3870 max temperature ?

[kraz]

My Powercolor 3870 extreme reaches pretty high temperatures when playing games, idles at around 50 degrees.

What's the maximum temperature you can safely run these cards at, bearing in mind I dont actually game that much, just occasionally ?

 

[TheMagic1an]

i'm not too sure what temps the 3870 should be at, but a idle of 50C is cool for any graphics card i would have thought. At under load anything between 60-80 should be safe.

 

[kraz]

Trying to reduce the amount of noise the fan makes, and so the card is reaching 90+ occasionally. Is this too much ? I've gamed for 1+ hour and it seemed fine all the way through, peaking at 97 degrees. But wanted to check it was ok over the longer term (if I get 1 year out of the card, Ill be happy).

 

[TheMagic1an]

well 97C is hot...i wouldnt go over 80C, but i think the max temp for a graphics card is usually over 100C, but that willl probably reduce the life of the card. Download rivatuner and set the fan speed at little higher if you havent done so already.

 

[kraz]

Ok thanks, sorted it now. The 120mm fan Id attached was slightly off centre of the GPU, so reseated it and it's now going max 70 degrees. Amazing what a cm here or there can do (!)

Finally got the 3870 extreme working without a tornada in the background !

 

[TheMagic1an]

great...yeah small things like that can make all the difference.