I have a AMD 3500xp, with two gigs of pc3200 ram and right now I have a BFG 7900cs PCI express video card. The problem I am having is my Graphics card is registering at normally 126 degrees F. while playing almost any game the temp can rise to around 147 degrees F, consequently shutting down the game and some times the computer as well I am almost certain it is a heat problem do any body have any suggestions

The simplest solution may be just to increase airflow in your case, which means adding more fans to your case. If you're going to lift the side panel off, put a table fan blowing into the case, or it'll make it worse instead.

If the above doesn't help, it'll be good to see what is the real problem. Graphics card overheating usually would show artifacts just before the computer freezes over (weird stuff showing, generally huge lines/linear shapes running across the screen). How did you get the temperatures for your graphics card, and what is your CPU temps idle and load?

I used PC wizard 2007 to I dentify heat problems, I also noticed that there was alot of artifact before the faliure. The CPU temp at Idle is around 82 deggrees F and only goes up a few degrees during heavy usage( the processor is an AMD 64 3500)

i'd have to agree with cmh. you'd be surprised how much just a fan blowing into an open case can help. i had to do it for my dell 2400. believe it or not, mine shutdown at a much lower temp. probably around 120 degrees it shut down. as soon as i started the fan, i noticed that my computer's temp overall remained a constant 80 degrees. i used speedfan to determine the overall temp. try that and make sure you clean out all the dust and whatnot in your computer. it helps keep the temp down a lot too.

Thanks

Hey thanks for all the help I think I migh have the problem under control If not then its on to the large house fan.