Asus Xonar Essence ST overheating?

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Dear members,

I've just purchased a Xonar Essence ST soundcard (PCI) + H6 Expansion Card.

(scroll down for a photo
ASUS Xonar Essence ST DeLuxe review
)

My concern right now is that they produce quite a lot of heat, and don't know if that's normal (still have some money back guarantee days)

The strangest part is that they are hot even IN PERFECTLY IDLE STATE! (no sound played after turning on the pc)

In idle state, if I touch the metal shield on the ST card, it feels quite warm (but ok for my fingers), the exposed opamps on the H6 expansion card however are so hot that I can't keep my finger touching them for more than a second (and all this in IDLE state!).

I have a very minimalistic system, no other cards in the slots (350W PSU)

Any help/info would be VERY appreciated, thank you!
 
That's the thing about audio equipment, they consume the same power whether playing "music" or "silence".

Op-amps being too hot to touch for more than a second is an issue. However people's tolerance to heat varies. I'd only be worried if the op-amp feels hotter than the side of an unmounted HDD after a long period high disk activity.
 
The ST does get very warm in normal use. I modded mine to use a 7912 reg but this overheated and blew after only a few hours, so I changed it back. I dunno about the expansion card, but that extra load might increase heat even more. Have you tried the card w/o the expansion ?
 
Thanks for both of you for your helpful response.

I'll do some music vs silence temp tests (it seems to me that music means more heat but have to check - good to know though that "silence" consumes power ) and try it without the extension card.

I'll report back tomorrow.
 
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