AGP Cards Get REal Hot

[sheen]

OK. I'm still having problems with my AGP Cards. I got a Erazor-3 about a year ago for my XP, but the card got very hot very fast.
I took the Computerand card to the local Technician who told me the AGP slot was no good. he said he had tested several of his own AGP cards in the slot and they all got HOT - FAST! I have a maintenance agreement with SEARS, who after sending to their LAB, sent it back saying there was nothing wrong with it.
I was told by a lot of people that Erazor-3 was just the type of card that got hot. I removed it and just now got a Radeon 9200. I heard good things about it. As soon as I had it installed - It got hot!!! When I decided it was too hot, I removed it. By that time I could smell the heat from it and the motherboard and pc cards were getting rather warm.
I own an XP - it's a Compaq Presario 5311.
I need to know. Could it be the Cards or something I am doing? If not and with those factors eliminated, I'll try again to get SEARS to fix the thing!

 

[slvrstang]

You may have the AGP voltage set too high, but in general AGP cards can run safely to 70C and some as high as 85C and still run perfectly fine.

 

[Jonesie]

I would be very careful. You don't want to smoke the card or the motherboard. I would try to see if you can't get Sears to do something more than that because the last thing that you want to do is to burn of a several hundred dollar investment. I only say this because you described that it was smoking, and smelling something burning is VERY bad.

 

[Cappy]

put a fan or 2 on or around it get some ventilation going

 

[sheen]

It didn't smoke, but I could definitely smell the heat, like something was starting to burn.
When I get the chance, I'm switching to DELL. SEARS just seems to be getting lazy, and Compaq's just don't seem to last very long.
If I can eliminate all other possible problems with the AGP, then maybe I can get SEARS to fix the thing!

I can tell you 1 reason they don't want to fix it. Several years ago, I purchased a windows 98 from them. It started falling apart in a few days! Instead of replacing it, they just sent a person out to fix it - time and time and time again! It went on for a couple of years. I'd send it in telling them how it was acting up, they'd send it back saying they didn't find anything wrong with it. One time, right after they sent it backing saying it was in good shape - the entire harddrive blew. That was like a couple of weeks after they said it worked good! Within a couple of months, I believe, the new harddrive went out. The computer was freezing on average 8 times in a hour or ever shutting itself down. I'd be on a program, I'd get the blue window with a
false virus detection.I'd check the whole computer - no virus!
They finally gave me this XP as a replacement. I think they're a little miffed about putting out anymore money on my computers, but they sure take my money for the Maintenance agreement.

 

[Jonesie]

Dell is a good way to go, but you also might want to try building one yourself. It can be cheaper and you can get exactly what you want. If you would like to pursue that possibility you can always ask for help to do it.

 

[G-Neus]

In my own opinion, AGP often overstands the amount of voltage one can take. Try resolving the aperture location, available through the "generic" BIOS. Heat is very common for the latest dispatch in intense technology.

 

[sheen]

Hmmm, I think I am going to send this back to SEARS again. In the past, I always removed the AGP card before shipping it. Because the AGP card wasn't a part of the original computer, it wasn't covered by the maintenance agreement. I told them to test the AGP slot but I really don't think they did. I'm going to leave the old Erazor-3 card in the computer, maybe if a technician burns the tip of their finger on it , they'll admit there's something wrong.

 

[sheen]

Here's a passing thought. I still don't know a great deal about computer tech. OK, I just found out my AGP slot is only 4X and the Radeon 9200 is 8X. I'd say that might be the problem, only the Erazor 3 was 4X and it got hot.......maybe I should just give up on computers and take up knitting.