Radeon 9600 se Burnt up!!

[Mermillo]

I have recently built my own PC and it was working fine til I played 30mins of Medal Of Honour AA.
Then I got a message saying my Video Card had stopped responding, then the screen went blank and I could smell burning from my case. Started to think then that I may have a problem!!!!!

Anyway to cut to the chase, the Video card Radeon 9600 se had burnt out not the main chips under the heatsink but the top of three chips to the left of the main heatsink.

All I want to know is how I can stop this from happening again when I replace the card. I have a standard ATX case with 2 case fans. The video card had no fan just a heatsink.

Would it be best to get a Video card with fan to aid cooling??

System

Windows XP home
Intel D875pbz motherboard.
P4 3.0ghz
Ram 512mb DDR
Sound blaster audigy LS
Maxdor 120gb harddrive

 

[winbob]

Unless you have some reason to believe that there is insufficient airflow in your case..or in the immediate vicinity of the video card, I suspect a fault in the card itself.

Contact the card manufacturer, or the store you purchased from, if within the exchange timeframe, and get a new card.

Monitor your internal case temp if you have a concern there, OR run the case open for a period of time to satisfy yourself that you have a good card, then button it up.

 

[Mermillo]

I seem to have no problem with the processor temp as this was in the mid 30's.

The card was built by Connect 3d but they never seem to reply to any of my E-mails, so looks like I will have to purchase a new card instead. Thanks for your help.

 

[Triple6]

Try to get warranty on the card if possible. If you have to buy another card then do get one with a fan - If you get the PRO or XT, which are MUCH better then the SE version, they should have a fan. Also might be good to look at cards made by other companies such as Sapphire, MSI, ASUS, HIS, or genuine ATI. These generally use better quality components and you end up with a better product.

 

[pronute]

Those chips that burned up where three of the four RAM chips you may want to get a card with memory heat spreders, or install your own something like this
http://www.nexfan.com/vacciccobgar.html

 

[Mermillo]

This is the reply I have finally rec'd from Connect 3D the Video card makers......

Hi,

Sorry we have not responded earlier, we have had some delay on the emails.
If not done so, you should consult the supplier for RMA, but overclocking,
inadequate ventilation and some configuration settings may be responsible.
Before using the replacement with intensive graphics, please set BIOS
optimal defaults, disable AGP fast-writes and do not overclock the CPU nor
the GPU

Regards

Support Centre

Sorry, but I have never had to return anything before, what exactly do they mean by RMA????

 

[Triple6]

Return Manufacturer Authorization. Basically just return it where you got and they should handle the warranty process.

 

[Mermillo]

Do any of you know what is a safe temp for my graphics card under load. Currently if playing 3D intensive games it gets up to about 50c, at what sort of temp should it start to worry me.

 

[Triple6]

50 is OK, GPU's do get hot. If you are worried you can replace the stock cooling with an after market cooler - might be wise if there is only a heatsink and no fan on it.

Case cooling also plays a role - the cooler the case, the cooler the components in the case. You can add extra case fans or add a PCI slot cooler that sits in the PCI slot right below the AGP card and removes the heat the video card generates.