Graphics card temperature question

[Concept]

I'm not having any trouble as of yet with my x800Pro, but using ATI tool and monitoring the temperature on the tray brought back some surprising results.

When my PC is static, i.e. no heavily intensive graphic programs running, the card's temperature is on average between 55-60c. However, when I run a game such as Far Cry or Doom III, the temperature seems to be springing up between 70c-75c. Now this doesn't seem healthy to me, so what GPU coolers or fans do some of you recommend?

Or am I just being paranoid?

[Sarkster]

are you overclocking it?

[Concept]

Not yet.

One of the reasons could be the backroom this computer is in gets hotter than anywhere else during summer, and while the weather has generally been crap, the heat has been consistenly high (much to my annoyance).

Another reason could be the fact I rarely switch my computer off. It's on almost 24/7 a lot of the time. I did switch it off for a test last night, and while the x800Pro's temperature went down to around 45c (on average), an hour later it was back up to the temperatures I quoted earlier.

[Chadruharazzeb]

Have you checked that the fan on the card is working? My old Voodoo 5's fan conked out (one of them anyway) and you could smell it frying.

[Concept]

Yeah, I can hear and see the blue glow from the fan from the outside of a panel on my computer. I'll unscrew the case later on to be completely sure, but I'm almost certain it's working as of this moment.

It's running everything okay, and like I said, in a few weeks when this room's temperature goes down hopefully so will the card's. However, that can only be a temporary solution in the end.

I'm just worried that as things stand, is it likely to melt on me in the next couple of weeks or so?

[superkully]

On-board tempreture sensors are crap. You pay hundreds for a bit of PCB and they stick on sensors which cost about 5p each. This could be your problem, or it could be that the APCI software is adjusting the reported tempreture (MBs are notorious for doing this).

If you were getting very high tempretures, you'd start to get artifacts, no? Have you tried running ATITool and seeing if it reports any over an extended run? It's free.

[csuzw]

I don't think there is anything to worry about there really. I wouldn't really like to have a card that got over 70 but I'm pretty sure cards can handle well over 100 so its not a big deal unless you want to overclock. Even then my card only rises by a few degrees when I overclock so that might not be an issue either.

[Concept]

I'm using ATI tool to get information on the temperature.

I have got artifacts in Far Cry playing a couple of times, but I presumed that was because the patch I'm using (1.1) doesn't seem to like my x800Pro. For example, when I go to system detect, it places everything at basic, although I get over 60fps when I manually set everything to maximum.

Go figure.

Other than that, Doom III, (which you'd think would run the card's temperature even higher), has been completely fine in terms of artifacting or other errors.

My computer feels hot, but it doesn't feel scortching when I touch the panel next to the AGP slot my x800Pro is in. Which is something I find odd considering the temperature read out.

[Concept]

I don't think there is anything to worry about there really. I wouldn't really like to have a card that got over 70 but I'm pretty sure cards can handle well over 100 so its not a big deal unless you want to overclock. Even then my card only rises by a few degrees when I overclock so that might not be an issue either.

I guess I'm playing safe. I'm just worried about melting the insides of my computer. But as I said, the temperature is saying one thing, and the physical evidence seems to be saying another.

Maybe it is the temperature sensor which is a little messed up.