VGX-TP

Overview

VGX-TP in Black

The Sony VAIO VGX-TP was a mid-range HTPC released in 2008. This was supposed to be a media center PC that would be connected to a TV, and as a result featured decent specs for its time such as an NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT as well as multimedia features such as a Blu-Ray drive, and even a TV tuner on higher end models.

VGX-TP in White

One major thing to note is the very unique circular design of the TP, which came in black and white, compared to rivals such as the HP Pavilion Media Center, which looked plain in comparison, and even its predecessor, the VGX-XL. This small design was achieved by utilising laptop components such as the CPU and GPU, which consumed less power and heated up less, allowing Sony to make the design far smaller than the VGX-XL. It also came with a small keyboard with integrated trackpad to match, as well as the standard Sony media center remote.

Detailed Specs

Processor: Core 2 Duo T5600-T8100 (Socket P)

Chipset: Intel PM965

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT with 256MB VRAM

RAM: 2x SODIMM slots, 2GB standard, max 4GB (officially)

Storage: 2.5" SATA HDD

Drives: DVD-RW or Blu-Ray ROM drive

Problems

The TP series all have a very unfortunate problem. The VGX-TP contains an NVIDIA 8400M GT GPU. The NVIDIA 8 series of GPUs are known for their 100% failure rate because of a manufacturing problem from NVIDIA, and the FZ is not an exception to that. All NVIDIA 8 series chips on every single TP is affected by this problem. The TP does not feature switchable graphics, so you always run on the dedicated GPU.

Symptoms of this problem are:

• black screen when turning on the device (device is not booting up, it has not passed the power-on self-test)
• artifacts on the display
• not being able to successfully install GPU drivers
• unable to boot into Linux (distros with proper GPU drivers)

There is no real permanent solution to this problem. One temporary solution would be a reflow, one more permanent but still temporary solution is a reball or chip replacement. However, all of these methods requires a precise hot air station, BGA No-Clean flux, and some experience (practicing on a junk board is a good start). If you are thinking of doing a chip replacement, NVIDIA did release a later revision of the chip that fixed the issue. This can be identified by a white underfill (gel border around the chip) and usually have a date code after 0830. Some also have an odd digit at the end of the model number instead of an even digit (e.g. G84-603-A2 instead of G84-602-A2).

Daily Usage Today

The VGX-TP is still very usable today due to its powerful NVIDIA GPU (if it works that is). You can still use the TV tuner with modern software and it does support digital signals, so it can still be used as a small HTPC, however it may struggle with larger videos and definitely 4K due to the old GPU. With an SSD and RAM upgrade to at least 4GB, the VGX-TP can handle Windows 10 fine. The VGX-TP does still command quite a high price these days, especially if working and in good condition, often reaching $100 and higher.

Resources

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