$300 Range Vid card upgrade from 8800GTS 640mb

[Boldeagle]

No offence but GPU's are a lot different from CPU's and must have a higher temp critical threshold. Case in point the 4850 came out idling at 70C and would climb to mid-90's under load. ATI must have been aware of this because alarm bells went ballistic throughout the gaming forums and community and yet they "did not" do a product recall. Many have modded their BIOS's and or adjusted Fan Profiles to correct the appalling fan profile that came out with this series. My previous x1900xtx would load up to 80+C often when gaming but I was not overly concerned. I have addressed my 4850 to temp ranges of 50-70C for personal comfort level's but GPU's can handle 90C and even 100C for prolonged periods unlike a CPU.

[cwestwell]

Yeah a GPU will handle well over 70-80 but I feel more comfortable haveing it below 70 not for the safety of the card but for the supper hot ambient air created by the card running so hot in your case...there have been moments on my 4870X2 where the large metal plate on the back of the card is so hot I swear I could cook food on that....So a simple profile mod and my temps are under 60 without much noise...and the card is far more touchable...and case temp far lower.