ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT overheating

[Hermis]

Hello forum, i am having an overheating problem with my ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT. I got it with my pc more than a year ago and think its just about time to fix my problem. when i run some game, it overheats immediately and computer shuts down in few minutes after starting a game. i used ati tools until now, lowering core and memory to ~375 (default 800). even then, the temperature rises to ~95 and i can play someting then... even if no game is running the temperature keeps at 60. i took the side plate off the pc geting few degres off... the cooler of the card does work, so i have no idea why its overheating so much. can help me?

my pc:

Intel(R) Core (TM)2 Duo CPU
E6550 @ 2.33GHz
2.33 GHz, 1,98 GB of RAM
Windows xp SP3

 

[AFurryReptile]

First of all, lowering your clocks to ~375 is going to make playing ANY game nearly impossible. I would suggest leaving them at their defaults, or higher, but don't mess with underclocking.

Second, I would try blowing the video card fan clean with compressed air.

Third, you should make sure your drivers are up-to-date.

ATI Tools has options for fan speed, is there any chance those are mis-configured? Using the same tool, you could adjust the fan to run at 100% speed at certain temperatures, say 70 degrees.

 

[Hermis]

thanks for replying. i was nerver messing with fan speed so it is set to default. i put off and cleaned the the video card from dust but cant clean it with compressed air. drivers are up to date. the only reason i underclocked it so much becouse its the only way to play games without having my pc turned off becouse of high temperature of the video card. im seriously thinking of changing the video card coz its seems it simply is not working how it should. im adding a screen showing its activity 0% but temperature 74 degrees. thats few minutes after turning my pc on. any other ideas why it is so wrong?

http://img372.imageshack.us/im...35/newbitmapimagez.png

 

[AFurryReptile]

Yeah that isn't good. Most likely your fan is going bad, and I would either replace that or get the new card.

 

[aGreenAgent]

I would definitely get compressed air. There's a good chance that there is dust somewhere you can't see that is blocking airflow. You should really clean the whole PC with compressed air

 

[Hermis]

i wish i could try compressed air cleaning but dont have the compressor. maybe it is possible that the thermal paste between the card and the fan stopped functioning? i mean i play games every day, card temperature being 90-100 degrees, maybe that ruined it?

 

[aGreenAgent]

A can of compressed air is like $3 at most. Just go to Target/Best Buy/etc. and buy one.

It's possible you need to redo the paste, but that's probably not appropriate until all other avenues have been followed.

 

[Hermis]

i took a deeper look to the graphics card and the problem was that not the fans but tracks to which air is pointed by fans is filled with dust. so it was same like no cooling at all. everything is working fine now, thanks for replies

 

[aGreenAgent]

Yes, that's why you should buy a can of compressed air...