How hot should my GPU run?

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

My Radeon 1900 was overheating the other day - turns out there was a wall of dust covering it's air intake. Cleaned it out and gave it a spin (playing the World in Conflict beta). It didn't crash, but it got up to 70 C. That's really hot, right? Even for going all out...

I'm thinking of water cooling the darn thing but I'm not sure how and I'm worried I'd just drown my PC...

Edit: Managed to reach 80 C...

[_Martyr_]

70 is quite normal for a modern GPU under continuous full load, 80 is on the high side but still nothing to be worried about. If it goes far above that I'd start to be concerned but at those temps I wouldn't worry! However, do keep an eye on it, and make sure it stays dust free. A sure sign your GPU is overheating is if you start to notice artifacts in games, these are usually pretty obvious.

[Lemur]

I have a 1900-series card as well, and I opted for the $19.99 solution. Cooler, and more importantly, quieter.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Lemur, did your 1900 come with an onboard fan and housing? Mine does, so I'd have to remove it to install the cooling thing on the card...

[Lemur]

Yup, you gotta take off the cooler to upgrade it. If you're not comfortable with that procedure, you can always get your local hardware geek to do it for you.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Questioning my geek credentials!?

I'll look into it. Thanks for the link.

[TosaInu]

Hello,

70 is still safe, but of course you want it to be cooler. When it overheats, it can also freeze your 3D game after playing a few minutes. I blamed it on (a) software bug(s) when it happened to me, but it turned out that the GPU hit 90 degrees Celsius and more.

Installing a new cooler didn't turn out to be that difficult. Hardest for me was to remove the push pins that attached the old cooler. It never passed 65 degrees after (6600 is a hot chip) and ran quieter for ~$20.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Got it today and installed it. It took 30 minutes but I was being cautious. Also, the thermal pads they provided to put on RAM chips were really annoying, since they stuck to everything but the chips. One review that I read while installing it suggested using Arctic Silver thermal paste instead of the default pads. (I don't have any paste at all so I'm kicking myself ). Anyway, managed to get the pads on after a little trial and error. Put it together and popped it in.

I can't even hear it, which is a little disconcerting, to be honest. ATITool says it's running and it's staying pretty cool while basically idling. I'm running the fan at a constant 100% since I can't hear it over the fan in my room. I'm going to try some games in a bit, see how hot it gets and how fast it cools.

Looks like a $20 well spent. Thanks Lemur!

[Lemur]

Yah, it's the best $20 I spent on my gaming rig. I get really annoyed at fan whine, so near-silent parts are a must. Now I just have to decide what to do with my stock CPU cooler. Core2Duo, Intel 975 mobo. Ideas?

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Quick search yielded this from NewEgg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186134

From our friends at Arctic Cooling. One or two reviews looked decent. Make sure you share with us anything you buy so I can steal your PC design part by part.

[Whacker]

Yah, it's the best $20 I spent on my gaming rig. I get really annoyed at fan whine, so near-silent parts are a must. Now I just have to decide what to do with my stock CPU cooler. Core2Duo, Intel 975 mobo. Ideas?

Take a look at this monstrosity, the reputable review sites love it. Fair warning, it's heavy and huge, so maybe check and ensure that your mobo can handle it and it doesn't bonk into other parts... And you'll want a 120mm fan. You should be able to run your system at stock speed very quietly, or get a sizeable OC and probably still maintain low noise except when gaming. Also whatever you go with, maybe consider doing this as well, it really can make a difference. This is exactly what I'm getting for my new rig.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Played some World in Conflict, hit a steady 70 and cooled off very fast. So better than before temperature wise, as well as really quiet.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Bumping because I just got myself the AC Cooler 7 - consistent CPU temp around 35C no load, maybe 50C with heavy load. Not noticeably loader than my CPU fan, and I suspect the only noise from case are the case fans themselves, which I tolerate.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

I have mine running at 58C right now. It's a Superclocked nVidia 8800GTS. It has only factory cooling, except for three extra case fans. I always thought it would be higher. It says something for the case, I guess.

[TosaInu]

I have mine running at 58C right now. It's a Superclocked nVidia 8800GTS. It has only factory cooling, except for three extra case fans. I always thought it would be higher. It says something for the case, I guess.

Is that idle or load (playing a 3D game)? Note that the temperature drops very quickly when you ALT TAB out of the game to check the temperature, you will need something like NV templogger.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Is that idle or load (playing a 3D game)? Note that the temperature drops very quickly when you ALT TAB out of the game to check the temperature, you will need something like NV templogger.

Load, and I have a temperature controller on the front of my PC (it's right, it matches my nVidia Monitor settings).

[TosaInu]

That's neat Evil_Maniac From Mars.

Is MTW already working on the 8800?

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

That's neat Evil_Maniac From Mars.

Is MTW already working on the 8800?

Yes, I was really surprised.

I haven't tried MTW yet, though I hope to soon. Rome is beautiful, and flight simulators are outstanding. The upgrades were worth it.