Hello, i'm using an ATI Radeon X1900 Series Video card and I am in dire need of some help. It is a 512mb video card with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual core processor 4800+ and 2x512mb of ram, and so far although the performance hasn't seemed to be affected... I've noticed some scary temperatures on the catalyst control center.

I now have a beside fan on it and on desktop it is about 60C right now, but when i play video games (World of Warcraft) it can run at a worrying
90-100 degrees celsius, even at lowest quality in the game options.

With the bedside fan on it, the temperatures aren't too different than that of with the side case on, which is also 90-100.

The power supplt is Purepower 680W and im not sure of the motherboard specifications.

I havent checked the Processor fan, but i can if needed and i can also upload a picture of my case if anyone would like it.

Any help would really be appreciated, thanks a lot.

P.S: although i am not computer illiterate, i may not understand the latest computer talk :P .

hi, you can beter download ati tool from here(http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/Tweaking/ATITool) install it and in the settings you can change the cooling options. You can change it to set it dynamicly or others, just choose the temperature and set how fast fan have to spin in %. succes

Hey, thanks heaps for your reply. Im not quite sure on what i should be changing within the program, which drop down menu should i pick, ive looked through it and i couldnt find anything to do with cooling. any help would be appreciated. Thanks again

You can also try ATI Tray Tools. Look in Hardware > Overclocking Settings. ATI Tray Tools Guide.

Thank you very much for replying, I had a play with the fan speeds, it definately helped a ton. I really appreciate you guys helping me out. My video card fan sounds a bit like a helicopter, but hey - at least it wont melt

Just curious: would it be unhealth for the fan to be running at max constantly.. and if so, at what speed % would it be good to leave it at for a constant speed?

Have you blown the fan/heatsinks out with canned air?

I wouldn't run the fan at 100%, but not because of wear, because of the noise. Those 60 degree idle temps are fine, so I'd just spin the fan down to whatever speed can maintain those temps.

If possible, check to see where the ram is on the card, if there is ram on the bottom of the card, try buying some copper ram headsinks. Get some arctic silver compund and apply that to the ram. It should help reduce some head from the card.

ok start Ati tool--> click on settings(right down)--> then on the top of menu u can chose Fan control. change fan settings, apply it, click on back button and minimize Ati tool. After that u can chek GPU temperature.
Succes.
If u have any questions. Please.

At those temps, I'd be much much happier replacing the stock cooling.

I got my X1950Pro OCed by about 10% running load at 66C. I probably didn't seat it properly, but given that the HR-03 isn't the easiest to install, I won't bother trying to get lower temps.

Oh yeah, I'd think I'd mention that I can barely hear my comp which is under the desk, with ALL fans running at max speed. Any noise I hear is from my HDDs (or I think it is).

im not sure how id go around to replacing the stock cooling, the card has a white cover on it with the fan inside. I might have to take it to a shop since i wouldnt know what im doing.

google ATI Radeon X1900 Series for images if you dont know what i mean

I own an X1900 series, and I replaced it. I even mentioned it in my post....

Its just a matter of unscrewing any screws you find on the back, and then following your new heatsink instructions. But I do understand that it may be quite risky, and will void your warranty. The shop probably will not do it for you.

Your choices on the noise problems are now this it seems:
1. replace the heatsink
2. replace the graphics card
3. live with it (ie, don't do graphic intensive computing?)

The X1900 series run very hot, and it seems like this trend is gonna continue with BOTH graphic card manufacturers. Noisy, inefficient cooling seems like the norm for graphic cards these days for some reason.... Would do you good to pay a little more for one with pre-installed aftermarket cooling (such as the HIS X1950Pro, that came with a VF900-Cu).

I see, thanks very much for your reply. So basically there is no way for me to replace the stock cooling unless i do it myself - in which case i will void warranty if anything goes wrong.

I'll take the advice for my next graphics card, but i dont know if that will be coming too soon, as i am quite happy with the X1900 and it is a fairly expensive card :P

Well, it is a fairly expensive card.

But if it is really bothering you, it might be a good idea to look for a friend who's very comfortable replacing the heatsink. If done correctly, with enough care, its not much harder than replacing the heatsink on the CPU. It just has tons of screws you'd have to undo. Once undone, it comes off without much force at all.

Personally, if its the only souce of noise in your computer, I'd give it a go. But if without the fan at full speed and the noise from other components still bother you, I probably won't recommend doing it.

And the extra problem with the X1950pro (not sure if its the same on the X1900) is that there's an extra I/O chip which needs cooling. You might have to get some RAM heatsinks for that.