Is my video card overheating?

[AJT]

Hi all. First post.

Sorry if this sounds stupid, I have little experience in cooling PCs. I've got an old video card - an Asus v8420 Deluxe (chipset GF 4 Ti 4200). SpeedFan / SmartDoctor show the following temperatures for the core (video RAM is about 10 C lower):

Idle: 53 C
After a few 3DMark loops: 58 C

The strange thing is the video card heatsink doesn't feel hot (even when you touch it during 3D Mark).

Should I be concerned?

Other specs, just in case:
- Sempron 2200
- Kingston 256 MB DDR 333 MHz
- ASRock K7T6V (chipset KT-600)
- Seventeam 350 W PSU
- Onboard LAN/Audio
- No overclocking - other than v8420, which is slightly overclocked from stock (260 core, 550 memory)

Thanks in advance,
AJT.

 

[cre8]

Nah it isn't over heating.80C++ is overheating.

 

[AJT]

So that's why SmartDoctor's default warning threshold is at 70C, right?

Thanks for replying, I'm feeling much safer now.

Still, just out of curiosity, why doesn't the heatsink feel hot? Does this just mean the video card's cooling solution is well designed and working properly?

Please apologize if this question is too basic, but I expected the heatsink to be at least a bit warmer, though I know 58 C on the graphics chip is very different from 58 C on the heatsink.

 

[g0dM@n]

First of all....
WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!

Secondly, you're right about 58C on chip being different than the heatsink. The heatsink can only be as hot as the chip, but considering that the heatsink is actively cooled, it will be much less than 58C at the ends of the fins (although, closer to the core is hotter).

Thirdly, even 70C isn't so bad. To be completely honest, my little brother was gaming on his Ti4200 for a while the other day. I went to swap out his vcard with a 5900XT to notice that I burnt my hand on the Ti4200. The card was a million degrees to everywhere I touched it. It seemed that the fan was DEAD!!! The crazy part is that I noticed how hot the card was after the PC was off for about a minute of cool off. Another thing is that his PC was idling for quite some time before I turned it off, so you would think that it shoulda been cool.

That goes to show you how much of a beating videocards can take when it comes to temps. They can handle more heat than your average CPU.

 

[AJT]

Gee, now I feel REALLY safe at 58 C!!!

Thanks for both replies. Got rid of questions on the same day - yeah, these forums rule!