My Radeon HD 4850 idles @ 85 *C and 110 *C load.

[Monkey_Business]

My Radeon HD 4850 (512 MB) idles around 85 *C when it's idling in windows desktop, and runs past 110 *C when playing 3D games. It has NOT been overclocked. It is running it's default settings and factory clock speeds. Even with the fan running 100%, it still overheats.

What gives?

 

[Udgnim]

very likely poor heatsink contact

either RMA or remove heatsink (this might void warranty), clean the thermal application off with isopropyl alcohol (100% or as close to 100 as possible), and use your own thermal application

 

[happy medium]

Blow on it. J/K You have good airflow in your case?

 

[qazwsxokmijn]

Dust build up. Quite a few people now have had great results by clearing up the dust that builds up in the heatsink. Disassemble it, clean up, then you're away.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Ud is right.

My MSI R4850 was running at 80+ while gaming, so I went to take it out and noticed the heatsink had a little give to it. Sure enough, regreasing and properly tightening the screws (which may have come loose simply though vibration) brought the idle temps down to 35 and load temps to 50 C.

Gaz also has a point, always good to keep your card clean, although I've never seen dust choke something so completely that it hits those temps. Unless the dust killed the card's fan.

Does your card have an aftermarket cooler?

 

[Imp]

Think I've read about ATI cards having crappy thermal paste/interface with the cooler. Apparently, they use a thick glob/pad, and if you reapply it like you would for a CPU (thin, rice sized drop), there's a gap between the cooler and GPU.

 

[Rezist]

I have a Powercolor PCS 4850 that idles around 35 and loads at 55 to 60C.

I'd say that you've got issues with the card. The early 4850's could load as high as 85C though.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Dust build up. Quite a few people now have had great results by clearing up the dust that builds up in the heatsink. Disassemble it, clean up, then you're away.

I'm willing to bet this is the case. I'd take the card out of the computer and blow some computer duster though the heat sink.

Over time dust and dirt build up on the heat sink and impede heat transfer. Clean it up and you'll probaby notice a big difference.

If that doesn't help enough, then I'd start looking at removing the heatsink and reapplying some thermal grease.

 

[Occ]

This happened to my x1800xt. It's fan is mind numbingly loud when temps hit 110 *C+. Turned out that the fan intake at the end of the card had been completely blocked with dust. I didn't notice it until I took it out and disassembled the shroud and fan, because the intake grill was set inwards from the shroud. The dust came off in a big strip, kinda like grass or something. It was weird, because from casual observation the card looked fine. Don't know if your card has a shroud or a grill that could get as choked with dust as my x1800xt. Anyway, point is, you should definitely take everything apart and clean it, then if that doesn't lower your temps look at SlowSpyder's suggestion of reapplying thermal grease.

 

[Avalon]

Is this a stock, first revision Radeon 4850? If so, you likely had the same problem I did. Poor thermal grease covering the GPU, and dust in the heatsink.

If you're still under warranty, do this at your own risk, but I'd remove the heatsink from your GPU and clean out the heatsink with compressed air.

Then, I'd clean the thermal grease off the GPU and GPU contact area of the heatsink. Do not clean off the thermal padding used to help cool memory chips and VRM chips.

Take some paste (I used Arctic Cooling MX2) and reapply it on the GPU of the card. If there are any missing areas of thermal padding on the memory or VRM areas, add a very small dot to that area as well. Put the heatsink back on, and you should be good.

I did that and my temps dropped by about 25C both idle and load, with a stock first gen Visiontek 4850.

 

[nyker96]

try reseat it with some AS5. then put a 120mm fan somewhere around its heatsink. I did that for my 4850 is running about 5-6C lower on load.