Gigabyte passive 7600gt red hot after a few seconds

[Clunk]

Has anyone got one of these? I have bought one for a htpc, but even just booting as far as the bios makes it too hot to touch. One of the heatpipes (the one that is closest to the back of the pc, is only warm, the other one is really hot and the copper part on the underside of the card is insanely hot, again, only after a few seconds.

At first, i was thinking that because its in a horizontal config, in an htpc, it might be affecting the heatpipes, but after looking in the manual, the pictures are of the card in an htpc, so its not that. Maybe one of the heatpipes is broke?

I havent got to installing windows to see the actual temps because i was too worried that it would melt, so what i was really wanting to know is...

Do you have one of these?

Is one heatpipe much hotter than the other?

Is the heatsink on the end of the heatpipe(the one on the back that isnt touching the card) insanely hot?

Did you manage to fix it?

thanks

[chuckskull]

Find yourself a nice fast fan and point it at the heatsink, then install windows and check the temps without the fan. The card will throttle back if it gets too hot.

The heatpipes being hot might not be something to worry about, but it is a good reason to check. If their getting hot it means their working. Thogh one might be faulty.

[Clunk]

yeah, could do, but it kind of defeats the purpose of having a passive card. there will be airflow when its finished, but nothing huge.

I think im going to have to rma it anyway, ive just noticed that it takes up 4 slots well, completely covers 3 and renders the 4th one useless if there is anything on the back of the card, which means i cant have a soundcard in there.

[chuckskull]

4 slots

I meant use the fan while you see if the card is overheating, but yeah if it's taking up 4 slots it's pretty much useless.