asus 1650 pro scary fire and smoke

[julian.day17]

I have an asus 1650pro 256mb silent card bought in September 2006 and already 1 warranty replacement in November 2006.

This morning the card shutdown whilst in windows playing flight simulator

Suddenly pc rebooted then I saw smoke and flames coming out of my box. Had to turn the power off which fortunately stopped fire. On opening the box it is clear the graphics card caught fire as it is black and 2 components are now in the case . So need to call scan tomorrow

My pc is Akasa Eclipse 62 case with 2 120mm ultra quiet Akasa case fans sucking in air at front and blowing out back and also have artic cooling freezer pro fan.



1) Has anyone heard of cooling problems with this card including catching fire

2) has anyone else had graphics card shutdown whilst running windows due to over heating?

3)Is there not enough air flow in my pc?

For the pictures of toasted card go to
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/julian....201650%20fire/

[wja96]

Sorry to see that! I have a passively cooled ASUS card myself and that looks downright scary.

I think I would be contacting ASUS about that. And a new case potentially. That appears to be a nest of MOSFETs that's gone up. They shouldn't overheat if they are properly cooled. Is the rest of your system OK? Generally this sort of thing is covered on your household contents insurance. It may affect your premiums depending on the policy though.

[g8ina]

As it's the power regulator area that's gone up, what PSU are you running there ? Wondering if the PSU may have had some bearing on this.

[BigBry]

I have the same card which shut down my PC recently when playing Supreme Commander. When I opened the PC to check the card had damage to the covering on part of the cooling section and it was red hot. Looking at yours I'm pleased I removed mine immediatley and used a different card. I'll probably chuck it now.

[IAmATeaf]

As it's the power regulator area that's gone up, what PSU are you running there ? Wondering if the PSU may have had some bearing on this.

Seasonic 600w, looks more like a card problem to me then PSU related. I'd get onto Asus and see what they say in the first instance.

[chuckskull]

Looks more like something on the card shorted and sparked it to me, that's just from my limited knowledge of PC's blowing up in front of me. you can see one of the chips has almost completely melted. You airflow is typical ATX. I cant see anything wrong with it from your shots.

I reckon scan will be more than happy to replace it.

This is why I like fans on my graphics cards That heat pipe cooler probably works great, but it only cools the core. When theres 150watts going through that thing It's nice to have a gentle breeze over it.

[SHare]

Bloody hell. Not seen something fail in such a big way since a sony laptop battery.

[ackrite26]

Bloody hell. Not seen something fail in such a big way since a sony laptop battery.

Or those dodgy dell ones that were recalled, exploding hot goo.

[d3fiant]

Your case airflow is fine fella, I have a very similar setup. I must admit to being very concerned with the recent move to passive cooling. I have a 7950GT which gets pretty toasty with reference ACTIVE cooling yet I see that XFX do a passive cooled one which is actually overclocked, makes me wonder why this doesnt happen more often.

Be thankfull u were around and the fire didnt get worse, PCs can be replaced......

[SHare]

I'd say its probably worth calling the manufacturer direct as well as RMA'ing scan. If it burst into flames it should give them cause for concern.

[julian.day17]

I called asus and they said they are willing to swap out the card so return to scan.
However scan will not swap it out because it is classed as physical damage and has to be sent back to the manufacturer for evaluation first. This will take at least 4-6 weeks and it is up to asus if they will replace it or not. I have not over clocked the card at all as most of the time it’s used for office work only. I had to sign a disclaimer that it is not scans responsibility to replace this card.

As I need my pc for work then 4 weeks without a pc was not an option so scan and I came to an agreement that I would buy another card that was b grade (g6600gt) and then I can return this for a refund once the asus situation is resolved.
My only worry now is that if asus think I over clocked the card I cant prove I did not because the card is fried.

After some cleaning of the case of soot, I installed the 660gt and pc is working again. I am nervously testing it at the moment including writing this!

I am so grateful I was in the room when this happened as the other day I was out for 1 hour with the pc on running flight sim happened.

Note normally it is left on in low power mode for downloads etc and 6 months has been fine.

[IAmATeaf]

If Asus agreed to it then wouldn't they accept the card direct? Might have saved you some time plus this way they'll know who you are and in terms of overclocking, I wouldn't worry too much about it as surely it would be up to Asus to prove that you had.