So, I've been using a GeForce 8800 GTX for about 2.5 years now and recently have had a few crashes that seem video card related. Specifically, it happens while playing Bad Company 2 (nearly maxed out settings).

While playing, I flipped on NVidia's monitoring tool and I've been seeing the video card heat up to 85 degrees (C). Some quick googling says this is way too hot so I've been trying to figure out how to cool it down a bit. I've already cleaned out the dust and check the airflow, but still get up to 85 degrees.

Any thoughts on how I can cool this sucker down? Any recommendations for video cooling that I can purchase?

Thanks.

Honestly I suspect your card is just nearing the end of it's lifespan and will probably die shortly but incase I'm wrong some things to check-

Check which drivers you are using, recently Nvidia had to recall a set of drivers because they were setting fan speeds incorrectly and causing cards to overheat/die. If you happened to update your drivers at the wrong time there is a small chance this could be the issue. http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=7551

Manually control your fanspeeds with the Nvidia drivers or a 3rd party utility, Set them to run much faster than defaults.

You could remove the heatsink fan, clean off the gpu/mem and reapply thermal paste. I don't have any experience with the 8800GTX but on similar cards it's not too difficult.

If possible ensure the 8800gtx's intake fan is supplied with cool air either by a side intake fan or something like Antec's Vcool.

Make sure you check IN the fan for dust.

It... is sort of important.



(Yes that is all dust.)

I second manually controlling your fan speeds.

I've already tried manually controlling the fan speed --- it's maxed out. I'll try the other things mentioned in the morning.

It may not be a solve-all solution but a new case could be something worth investing in. My card is noted and ridiculed by many to have overheating issues, none of which I have experienced. I think it has alot to do with how much airflow I have going through my case.

This is what I am currently running, its not much of a looker, but I scored it cheap and it has alot of great features: http://www.nzxt.com/products/m59/

You can get them for as low as $30 on some sites. I never run above 45c with my card even on the most demanding games.

Not an immediate solution, but I think it may help a bit.

Tried cleaning the dust off the heatsink. Seems to be doing a little better but temps still hang around 78-80 in BC2.

I may try looking at Vcool.

I also had one instance last night where the video simply shutoff while entering a game in BC2. The game hadn't been running long and I'm pretty sure the temp was still around ~60. Not sure what caused that. Perhaps I just need a new card.

Take a look at the heatsinks offered by Thermalright.

Try any different driver versions? Sometimes stepping back a version or alternatively trying beta drivers can help when it's just an issue with 1 specific application - Bad Company 2.

Yeah, I've tried different versions. The card has gotten quite hot under other games (such as crysis), but I can't confess to having many graphically intense games to test it out with.

So far, all crashes, etc. have happened while playing BC2 -- which is really the only thing I've played lately.

Oh, and here's a picture of the latest crash/whatever on both monitors. I don't think the card was as hot as it has been.