Quote Originally Posted by gumballguy View Post
For me, it is personal experience. 4870s seemed to die a lot. And I have made the assumption that the vrm's are the most likely candidate for the blame, largely as they get so hot. We do know operating temps for them should be <120. My understanding is that this is a short term maximum though, and lifetime of electronic parts decreases non-linearly at those kind of temps. Of course theres potential for misdiagnosis.
Have they not been using the same/similar components for the last 3-4 years, if not longer? These components are tested and rated to run at certain specifications. AMD/ATi's job is to make sure those specs align with what they plan on using them for.

You seem to think AMD/ATi is doing/using something new...