Ive been experiencing a lot of crashes with this card in games recently so did a bit of googling and apparently they are notorious for running hot (Sapphires stock answer seems to be "get a new PSU"), I was wondering if anyone had any experience of this? Im running your average rig, stock Intel HSF with the CPU hitting 55 max, system hitting 35-40 max on a warm day with two low rpm 120mm fans pushing air through.

The GPU idles at 55-60 deg C but even with the fan running at 100% it has just recorded 121.5 deg C whilst playing a game.    

After an hour or so of playing Ill get the dreaded artifacts and have to reboot (if I dont get that then I end up with horrendous flickering of textures), I think its obvious why now, however will one of those VGA slot cooler things make any difference or is the temp so high Ill be pretty much pissing into the wind?
http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=608106
http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=606399

Im going to upgrade to an 8800GT or 9800GT when they are released which I believe have lower power requirements and also run cooler so hopefully I wont have this problem, but Im keen to also not have my GPU go pop on me one day whilst Im working, Im also equally keen to not have to spend a fortune on a new GPU cooler heatpipe jobby if Ill be upgrading soon.

Cheers ladies and gents.

Well I just ran the ATI Tray Tools stress test thingy and it hit 118 deg C and then everything went to hell in a handbag, artifacts, programs shutting down, error messages, which is leading me to think it may actually be the PSU not supplying enough power and there is a grain of truth in what Sapphire say. I might just upgrade the PSU to something majorly beefy, get the 8800GT while Im at it and swap the 120mm fans to some more powerful ones in the case and call it a day at that.

While Im doing a cooling upgrade does anyone have any recommendations for good HSF combos for the CPU that dont require you to remove the mobo on an Intel Core 2 Duo?

if it got to 118C and then went tits up... Id say its the cooling not the psu

try again with the case side off and see what difference it makes.... a fan on the case side sucking in fresh air and blowing over the gfx card makes a MASSIVE difference !    (just rest/hang one there with the side off while you test and see what happens!)

My 1950XT had the same problem.  Took off the HSF, put some arctic silver on it.  Put it back together and its been OK since.  The 19xx and the 29xx sereis cards are bloody hot, and they are relatively noisy.  the 38xx series though are pretty quiet ive found, and run much cooler.

A silicon chip shouldnt be anywhere near 118degrees.

Thats not a lack of power.  Id guess heatsink not in contact properyl or the fan not working.  An ambient of 30 degrees shouldnt have a chip at 120 area!

Ill pop the card out and check the seating on the GPU later today, and whack some fresh thermal gunk on.

I did feel that even though they are low rpm fans two 120mms shoving air shouldnt cause dead spots in the case and it certainly shouldnt let the core reach 120degC. It idles at a little bit over what is considered the norm as well, its only under games when it shoots up and doubles to well over 100.

The case side actually has an optional window/grill, Ill put the grill on instead of the window and see if I can jury rig a high CFM 120mm fan blowing through the grill. Guess I need to buy a dremel to make it a permanent attachment!   -)

Am I the only person at the moment that thinks Trubadors fried egg experiment should be repeated and built upon using Chris Hs GPU this time to make a full english?

 

There was a fault with early sapphire x1950 pros, this was fixed by them fitting a new cooler, this is identified with the fan being at the front.
Ive just removed mine and its never gave any problems, I made sure it was one of the new type when I bought it.

early x1950s http://img.hexus.net/v2/graphics_cards/ati/X1950Pro/FrontB.jpg
New x1950s(like mine)http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37363&highlight=x1950+voltmod (first picture)

Nuts. Mines the earlier one.

Okay people, any 8800GT recommendations? I hear the EVGA ones are top notch.

Edit : Just ordered the EVGA one. Was going to upgrade to an 8800GT anyway so no money has been wasted. If it doesnt solve the heating issue and this runs hot then I know its an issue with the case.