Using ATI and NVIDIA Video Cards To Make A Sauna

Post by **Apoptosis** » Thu May 17, 2007 6:31 am

It seems that high end video cards from ATI and NVIDIA keep on getting hotter. Today we break out the uber geeky infrared digital laser pyrometer to find out just how hot some of these cards get when it comes to the exhaust air and PCB area behind the core of the GPU. The results were a tad shocking and it's obvious that these high end graphics card can easily increase the room temperature when used in a small home office or dorm room!

Article Title: Using ATI and NVIDIA Video Cards To Make A Sauna
Article URL: http://legitreviews.com/article/506/1/

bubba · Post by **bubba** » Thu May 17, 2007 6:42 am

P.S. No video cards were injured by the turned on oven or the flames from the BBQ grill. Please note the video cards that were used are trained professionals with years of experience.

I figured the cards would put some heat out but didn't think that it would be that much.

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Thu May 17, 2007 7:06 am

Time to break out the water coolers..................

The heat dump into the living area isn't nearly as drastic................

stopthekilling77 · Post by **stopthekilling77** » Thu May 17, 2007 8:16 am

wow. now i'll really be looking to water-cool my pc components! they have waterblocks for the GTS/GTXs right?

Post by **Apoptosis** » Thu May 17, 2007 8:18 am

stopthekilling77 wrote:wow. now i'll really be looking to water-cool my pc components! they have waterblocks for the GTS/GTXs right?

Yup, they have them for all of them now...

Darkstar · Post by **Darkstar** » Thu May 17, 2007 8:53 am

nice testing, i wonder what kind of temps the XFX fanless cards turn out?

Post by **DMB2000uk** » Thu May 17, 2007 9:03 am

I can't believe you couldn't get hold of a seven series Nvidia card for more reference temps.

The one thing that was really interesting was the fact that Nvidia's card dumped the heat back into the case, can't be good for most systems. Another reason I'm glad I have watercooling

Dan

HONkUS · Post by **HONkUS** » Thu May 17, 2007 9:33 am

could we get a temp reading on part of the 8800's HS metal? mine damn near burns me when I touch it. Also in your back of the core readings I noticed your reading the metal backing on the 2900 and the PCB on the 8800 I dont know if that makes any difference or not.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Thu May 17, 2007 11:00 am

DMB2000uk wrote:I can't believe you couldn't get hold of a seven series Nvidia card for more reference temps.

The one thing that was really interesting was the fact that Nvidia's card dumped the heat back into the case, can't be good for most systems. Another reason I'm glad I have watercooling

Dan

I got some GeForce 7 series sitting here it would be nice to do them all, but you gotta crank the content out! It was originally just the GTX and XT, but I added the GTS at the last minute. I was just thinking about adding one real quick, but the room temp is different and the benchmark I used is DX10 only

XFX Support · Post by **XFX Support** » Thu May 17, 2007 2:40 pm

I knew when we launched our new modder friendly warranty I would see customers do some strange things with their video cards, but I wasnt expecting the experiments to involve a BBQ. Once again nice job thinking outside the box and delivering an interesting read!!

XFX Support

dkarko · Post by **dkarko** » Thu May 17, 2007 4:46 pm

Really interesting review! damn yes they are getting hotter and hotter, and power thirsty...

p.s. You are a crazy guy

SethC · Post by **SethC** » Thu May 17, 2007 10:09 pm

This is making me rethink a possible purchase of an 8800GTS. That is a lot of heat in a case, particularly one that isn't water cooled.

mongol05 · Post by **mongol05** » Fri May 18, 2007 8:21 am

This made me think of Quakecon and all those who have their brand new video cards. I hope it's properly air conditioned...

insanenoodle · Post by **insanenoodle** » Wed May 30, 2007 6:58 pm

haha this would explain why it was always hotter and smellier in my dorm room... ... what? the cards didn't produce a smell? ...interesting.