So yesterday I heard a fan going pretty crazy in my computer so I downloaded speedfan. Long story short my GPU is at around 60-65°C, and that's a problem.

 

Graphics card: nVidia GeForce 8600 GT (256mb DDR3)

 

Case: Dell inspiron 531

 

(2GB DDR2 RAM, AMD X2 64 5000+, 250 GB HDD)

 

 

 

I've tried opening the door to let in cold air, which works, but leaves me feeling pretty cold as it's around -5°C and I don't like to wear my winter stuff while on my computer. Also that's pretty expensive. I tried opening my case up and using a very weak vacuum (Very weak on the lowest settings, it's on its last legs :| ) to suck out the dust, hoping to improve the airflow, but it has hardly helped.

 

I have enough money for a small fan, but I don't know if that's the best option or which one to get. I've got plenty of room in my case right now (2 or 3 PCIE slots free) but it's just what to get that stumps me.

 

I'm sorry I had to further clog T&C with yet another help thread. Thanks for your help.

60-70c is a normal operating temperature for GPU's, some newer nVidia cards can even go up to 85c when optimized and cleaned. I prefer to run at around 40-50c though (you can use RivaTuner to tweak internal settings of the 8600)

 

 

 

If it's the fan noise only that bothers you, it could be dying or just full of dust. You can easily remove it from the AGP/PCIE slot and either use compressed air (very cheap) or toothpicks (even cheaper) to remove dust compounds around the heatsink. If it still makes considerable noise, the fan is failing.

Thing is, it actually crashed due to overheating last night, which got me pretty worried :?

60 - 65 is nothing for a GPU. You're only running an 8600GT lol.

 

My 9800GT runs at 70+, and that's pretty cool. Some of the over-clocked 9 series run at close to 100 degrees.

 

 

 

It may well have crashed, but it's unlikely this was due to overheating. :)

I had the 8600gt before.

 

I ran the fan on 100% and i didn't hear it at all (rivatuner, nvidia control panel)

 

Buy a new can of compressed air (like 5) and dust off the card! You could also open up the case (ground your self) and carefully remove any dust from the fan (but still, buy a air can when you can).

 

My card ran at no more than 52C in load.

 

Well... It overheated in AOE3 once, 120C lol (shut down the computer, opend up, fan full of dust!).

Those temperatures look fine to me though. Although

 

 

 

I did have a video card that was idle at 65 and 90 on load, even without dust in the fan, but now with the 9800GT I have yet to find a program that can monitor it's temperature :? .