Video Card Running Hot

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Noticed awhile ago that my video card is running about 10 degrees hotter than it used to. I noticed my fans and air-intake screens were very dirty--so I cleaned them out. No real difference in temperature. The card isn't obstructed, the case is in a well ventilated area, and all the fans are operating.

I'm not really sure what the problem is.. It's a 9800XT and it's running at about 80-82c when idle, doesn't get much hotter than that while I'm playing games. When it was new, it was running at about 70c. I used to think that was hot, so I checked into it--that's about normal for the 9800XT.

Any suggestions?
 
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Did you recently change drivers? Are you sure there's no dust in the card? Is the power connector securely on? Are your PSU rails fine? Maybe your PSU is getting old. Maybe you're putting too much stuff for the PSU to handle and so the voltages are not as stable? Maybe your 9800XT is just getting old in the leg. Do you overclock it?

So many questions :X.
 
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I'm using the standard ATI 5.3 drivers. (I know, I should get the 5.5's..) I'm not sure there's no dust in the card itself--I just cleaned the fans/intakes. I don't believe my card needs an external non-AGP power connector.. My PSU is only about a year old, I'd assume it's fine. (Not sure what you mean by rails?)

The 9800XT is less than a year old, and I don't overclock it. (I do have 'Overdrive' enabled, which overclocks it by 6MHz when it's cool enough to do so, but the hot temperature it's always at now keeps it off permanently.)

Edit: As a sidenote, have you seen the "metal cooled" cards Sapphire is offering? I'm not sure they've gone on sale yet, but they look pretty nice. I'd seriously consider getting an Nvidia equivalent once benchmarks for them come out. I used to be a real ATI fangirl, but checking all the benchmark tests on Anandtech showing the 6800 Ultra outperforming all the ATI cards except for in HL2, I've started to lose faith in them.
 
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<img src="http://www.gamepc.com/images/labs/rev-9800xt-frontLG.jpg" height="400" width="620">

See that white thing at the top right? Make sure you have the plug in nice and tight.

And yea, I have seen the metal cooled cards, but haven't read much into them yet. Seems neat.
 
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Well, I took out the card itself, and looked around the inside. Dust everywhere! I got a lot out of it, and the fan over the processor, too. The card is running a few degrees cooler now.. still not where I want it, though. This started when one of my exterior 'screens' fell off.



So the metal inside the plastic case is exposed, and lots of dustis getting through. Not entirely sure how to replace it, since the original ones are superglued on (wtf?) by Alienware.
 
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Don't know how to fix the screen thing. Alienware is very anti-doityourself, so... hm. When you looked at your 9800XT, was the cord plugged in well? Make sure to get all the dust out.
 
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I called Alienware to see if I could get a replacement screen. But my warranty ran out like two weeks ago. Wee. The cord is plugged in securely. I got as much dust as I could out, but I was using a cotton swab and a lint-less cloth. Gonna have to go to the store tomorrow and get a compressed air can. Wish I had kept the screen itself, maybe I could've glued it back on. But no! I threw it away. I guess I can just clean it regularly.. or seal it off completely, neither are things I want to do, though.

Sidenote: I've been getting lower than normal FPS in ESF, which made me check the temperature in the first place. I tried turning all the settings to max--(default max, not absolute max), which is 4x AA and 16x AF.. and my FPS is back up to "Always 80-100." Strange..
 
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dust use to be a big problem for my old stock fx5200 cooler , it would take in alot of dust simply due to my room being a mess , i had 4 normal sized suckers that spread dust everywhere around my old case , since i was concerned about it till it go to a point where i started to cough and such when i was near my comp , i also cleaned out the old fx stock cooler , at the fan was really struggling to spin probably causing the card to act all werid

my suggestion is to try something a little crazy , why not get an 8cm fan and strap it over the heat sink (i use to do that alot with old p2 systems that i set up as home servers for m8s and such)

edit : is that by any chance a gecube card , if so , enjoy a really dodgie experience like a lot of those consumers that bought any gecube & or most gecube cards , the heatsink/fan combo reminds me of gecube
 
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It's an ATI-manufactured 9800XT. The case is an Alienware full tower.
 
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hmmm.... i would say to put a fan over it and see what difference it will make , do a little test yourself. grab a fan out of a old psu and attach it over the heatsink and see if it cools down a little , or if sou can and like pc operation over decible nosie get an 8cm fan over it (8cms fans are great for cooling imo)

edit : oh , the heatsink , you won't be able to fit it on , heck and i fought yours was a bit bigger

well , make do with a fan on the bottom part of your case and see what happens , make sure it faces the gfx card
 
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Saiyan_Overlord said:
hmmm.... i would say to put a fan over it and see what difference it will make , do a little test yourself. grab a fan out of a old psu and attach it over the heatsink and see if it cools down a little
Never open a PSU. Never, never, never. Also, a little fan may drop her temperature by only maybe 1-3C. Nothing major.
 

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