When is my gfx card too hot?

[WelshKorn]

Well I have a radeon 9250. And I lost alot of performance from it for reason or another. I hadn't overlocked it or anything, I might have underclocked it tho. Anyway I am trying to overclock it now to get some performance out of it. When is my gfx card being worked too hard? I can still touch my heat sink without it being too hot. How hot should be able to go before its too hot? When it's too hot for me to touch?
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[hercules_upw]

When the card gets too hot you'll start getting artifacts in your games. Artifacts are like little black or white specks showing up where they shouldn't be. As for an actual temperature, I would guess 60-65 degrees C would be considered too hot. (those numbers are just my guess though.)

I overclocked my 9800 pro using a program called ATI Tool. (i think) it helps you get the card overclocked and tested. after each incriment of overclock it runs a 3D program that checks for problems. Anyway, you should try a Google search for ATI overclocking tools

 

[diabloII]

well you might have to get an arctic silencer for it (www.frozencpu.com)

that puny stock heatsink probably doesn't cool very well

 

[WelshKorn]

Dude, its a ati 9250, its not gonna have anything special to kool it.
Ok 60-65 degrees doesnt help cuz i don't know how hot that is. How hot would that be to touch, cuz right now I have my side panel of and I am feeling my heat sink.

 

[hercules_upw]

6o degrees C = 140 degrees F
65 degrees C = 149 degrees F

That would be like very hot water from the tap, as hot as it'll get. (most water heaters heat water to 140 degrees F.)

if it's at 60 degrees C then it would most likely give you a minor burn depending on your reflexes.

Try this tool. it should help you find the maximum performance of your card. Personally i wouldn't worry about temp so much. your Fingers are not very good at being thermometers.

 

[m3trj]

I thought that graphics cards got much hotter than that, like 80C.

 

[Counter-Strike]

Some do, the next-gen ones tend to handle higher heat then older-gens. Especially since the newer VGA's have built in fans and such, they are made to OC and withstand higher degrees.

 

[diabloII]

you could always try to rig a 9500=compatible one onto your 9200

or get a pci slot cooler

 

[WelshKorn]

I use ati tool allready

 

[Sh0r_ty]

my grfx card can cope with 120c and runs at 60-70 c