Got a new videocard but scared!

[NFiltrateG4]

Hello guys, I have just recently bought new computer gear. This is what im running now.
1. Asus A8n Deluxe-SLi
2. AMD Athlon64 3500+
3. Antec Smartpower 500w
4. ATi brand X1800XT (not overclocked at all)
5. 2 standart Ide harddrives
6. and 1 standard cdrom drive.
7. Last is my Aspire case coming with 2 fans. One in the back and the other on the door blowing air into the processor.

The thing is, I monitor my X1800XTs temperature alot and while i play games, it usually goes up to 70c-73c in temperature. Does this on games such as WoW and Age of Empires III. I really hate the idea of putting a water cooling solution on my videocard. Should I be worried about this 73c in temperature on my vgu or is this normal?

 

[Sharkfood]

73C peaks for an X1800XT is incredibly low temp for an ATI core.

The R4xx and R5xx series cores have a thermal limit of 99C, and most will hit peak operating temps in the mid 80's. Most of the X1800/X1900's I've used, under heavy/extreme gaming load run comfortably in the 83-86C range.

So you're doing quite well with case cooling if yours doesn't hit the 80's!

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Just to confirm what Sharkfood has said. You have absolutely no need to worry. Your temps are fine.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[NFiltrateG4]

So these videocards whether from ATi or NVidia are meant to take such a temperature beating?

 

[Sharkfood]

No, it depends on the core chip and it's thermal rating/load and design.

R4xx and R5xx series ATI chips are meant to run at a thermal limit of up to 99C.

Other GPU cores are rated much lower, such as R3xx series ATI GPU's... 73C would indeed be grounds to worry.

Newer ATI cores are on a lower micron design process, which offers higher thermal operating temperatures. Newer R4xx (X800/X850 series) and R5xx (X1xxx series) are of this lower process and therefore designed to run at much higher operating temperatures.

 

[NFiltrateG4]

So at what temperature should I start to worry about my videocard? 85? 90? Oh yeah, and do you guys think my PSU is good enough for this gpu?

 

[Sharkfood]

Yup, I'd say if your peaks start to enter the 90's, you may want to look into better cooling. But prior to that, these newer ATI cards also have fan throttling built-in, so they alter the fan RPM's based on heat. Sometimes, as the fans get old or the heatsinks get packed up with dust, you can download tools to ramp the fan at 100% fulltime. This usually buys even more time down the road if the fan should become old/weak.

In all actuality, GPU temp is usually not a concern as it'll exhibit problems well before any damages can subside. You'll usually start to see artifacting (in the form of white boxes/flakes on the screen or huge, protruding geometry like "beams" coming out of 3d models off into the distance) as well as instability in the form of blue screens, lock-ups, crashes or games just exiting to the desktop.

 

[Face of LA]

why wud u get A ATI? if i was u iwud get the new nvidia g force 512 MB!