I was just curious how hot is too hot for a Geforce 8800 GT. I noticed that while running World of Warcraft or FSX it will creep up into the low 70s. Is this ok?I've been worried about it since the card did overheat in World of Warcraft once and it actually shut off, there's an issue with the last patch in wow that made some nvidia cards run like crap.Could someone with an 8800 comment on what their temps normally are in FSX and what is too warm for this card?Also which drivers are people using? The October 15 ones are crap, I went back to the 174 drivers that come from dell but tried the 180 beta too, not sure which ones to go with, the 174 run cooler but don't run as well.

I have an 8800GTX and it will run up to 75 degC under heavy load, at 60% fan speed.At 100% fan speed, it will get up to about 70 degC under the heaviest possible load. In FSX my card runs a few degrees less with 100% fan speed. Unlocking frame rate tends to give higher temps than locked.What I suggest to you is to download RivaTuner and have it set your fan speed to 100%, if it is not there already. I do not know if the 8800GT is like the GTX, but the fan speed defaults to 60%.8800GTX's are known to be hot-runners though. Your GT may not be in the same ballpark but sounds like it is.I use 169.something WHQL driver. I have not found a driver that I like better with FSX yet. I'm a little bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to new vid drivers though--I tend to operate by the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of thought with vid drivers.RhettFS box: E8500 (@ 3.80 ghz), AC Freezer 7 Pro, ASUS P5E3 Premium, BFG 8800GTX 756 (nVidia 169 WHQL), 4gb DDR3 1600 Patriot Cas7 7-7-7-20 (2T), PC Power 750, WD 150gb 10000rpm Raptor, Seagate 500gb, Silverstone TJ09 case, Vista Ultimate 64ASX Client: AMD 3700+ (@ 2.6 ghz), 7800GT

Thanks!It sounds like they operate in the same range then so it's not like my card is running that abnormally.I tried adjusting the fan speed using the Nvidia Performance software (it lets you overclock, adjust fan speeds etc. - I only installed it to adjust fan speed though). After changing the fan speed I had serious issues though, Windows would lock up and blue screen saying it stopped to protect hardware - so I think I will leave the fan speed alone.Do you know where you can get the older drivers? The driver archive on the nvidia site doesn't have much for the geforce cards.

Strange that FSX should push the video card since AFAIK FSX does not offload to the GPU very well if at all.

>I have an 8800GTX and it will run up to 75 degC under heavy>load, at 60% fan speed.>>At 100% fan speed, it will get up to about 70 degC under the>heaviest possible load. In FSX my card runs a few degrees>less with 100% fan speed. Unlocking frame rate tends to give>higher temps than locked.>>What I suggest to you is to download RivaTuner and have it set>your fan speed to 100%, if it is not there already. I do not>know if the 8800GT is like the GTX, but the fan speed defaults>to 60%.>>8800GTX's are known to be hot-runners though. Your GT may not>be in the same ballpark but sounds like it is.>>I use 169.something WHQL driver. I have not found a driver>that I like better with FSX yet. I'm a little bit of a>scaredy-cat when it comes to new vid drivers though--I tend to>operate by the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of>thought with vid drivers.>>RhettI second everything Rhett said. We both use the same case, which is top of the line when it comes to cooling. In addition to the GPU fan, we also have a fan in the center of the case which blows across the GPU. My 8800 GTS' fan was set at 50% out of the box. At about 72c, I would start seeing artifacts in FS. With RivaTuner, I have a profile that sets the fan speed at 80% and my temps under FS load are in the low to mid sixties. I set it to 100% in hot weather. The biggest difference between my 8800GTS and your 8800 GT is that mine is a dual slot card and blows the heat out through a slot at the back of the case whereas yours is a single slot and blows the heat into your case. If your case cooling is limited, you may want to try removing the sides to help with ventilation. I also won't mess with my vid drivers unless absolutely necessary. I'm still using the 169 drivers as well. The best setup for these cards, IMHO, is a 8800GTS, nHancer 2.4.2, RivaTuner, and the 169 Drivers.Regards,Jeff

Thanks guys, just a couple of questions.1 - What should I consider as too hot? 75? 70?2 - Where can you get the 169 drivers, nHancer 2.4.2 and RivaTuner?My system has a big air intake on the front with two fans, its an inverted design with the CPU on the bottom with some big radiator for it. The Graphics card is a few inches above the CPU, though it draws its air from the top. Not sure if heat off the CPU is moving up to the GPU.I'm not sure if you can adjust the fan speed on my card or not. With official release drivers I can't adjust it through the Nvidia Performance settings, only on the beta drivers, and with that when I did change it the card was so unstable windows just locked up and bluescreened the second it loaded. I had to go into safe mode and uninstall the drivers just to get windows to work again.I could take the one side of my case off and leave it open, is there any reason I wouldn't want to do that?

Well, too hot isn't really the issue. You'll likely see serious artifacting long before you burn up the card. I've never had mine higher than about 74c. I don't know what the thermal limit is though. I'd guess that the temp at which the card was running when it shut down playing WoW is good indication of the trouble zone. I think most of the newer cards will shut down before reaching the critical temperature. I'm not entirely sure where you can get the older drivers. I know you can get the newest drivers at the NVidia website here.http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-usYou might want to check the original disk to see which drivers it shipped with.You can find nHancer here:http://www.nhancer.com/Here is a page where you can find detailed help in setting it up properly. http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/Ya...=1208959973/0#5More info is here for setting it up with FSX:http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_post...D=156769#156769Don't use the NVidia control panel for anything. Use nHancer.And RivaTuner is here:http://www.techspot.com/downloads/397-riva-tuner.htmlYou should certainly be able to adjust your fan speed settings with this. You can even set up profiles to automatically adjust the fan speed when you start FS. No, there isn't any reason you couldn't take the side off. Unless you have a furry pet or two hanging around. Just the same though, you may need to make an effort to keep it clean of dust and such. One side effect may be reduced suction at the front air intake because when you take the side off, you reduce the pressure in the case but you'll still have the fans circulating the ambient air better, and the heat won't build up in the case. Like I said, you'll have to clean things up a bit more often.Hope this helpsRegards,Jeff

>I was just curious how hot is too hot for a Geforce 8800 GT.>I noticed that while running World of Warcraft or FSX it will>creep up into the low 70s. Is this ok?>>I've been worried about it since the card did overheat in>World of Warcraft once and it actually shut off, there's an>issue with the last patch in wow that made some nvidia cards>run like crap.>>Could someone with an 8800 comment on what their temps>normally are in FSX and what is too warm for this card?>>Also which drivers are people using? The October 15 ones are>crap, I went back to the 174 drivers that come from dell but>tried the 180 beta too, not sure which ones to go with, the>174 run cooler but don't run as well.Your card is, in all likelihood, *NOT* overheating. Just to be sure though, clean out your card's heatsink and fan while the system is powered off. Compressed air is the best method. The reason I say your card is not overheating is because thermal issues are easily reproducable. What you described sounds like a one-time bug, more likely to be a software issue (perhaps caused by the WoW patch you mentioned, or your graphics driver). The latest graphics drivers are almost always the best option with recent graphics cards (Geforce 8 series and newer, Radeon HD 2000 series and newer). I run the latest 180 series beta driver on my overclocked 8800 GT in both Windows XP and Vista x64 without issues.

I'm running the 180 drivers too. What temps do you normally see on yours? it is possible the mid 70s are normal I never checked temps before to know what normal is.

>I'm running the 180 drivers too. What temps do you normally>see on yours? it is possible the mid 70s are normal I never>checked temps before to know what normal is. My temps are not applicable, as I run an aftermarket cooler (Thermaltake DuOrb) at 100% fanspeed via RivaTuner. Temps never exceed mid-40's under any load I've yet seen.

>I was just curious how hot is too hot for a Geforce 8800 GT.>I noticed that while running World of Warcraft or FSX it will>creep up into the low 70s. Is this ok?>>I've been worried about it since the card did overheat in>World of Warcraft once and it actually shut off, there's an>issue with the last patch in wow that made some nvidia cards>run like crap.>>Could someone with an 8800 comment on what their temps>normally are in FSX and what is too warm for this card?>>Also which drivers are people using? The October 15 ones are>crap, I went back to the 174 drivers that come from dell but>tried the 180 beta too, not sure which ones to go with, the>174 run cooler but don't run as well.A 8800 has the ability to run up to 95c without damage however it is always best with the 8000 series to keep it under 85cAlso, the card will throttle itself back if overheat is detectedYour temps are fine.. enjoy your cardI use the 174.74 beta drivers for XP x64 and have not as of yet found a better driver however you mileage may vary

Yes but the gpu is still pushing scenes onto the screen!RhettFS box: E8500 (@ 3.80 ghz), AC Freezer 7 Pro, ASUS P5E3 Premium, BFG 8800GTX 756 (nVidia 169 WHQL), 4gb DDR3 1600 Patriot Cas7 7-7-7-20 (2T), PC Power 750, WD 150gb 10000rpm Raptor, Seagate 500gb, Silverstone TJ09 case, Vista Ultimate 64ASX Client: AMD 3700+ (@ 2.6 ghz), 7800GT

Looks like I'm doing ok - that forced shutdown must have been a one time deal then. Thanks everyone :)For myself I find the 180 beta drivers run FSX far more fluid than the 178 release ones so far, and far better than the 174 Dell drivers.

>Thanks guys, just a couple of questions.>>1 - What should I consider as too hot? 75? 70?Keep it under 80.You're doing that from the looks of it.>2 - Where can you get the 169 drivers, nHancer 2.4.2 and>RivaTuner?old nVidia drivers:http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp-2k_archive.htmlI think Jeff gave you the links to nHancer and RT in his post.>>My system has a big air intake on the front with two fans, its>an inverted design with the CPU on the bottom with some big>radiator for it. The Graphics card is a few inches above the>CPU, though it draws its air from the top. Not sure if heat>off the CPU is moving up to the GPU.>Heat rises, but if that air is getting out then that is ok. If your 8800 temps are in the 70's under heavy load you're doing what 8800's typically do. At 100% fan speed in FSX and framerate locked you probably should be able to keep it in the 60's (mine is about 58-63 degC in FSX) but my TJ09 case is pretty good about getting air to the gpu area as Jeff mentions in his post.>I'm not sure if you can adjust the fan speed on my card or>not. you should be able to using RivaTuner. If you run Vista64 you will have to run Vista64 with "Driver Signature Enforcement Mode" disabled (F8 on boot is the only way I know of to enter this mode--still looking for registry tweak (anyone know of one?)).>>I could take the one side of my case off and leave it open, is>there any reason I wouldn't want to do that?>Only way to know with your case/cpu/gpu/ps and room is to test. I am not one of those guys that says "if it has adequate case cooling, you should not need to run with side panel off". I've been known to run with side panel off for extended periods if I have people's hardware around from something I am building. I don't mind the noise :)RhettFS box: E8500 (@ 3.80 ghz), AC Freezer 7 Pro, ASUS P5E3 Premium, BFG 8800GTX 756 (nVidia 169 WHQL), 4gb DDR3 1600 Patriot Cas7 7-7-7-20 (2T), PC Power 750, WD 150gb 10000rpm Raptor, Seagate 500gb, Silverstone TJ09 case, Vista Ultimate 64ASX Client: AMD 3700+ (@ 2.6 ghz), 7800GT

>you should be able to using RivaTuner. If you run Vista64 you>will have to run Vista64 with "Driver Signature Enforcement>Mode" disabled (F8 on boot is the only way I know of to enter>this mode--still looking for registry tweak (anyone know of>one?)).>RhettRhett, you can disable the requirement for signed drivers via the BCDedit tool.Open a command prompt and copy and paste the following:bcdedit /set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKSYou'll have to right click to paste the text as the usual ctrl-v shortcut doesn't work.