2600XT Gets Too Hot!

[w00fd06]

I recently bought an HIS Radeon HD 2600XT, and I installed it, and it seems to be too hot, it idles at around 57-61*C, I'm wondering why it's getting so hot, the fan's almost always on, and when i'm playing a game or watching a video, it stays around 70*C, any suggestions?

[dkarko]

It's normal! Gpu are built to withstand heat! Your temperatures are good!
My 8600GTS idles at 50-55 and full load goes around 75 and nvidia's panel has the temperature alarm way higher than that.
In fact higher end models get much hotter.
Small heatsinks + big wattage = hot and modern gpus have both..
In fact your card probably has higher consumption than your cpu.

So nothing to worry about.

[Apoptosis]

My GeForce 8800 Ultra idles at 62C, so nothing out of the ordinary here... the 2600XT is a single slot card with a small fan on it, so it does get a bit warm, but as they already mentioned in this thread video cards have always been the hottest part in the PC for years.

[w00fd06]

Currently, I have a 305 watt PSU, unfortunately, but i'm thinking of getting a 500w, would it be good to get a case fan or something?

[Zertz]

A fan would help, but those temps are normal, I wouldn't worry about it unless you're having problems.

[dkarko]

Go and buy that 500w psu.. 300w, especially a no name low efficiency one, seems marginal to me. the idea of connecting it to a modern pc with a seperate video card scares me. It could be ok for a system with a low consumption cpu,onboard vga, one hd and a dvdrw, but i doubt it will be able to withstand full load with a video card and more than one hard disks... at least not for long.

About the fan, if all your temps are good, you wont need it. And if you still want to buy one just buy a low rpm silent one (no need to pay loads of $$ for a high performance silent fan, just a simple one with low rpms)

[Athlonite]

well thats bollocks as mine which is a gecube hd2600xt with a **** little hsf on it runs idle at 37 and sits on 54 full load so I'd say either your case has a serious cool air problem or the hsf on it is rubbish if you don't mind voiding you warranty then pull the hsf off and apply some aftermarket paste and see if that makes any difference to the temps as the bubblegum or white paste manufacturers use is cheap nasty crap that does only a poor job at best I'd also seriously think about getting some case fans and get the air moving through the case

P.S. a 300 wat PSU is below the rated power for this video card AMD/ATI recommend a 400W psu min

[ibleet]

I agree, replace the PSU with a quality PSU. I recommend Corsair.