Help! Is my old x800xt going to die?

[Turok]

Hello

I'm a bit worried about my old PC's AIW x800xt (AGP). For a long time, the 5v line on my x800xt has been burning several 5v lines on my floppy molex's. This is the worst so far:
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5973/x800xtburntgo0.jpg
I took one with flash for sharpness, and another without flash so you can see better the burnt area.

It seems that the connection is pretty sensitive with some floppy connectors, since slight movements could cause the boot screen to show a video card power warning in red text.
Is this PSU instability on the 5v rail?
Is this bad contact with the 5v cable?

If possible, I don't want to spend money on a new video card. My younger brother is the one who uses the old PC, and he's conformed with the x800xt's performance.
If death is inevitable, then I might as well update the old rig to a PCI-E solution so it can inherit my newer PC's video cards when I upgrade.

[ColonelCain]

The only problem is the PSU. I'm suprised that it hasn't died yet.
What I suspect, is that under load it causes a surge on the 5v line.
Get a new PSU, and it should be fine.

[Jimmer411]

Yea Id definately look to a new PSU. Did you recently have a storm? or are you running your computer on a cheap power strip by chance?

[Turok]

Yea Id definately look to a new PSU. Did you recently have a storm? or are you running your computer on a cheap power strip by chance?

I don't get frequent blackouts and heavy storms.
Yes, my old PC uses a cheap power strip :P

The thing is, I've used the card with 3 different PSU's for a few months each, and if I remember correctly, I think I noticed the same effect on maybe all of them. But they were all average or low-end PSUs.
The PSU's used were in the following order:
1st: CoolerMaster Real Power 450w
2nd: Antec Aria Case's 300w PSU
3rd: Antec NeoPower 480w

So yeah, those pictures were taken using the NewPower for a few months, with a new floppy plug, and a better power strip.
I've changed the 4pin-to-floppy converter a few times to see if it keeps burning after swapping PSUs, and it does.
But I find it hard to believe it's a PSU problem when the NewPower has been powering my newer (now old :P) s939 PCI-E setup for about a year without a problem.
The rig running the x800xt is a s754 MicroATX AGP setup

So I'm not sure if it's either all the PSU's didn't like my card, or the card doesn't like the PSU's. :shrug:

[NickS]

Idk, it seems like its drawing a crap load of power for some reason... which is odd. Maybe the PWM is fudged or something? Does the thing run really hot?

[Turok]

Idk, it seems like its drawing a crap load of power for some reason... which is odd. Maybe the PWM is fudged or something? Does the thing run really hot?


Sry, but what would the PWM be on the video
card and what does a fudged PWM mean? :P
Is it a PSU thing? :p:

As far as GPU temps:
on touch and with what ATiTool shows,
it seems pretty normal for a video card IMO.
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/3492/x800xths0.jpg
It doesn't seem to go above 72-75
degrees Celsius under stock cooling.

[nn_step]

If I had to guess the voltage regulation on the Card is fried and your graphics card is going to die, it may take some time for death to finally happen though

[NickS]

If I had to guess the voltage regulation on the Card is fried and your graphics card is going to die, it may take some time for death to finally happen though

Yeah, voltage regulation is basically the PWM. (Pulse width modulation). The PWM is what controls the voltages for your card components, steps them down from 12v or 5v, etc.

[Turok]

Yeah, voltage regulation is basically the PWM. (Pulse width modulation). The PWM is what controls the voltages for your card components, steps them down from 12v or 5v, etc.

What does the PWM look like on the video card, or is it hard to tell?
Does heat on the PWM cause instability, which in turn could be causing the burning on my 5v line. Or in the case of a PWM it either works or it doesn't and if it doesn't it's dead?