XFX 7950GT 512 XXX - Over Heating

[pdjmwj]

1st time post. I'm very fustrated with my video card XFX 7950GT with no fan,uses heat pipes. I thought this would be a great card and help keep my case quiet. Well, it is real quiet because I can't play games with it. The games I do play have to be run low res. Just got the new MOH Airborne and I 've got it set at low settings. Card starts 59c and quickly jumps to 69c in 5 minutes then bang it's dead.

Can I put a fan on this card that will help or should I just sell it and move up to a 8800GTS or ?

System
AMD Athlon 4800+ X2
Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe
2 gig Corsair XMS
Gateway 21 LCD
750 WATT PS
Case has 5 80mm fans

http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product/lis ... nId=695916

[Sparky]

I used to have an EVGA 7950GT 512mb and the Zalman VF900 worked very well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835118001

[dkarko]

Passive heatsink on a 7950gt? I have seen 7600gs overheat with a passive heatsink.. They just dont work on good+ cards! A friend of mine had a gigabyte 7600gs with passive (and a massive 24 or 30 cm fan i donr remember on the case window!) and he had problems too, in fact google was full with such problems! Avoid them if you are looking for a good card!
As Sparky said the zalman is good!
Just before trying to remove the old heatsinks let the card "overheat" one last time, because usually the paste they use gets hard when cold and it could be hard removing it.

btw: welcome

[kenc51]

I wouldn't replace the heatsink just yet! XFX are known for having very good quality testing before releasing a product. Why else would they offer the warranties?

Are you sure you connected all the power cables to your motherboard and GFX card?
Also, your specs say you have a 700W PSU, what brand?

And finally, most important......welcome to the forums ;)

[DMB2000uk]

What's general airflow like in your case?

Graphic cards can take upto about 100oC before they hit slowdown threshold, while this is much higher than I'd feel comfortable with, your card still has some headway regarding temps before it should be an overheating issue.

And the XFX passive cooler is pretty beefy, not like the pathetic passive ones that come with some other brand cards .

If you want to eliminate heat as being the issue, rest a fan on the top of the cooler and card and let it blow down onto it. It works even better than the normal nvidia stock heatsink like that!

Dan