RAM 1TB HDD three days ago. W8950 week 50 machine. One dead pixel. I experienced my first encounter with the blips and screen blackouts 15 minutes ago. 30 minutes later, the machine freezes during a Garageband session and I get a screen saying "You need to restart your iMac". ***. Lost a whole song, and now wondering what I should do next? Seems as though I'm better off keeping this machine until Apple releases a definitive answer. I am an extremely disappointed first time Mac user.

30 minutes later my sound has stopped working. The computer can't find an audio output and the speakers keep burping at different intervals. It's so loud it is annoying. I am too afraid to call support. After reading these posts, I feel the replacement machine would still be flawed, and even if it isn't, I probably wouldn't receive it until next year given the current wait times. HELP?

I spoke with apple store in Portland about my screen shutting down and the flicker and they didn't even believe me. Because I have got my imac via internet i really going to need to wait.
they said that I better be able to show them that it flickers I asked the lady if they had ever read the internet or this forum. I hope they at least tell their employees what is going on.

UnixToy wrote:
I spoke with apple store in Portland about my screen shutting down and the flicker and they didn't even believe me. Because I have got my imac via internet i really going to need to wait.
they said that I better be able to show them that it flickers I asked the lady if they had ever read the internet or this forum. I hope they at least tell their employees what is going on.

At this late date, I find it totally unbelievable, and totally unacceptable, that any Apple Store employee can claim ignorance to these problems. As Apple Store employees, don't these people receive a certain level of training? Aren't they at least required to keep up with the latest developments in the Mac world? This "Genius Bar" stuff is sounding more and more like a lot of hype, spin and image-making...but isn't Apple known for that? It seems that some of us here are more knowledgeable about these issues than the so-called "geniuses".

All these types of isolated incidents do is confirm in our minds that there is an intentional cover-up being implemented by Apple...and I do hope that they are isolated. This is NOT the way to conduct business, and it really tarnishes my image of Apple.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I would have a lot more respect for Apple, and more confidence in their products, if they would just be up front with us, and tell us exactly what is going on with these iMacs, and how soon we can expect real fixes to these various problems. In fact, as a 20-year Mac user, I demand it! Putting Christmas season profits first shows the ugly underbelly of the Apple empire.

And the rest of you?

I called Apple support this evening to report the screen flashing/blackout problem, and they too acted like they had never heard of this problem. Clearly, the support person I spoke with was reading from a script and didn't even seem to hear me when I told him there was a 100-page thread on the Apple Discussion Boards of many people with the same problem. I told him I had tried the fix of shutting down, unplugging power cord and everything else (all USB and Firewire devices) as noted in my thread above, which so far has seemed to work, as I have not yet had the problem recur. But, as I also informed him, this is clearly an intermittent problem that is not reproducible on demand, so the fact that it has not yet recurred does not mean the problem is fixed, which is what the Apple support person was suggesting. He did state he would "report the problem to Apple" and gave me a case number, so that if (or more likely when) the problem recurs I can call back. I would like to suggest to everyone on this thread with the problem to do the same, and at least have Apple support open a case and give you a case number. Maybe if enough of us report this Apple will acknowledge there is indeed a problem and will find a solution. Until then, I'm going to live with problem rather than live without my iMac. . .

Problem is...

I'm on my 4th iMac i7... one with a bad superdrive, the others with screen flickers... all well within the 14days of purchase. Apple is great about the instore replacement, but this is getting a bit ridiculous. I dont live to set-up new imacs, one after another, only to find they are crap and then haul a huge computer to an apple store to get a replacement.
Glad you computer works. Just wait though. I bet it will flicker up sooner or later. I do agree that there is a lot of redundancy with this particular support thread, but thats all you can expect with such a wide spread issue.

Well... My 27" i7 was having the same problem whenever I would render in after effects and final cut pro.... I assumed the computer was consuming more energy for the process (as it would with backing up and screen savers) and I looked at the wall and realized I had about 5-7 other plugs in the same outlet as my imac. I unplugged ALL but the one (and the speakers) and its been working fine ever since... My bet is what the one dude said about it being sensitive to power... at least i hope... I will keep updated...

Warren........"So it sounds like you are saying that even though the Mac Pro has an older card than the high-end i7 iMac with the ATI Radeon HD 4850, the Mac Pro with the Nvidia GeForce GT 120 card may actually provide better graphic performance because it is a faster machine, correct?"

Yes, basically.

The high end Mac Pro's will still outperform the i7, even with the older graphics cards. The i7 iMac does however hold it's own against the low end Mac Pro's. It won't be long before the Mac Pro's have another upgrade that will most certainly blow the socks off of the iMac. That upgrade will not be limited to the cpu, but will undoubtedly contain a significant upgrade of the graphics card as well.
The Mac Pro's use the full size graphics card, while I believe the iMac is still limited to the mobile version. Smaller means more heat, and lower performance, so an older, slower card in the Mac Pro has a head start.

I believe Schwa72 is correct in that the 4850 is just not enough card for the i7, obviously, it may not be enough for the high resolution 27" screen.

If I wanted to bet on a new rumor regarding the next revision, it would be that Apple will soon offer the i7 with the option of either an upgraded ATI, or NVIDIA card.

As for the benefits of changing the resolution of your screen, I don't know if that would extend the life, but it will make things easier to read, since lowering the resolution increases the size of on screen objects.

Heck, it would even make it easier to see that you left an i out of NVIDIA. (that spelling, by the way is used just about as often as NVIDA all over the net, googling either spelling will get you to the same places)

Well... My 27" i7 was having the same problem whenever I would render in after effects and final cut pro.... I assumed the computer was consuming more energy for the process (as it would with backing up and screen savers) and I looked at the wall and realized I had about 5-7 other plugs in the same outlet as my imac. I unplugged ALL but the one (and the speakers) and its been working fine ever since... My bet is what the one dude said about it being sensitive to power... at least i hope... I will keep updated...

Here's the thing about in-store and over the phone Apple "CRS's". They are instructed not to acknowledge or fuel any rumored problems made by customers. They don't want some lower level employee admitting chinks in their armor.

I am working with a lay in Apple's "executive relations dept". she has been awesome and has actually admitted that this has turned into a "larger problem than she had expected"...

If Apple doesnt know that this has affected all quad core iMacs for sure, then it would be unwise to issue a statement that their is a possible problem with new iMacs. Everyone would start looking for a problem and flood Apple with returns. Once they figure out the reason and affected models, then they will replace them.

However, I am on my 4th new iMac and I am sick of this run around...

pazuita wrote:
If I wanted to bet on a new rumor regarding the next revision, it would be that Apple will soon offer the i7 with the option of either an upgraded ATI, or NVIDIA card.

Well, you know, it seems to me that if the current problems are eventually revealed to be directly related to the HD 4850 card not being strong enough in the i7's, then it seems to me that the fair and honest thing to do would be to put a better card in the first revision of the i7.

In other words, the better card shouldn't be an upgrade option; the better card should be part of the default configuration of the next generation of i7's. After all, if Apple put a problematic graphics card in their machines which is causing these problems, why should dedicated Mac users have to dish out more money to get rid of the problem? Apple created the problem, not us.

Sure, there can be an upgrade path for the i7 graphics card, but it shouldn't for an upgrade from the HD 4850 to something better, but rather, for something better that is already in the first revision i7's, to something even better still.

Do you follow me?

Of course, this is all just speculation...in case someone is listening.