just wondering what temperatures i'm safe at with my graphics card before damage may occur. There shouldn't be any problems with it, its a PCI-E nVidia GF 6600GT 128mb. the normal temp for it is about 55C.

Thanks

+1

However if your like me and like to keep things below 30C get a Zalman cooler for your card. Or better yet watercooling. Also Do nVidias run hot? Cus my X800Pro runs 47C and its overclocked.

Cheers
Cameron

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nVidias? Actually, I've never seen one.

nVidia cards that I have seen use nVidia chipsets and design, but are manufactured by third party companies.
nVidia specify a "reference" design for each category of card, it's then up to the individual manufacturer to implement that card's characteristics, cooling solutions and performance capabilities notwithstanding.

The old ATI vs. nVidia mentality is largely based on ignorance and retoric. Video hardware needs to be carefully researched and assessed in order to make valid comparisons and objective observations.

Running "hot" is a subjective analysis without other supporting facts, such as case ventilation, ambient air temp etc.

But, alas, to allay any fears or misconceptions, modern video cards seem to have improved dramatically as far as heat generation/dissipation/performance ratios are concerned due to modern silicon processes and other technologies.

For instance, my new nVidia 6600GT runs relatively cool  while my freinds ATI 9800XT is roasting away in his case with artifacting evident due to overheat factors.

This is not because of any particular methods used by either nVidia or ATI, but rather a reflection of the technolgies of the time they were introduced.

I was using an nVidia GF4 TI4200 which is of the era of the above mentioned ATI 9800XT and the TI4200 was quite a hot running card. (though it did not display artifacts until it was overclocked about 15-20%)

In regard to the original question and subject of this thread, the poster didn't give the manufacturer info in his video card spec, which, in this case, just happens to be relevent.

The reason for this is, that nVidias reference design for the 6600GT just happened to be, in the opinion of many, flawed.

The flaw is in the two point mounting system of the HSF arrangement, in which it is apparently easy to dislodge the heatsink, or rather, accidentally knock it askew, so that the heatsink loses effective contact with the GPU and could cause serious overheating or catastrophic failure of the GPU.

Different manufacturers have corrected or improved the situation with modified designs, others have not.

In any case, it's best to be aware of this potential problem and take great care not to "bump" the HSF assembly out of position.

That would work. As would SpeedFan

I have 2 6600GTs: (at idle) the upper board runs at 75 deg and the lower board runs at 50 deg.

I built the computer when the SLI boards first came out and was a little concerned, but have never had a problem.

My 6800GT after about 4 hours of gaming it to the max, runs abour 53C.

I'm probably going to get a waterblock for it, then only be left with the fans in my PSU.

Considering my coolant temperature rund between 5F and 40F during the winter (depends on outside temps, where my radiator is), I have plenty of cooling power to tap.

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Unless there is a new version I am not aware of, Speedfan does not tie into an ATI card. I use ATI Tool v.024 which allows me to override the card BIOS and set the video card fan speeds based on a graph of GPU temps. Mine are as follows:

(temp) = ( GPU Fan Speed)
0c   to 45c = 55%
45c to 50c = 65%
50c to 55c = 69%
55c to 60c = 76%
60c to 65c = 85%
65c to 70c = 95%
anything above 70c = 100%

The above works very well and makes my video card virtually silent when not under a high or moderate load.

50c is not a bad idle temp if your tower is in a high ambient temp area (75-80 degrees) however I would look at the airflow of the tower to ensure you are getting the heat out.

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http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

I cannot vouch for the beta version, only the current alpha release