Switches could be overheating. Is the whole switch burning out or just one of the ports?

I really don't think using an SNMP capable switch is going to help troubleshoot this problem. Any NIC that's capable of killing a switch (if that is indeed what is going on--I'm doubtful) will just kill the more expensive switch just as dead.

If the switch is totally dead and it uses a wall-wart, it might be worthwhile to test the wall-wart to see if it still works. If not you have a power quality problem, not a bad NIC problem.