Originally Posted by
p2501
I wouldn't think of it as cause/effect scenario. You have a manufacturer that knows it's new baby will run bloody hot so they spec the components according to the needs - with a higher tolarance to heat. In which case the card would just do what it can do best, blast out heat, with no ill effect. That is, if we leave the laws of economics out of the game.
If we see defects, maybe it's just the normal propability of even a correctly spec'd component to die. We wont know for sure without statistical evidence.