8800GTS too hot

E6750, Gigabyte P35C-DS3R, Ausu 8800GTS 320MB, ADATA DDR2 2GB, CoolerMaster
Elite332, Seagate SATA 320GB, PCI modem, no OC, the case only has a 12cm fan
at the back.

Right after boot, CPU at 44C, system at 56C, 8800GTS at 68C with fan 60%.
Few minitues later, others unchange except 8800GTS rised to 74C. I didn't
let it go further by switching the fan to 100% then it dropped to 67C (could
be lower if I keep on running). At 74C, the airflow exit at the back of the
GTS is too hot to touch. I wonder if I should let it run further. The above
is just a 2D reading!!

My question:
1. is the GTS too hot?
2. will adding a 12cm fan at the front of the case help?
3. how to permanently make the fan run at 100%? Now the fan control software
such as Asus Smartdoc, nTune, RaveTuner have to run at start up to do this.
I do not use their other functions, so trying to avoid running them to save
overhead.

Thanks in advance.

"senderj" <senderj.DeleteThis@happy.net> wrote in message news:46e0a657$1@127.0.0.1...
> E6750, Gigabyte P35C-DS3R, Ausu 8800GTS 320MB, ADATA DDR2 2GB,
> CoolerMaster Elite332, Seagate SATA 320GB, PCI modem, no OC, the case only
> has a 12cm fan at the back.
>
> Right after boot, CPU at 44C, system at 56C, 8800GTS at 68C with fan 60%.
> Few minitues later, others unchange except 8800GTS rised to 74C. I didn't
> let it go further by switching the fan to 100% then it dropped to 67C
> (could be lower if I keep on running). At 74C, the airflow exit at the
> back of the GTS is too hot to touch. I wonder if I should let it run
> further. The above is just a 2D reading!!
>
> My question:
> 1. is the GTS too hot?

The only temp that matters is the fully loaded 3D temp. Run the fan at 100%.
Turn on the hardware monitoring strip charts in Rivatuner and launch a
stressful game (Bioshock is a good one). Play for about half an hour, exit,
and look at the peak temp. Don't worry about damaging the card as it has
thermal shutdown capability.

If the peak temp is below 90C you are fine. Modern cards are designed to
withstand that kind of heat.

> 2. will adding a 12cm fan at the front of the case help?

I think it'll help a tiny bit, say 5C improvement. Your case's side panel
already has a vent in the expansion slot area, so the video card fan
shouldn't be starving for cool air. Take a temperature reading with the side
panel off. That's as good as it gets for case ventilation.

> 3. how to permanently make the fan run at 100%? Now the fan control
> software such as Asus Smartdoc, nTune, RaveTuner have to run at start up
> to do this. I do not use their other functions, so trying to avoid running
> them to save overhead.

I think you can exit Rivatuner after Windows startup and keep the fan speed
setting for the duration of the Windows session. A more permanent solution
is to run the fan directly off a 12V lead from the PSU (using a 3>>4-pin
adapter. You can also solder the fan wires to a 12V pin on the card's 6-pin
PCIe power connector, but that'll of course void your warranty.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."