Artifacting/overheating: any easy solution?

[Fenixgoon]

On heavy games like crysis, my X1800XT is subject to overheat. Using ATI Tool, I ran artifact testing and it began to artifact around 80C, crashed at 82C. Is there any way (underclocking, bios flash, etc.) to prevent the GPU from getting that hot to begin with?

Currently running X1800XT w/ zalman fan, AS5, and stock core/mem clocks.

 

[Demoth]

Did it just start doing this? You should not be overheating and crashing at stock settings with a properly installed cooler in a decently ventilated case regardless of what game your playing.

If your looking at some simpler free things to try, I'd suggest-

1. Take off the fan, clean off the old artic silver using a good solvent and reapply a fresh coat. Check for any dust or lint inside everything while doing this.

2. Check your vid card voltage using one of the free 3rd party monitoring programs out there and make sure your MB isn't putting out too much juice.

3. Try the vid card in a friends computer and see if it runs hot still. This will at least help isolate the issue a bit more.

Underclocking the card sort of defeats the purpose of owning a strong gaming card but it could be a last resort other then simply moving on the the next gen.

 

[Fenixgoon]

1) cleaned off fan and old AS5

2) values according to ATI Tool 0.26: 10.9A current draw, 1.45V on gpu, 2.097V on memory and output buffers. how do i check that these values are correct?

3) i'll have to work on that one. most people i know have laptops :\