VOGONS


First post, by 9646gt

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I bought a used but pricey Creative Labs Graphics Blaster Riva TNT. It was pricey so I want to make sure it’s okay and it lasts. Everything seems fine but the little black heating on what I suppose is the VRM is extremely hot.

Is this normal or cause for concern? Is that something easy or common to upgrade???

Last edited by 9646gt on 2025-06-04, 12:07. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 2, by ciornyi

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Linear voltage regulators produce alot of heat , to cool it down you can add heatsink on both side of pcb.

DOS: 166mmx/16mb/Y719/S3virge
DOS/95: PII333/128mb/AWE64/TNT2M64
Win98: P3 900/256mb/SB live/3dfx V3
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Win XP: E8600/4096mb/SB X-fi/HD6850

Reply 2 of 2, by tehsiggi

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Also what greatly supports it: A slight airflow over it with a case fan is always welcome. This usually is good enough to keep temperatures in an acceptable range.

As @ciornyi mentioned, linear regulators produce a lot heat depending their load. This is due to their working principle: The differential voltage between input and output is transformed into heat via the current flowing through them. So the larger the current pulled, the higher the heat output. (Also true the larger the differential voltage between input and output).

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