Legit Reviews

Just how hot can a 8600gt go "safely". I recently ran a video card bench test on it and while running it the card got up from its normal 56-58c temps in game to a scorching 78c. I was thinking about running the folding client on it but I'm not so sure I will now if my GPU is going to get roasted.

GPU's are designed to handle higher heat, high 70's C isnt anything to worry about. It probably depends on which card you have and wether its passively cooled or fan cooled too, but they can hanlde temps in the 90's

OK that is nice to know I have an evga 8600gt and thought that it was going to suffer a china syndrome the way the temp jumped up. I think though that I'll remount the heatsink/fan and get some arctic silver 5 on it just to help move the heat a little better. The cooling solution looks to be on the weak side after that little bench I ran on the card.

Yeah, stock graphics card heatsinks aren't particularly great. AS5 should help some, but to get a decent temp drop an aftermarket cooler is going to be needed.

Some cards are even rated at 110oC, which is ridiculous if you ask me.

Dan

I believe the max is 115 c, so you're not doing so bad. After all it should shut down long before any serious damage takes place in the card. However I still wouldn't want to go any higher than 80 c under load just to be safe. I have a G92 video card so it stays at about 34 c under load even after overclocking.