Temp & Tolerance to high AGP frequencies

[llreye]

Unluckily I have only a 1/2 FSB = AGP divider to work with. Assuming the HDDs hold stable I will push from 74MHz AGP to whatever frequency the system starts failing at. However, I am worried about the video card temperatures. At the moment, the 8MB Matrox G200 is running ~50C/120F in ~15C/58F ambient. This is about 5C warmer than the CPU running Toast :(. I do not want have to worry about a video card overheating the chassis during hot days. Though I could mount an old Alpha heatsink I have around, I am more interested in a possible upgrade.

For those with experience with higher than normal AGP frequencies, what cards have good tolerance for high frequencies and how hot do they run? Relative temperatures/comparisons ok, but specific termperature readings preferred.

Specifically older or lower end cards (GF4's, R9200's, etc). As you can guess I do not plan on doing much DirectX/OpenGL with a G200 :).

Thanks

[Pikachu_Mommy]

Originally posted by llreye
For those with experience with higher than normal AGP frequencies, what cards have good tolerance for high frequencies and how hot do they run?
GeForce1, 2, & 3 series.
Kyro II
Radeon 8500 series

These cards *usually* do 93~ 100+mhz AGP frequencies.


Relative temperatures/comparisons ok, but specific termperature readings preferred.

Running higher AGP frequencies don't mean your card's core will get hotter. Some cards do just fine at high AGP bus while the others simply do not take it regardless of cooling. The heat most often increased is by your card's overclock and vmods. There were times I thought that by supercooling the card's core, it will be able to handle higher AGP bus speeds, but my experiments proved me wrong. The AGP bus was limited by a given card but seriously improved in overclock. I put it back to the old stock cooling and still maintains exact same AGP bus speed where I had at with supercooling.

[CrashOveride]

Originally posted by llreye
I do not want have to worry about a video card overheating the chassis during hot days. Though I could mount an old Alpha heatsink I have around, I am more interested in a possible upgrade.


What Pikachu_Mommy said AND having your GPU cooler won't help your overall case temps unless you move the heat out of the case directly from teh card. The card produces the same amount of heat reguardless of what cooling is on it, and it releases the same amount as well. All a better HS does is get more of it off of the GPU faster giving you a higher GPU temp but still the same (or perhaps higher faster) case temp unless you have it going directly out of the case. Still putting a better HS on there is great if you are gonna OC or get artifacts while gaming. :D

[llreye]

...Thanks both so far.

To clarify, I do not intend to game. "I do not plan on doing much DirectX/OpenGL," i.e. running games/professional programs. And if I were to keep the Matrox G200...well, it is, uh, not so good for DirectX/OpenGL.

If I were to dump an Alpha on it, it would be to transfer more heat off than the very small passive it has now. But, yes, I can remove the heat with fans/ducting/etc. But I think the Alpha is almost as heavy as one of the larger Zalman heat pipes, and I do not want to add one of those either.

Originally posted by Pikachu_Mommy

Running higher AGP frequencies don't mean your card's core will get hotter.[/B]

Right, that is why I am interested in "what cards have good tolerance for high frequencies." But "how hot do they run" is also good to know--it is nice if something works at high f_AGP but not so good if it works but runs like a space heater. ;)

Sounds like:

GeForce1, 2, & 3 series.
Kyro II
Radeon 8500 series

might be ok...

Originally posted by Pikachu_Mommy

There were times I thought that by supercooling the card's core, it will be able to handle higher AGP bus speeds, but my experiments proved me wrong.[/B]

Sounds like the same reason CPUs have upper limits on each process and design. ...But it would be neat if you had a datasheet for the GPU and somehow got a PLL or divider onto the card. You would probably have to keep at 1/2 multiples of the system AGP but it would be interesting.


I am interested in what card handles high AGP frequencies with much less than 50C temperatures. So what I am asking for is experimental data/experience of those who have pushed their f_AGPs.