Help! Possibly overheating Theater 550 PRO

[archcommus]

Hey guys, I've been having issues with my Theater 550 PRO and I'm almost certain it's due to overheating. When I'm watching TV, sometimes after 10 minutes, sometimes after as long as 30 minutes, the live feed just freezes and I have to End Task Sage, reboot, and restart it to get it working again. When I touch the chip when this happens it is scorching hot. I know it's not a problem with Sage since it also happens in any other PVR app that allows timeshifting, like Beyond and others. However, it does NOT happen in apps that do NOT do timeshifting, such as MPC, so I'm assuming that's because the chip is not doing any MPEG2 encoding then, and when it DOES do encoding in timeshifting apps, that extra heat puts it over the edge.

I have a very well ventilated case and the card is an optimal position, top PCI-E slot right below my processor, with two empty slots below it. My CPU and case temp are both normally in the 30's Celsius, and I have two intake fans and one exhaust fan.

My question, do any of you have properly working Theater 550 PRO cards, and if so, what type of environment is it in? Did you add an aftermarket heatsink/fan? Should I consider doing this, or just try to return the card under warranty? I definitely do NOT want to just toss the card and eat the $90 I spent on it.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

[up2ng]

Just move it away from other cards if possible. I've had two of them for a year without issue even though they do run a little hot.

[thatdude90210]

I've been running 2 of them since they were released without that issue... they are right next to each other, no heatsink/fan, and in a not so well ventilated case (Dvine 5). They do run hot, but I'm not seeing freezing. Maybe you have a bad card.

[archcommus]

Originally Posted by up2ng

Just move it away from other cards if possible. I've had two of them for a year without issue even though they do run a little hot.

From my OP:

I have a very well ventilated case and the card is an optimal position, top PCI-E slot right below my processor, with two empty slots below it. My CPU and case temp are both normally in the 30's Celsius, and I have two intake fans and one exhaust fan.

So I should be good in that department, unless I need more space ABOVE the card, which I don't think helps.

Originally Posted by thatdude90210

I've been running 2 of them since they were released without that issue... they are right next to each other, no heatsink/fan, and in a not so well ventilated case (Dvine 5). They do run hot, but I'm not seeing freezing. Maybe you have a bad card.

Well that settles it then, if you can do that I definitely should not be having this problem. I will try to return this card under (I think) Powercolor's one-year warranty.

Unless there IS something else that could be causing this, but I can't imagine what else it could be that is universal across SageTV, BeyondTV, GB-PVR, etc., but not in MPC.