VOGONS


Hot EMU8000

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First post, by Ydee

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On the back of the SB32 sound card I see a visible change in the colour of the PCB caused by the heat load from the EMU8000 chip. The chip was very warm to the touch, so I fitted it with at least a passive radiator with hot-conducting adhesive tape. I mean, is this heat load normal or is there something wrong with my card?

Reply 1 of 7, by The Serpent Rider

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Not normal.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 3 of 7, by Ydee

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Thank you for your input. Yes, it is IC405A. The card was originally installed in the lowest ISA slot in a small AT case and I'm afraid the airflow there was zero (no case fan) - so is it possible,that there was local overheating? Or is it still an abnormal condition? Then what could have caused it?

Reply 4 of 7, by The Serpent Rider

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Age + internal flaws in silicon/chip connections, potentially static discharge.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.

Reply 5 of 7, by Cyberdyne

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well these little faulty/little hot chips may be ok for years to come, and they may die tomorrow. I have first had experience. even chips that should be cool as a cucumber.

I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.
PS. If I upload RAR, it is a 16-bit DOS RAR Version 2.50.

Reply 6 of 7, by Ydee

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Thank you all. Anyway, the card's working fine so far, so I'll leave the passive radiator and see. Interestingly, the PCB coloration is only on the back and not around the EMU8000 chip from the front. At first I wondered, if there might have been some other hot chip, that would have turned the PCB brown, but I couldn't think of an ISA/VLB card, that would have been hot enough to overheat a card in the neighborhood.

Reply 7 of 7, by The Serpent Rider

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the PCB coloration is only on the back and not around the EMU8000 chip from the front

Cuz physics.

I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.