How do i tell if my Video card is overheating?

[Stinkles]

Im trying to play World of Warcraft with my new video card, its a 128mb Radeon 9200. I was able to play the game with my 32mb video card but i wanted an upgrade so i got that. Now it keeps crashing anywhere from the log-in screen to 2-3 minutes into the game. When it crashes it reboots my computer and doesn't give an error report. Unless it stores the error report somewhere that i don't know about. I know I have enough power to run it. So the only thing i can think of is it is overheating. How would i go about checking the temperature of it while i start up the game?

P.S. I may not respond immediately but ill be back on later tonight.

 

[mammikoura]

what is the idle temp?
And u could always open the program u use for the temps (use the ati one if it came with the card) then start the game and then alt + tab to windows and then u can see the temp. Depending on how fast u get to windows the temps can cool a little.

or

Run the game in window mode (alt + enter I think) though like this the vid card might not work as hard.

 

[joxley1990]

or..touch it

 

[Jamxx]

Why don't you try putting the old video card back in just to make sure that's the problem. Have you installed the latest drivers for it? Did you uninstall the old video card drivers completely? You should do that before installing the new ones.

 

[Stinkles]

Well the old video card is built into the motherboard. Im sure i have the latest drivers because ive spent some time messing with that already lol. And I dont have a program to monitor the temp on PC because ive never had a problem with temps before, so if you could point me in the way of a temp monitoring programs and tell me an ideal temp for my video card that would probably do it thx for the replies every one.

P.S. Oh and yeah i uninstalled all the old drivers first.

 

[Dishdog]

Well the old video card is built into the motherboard. Im sure i have the latest drivers because ive spent some time messing with that already lol. And I dont have a program to monitor the temp on PC because ive never had a problem with temps before, so if you could point me in the way of a temp monitoring programs and tell me an ideal temp for my video card that would probably do it thx for the replies every one.

P.S. Oh and yeah i uninstalled all the old drivers first.

With Nvidia cards it has a built in temp reader, i don't know about ATi though.
To get to mine i go into properties on my desktop>settings tab> advanced> theni have a tab for my card and in there it tells me the temp. Might be the same but i don't know.

or..touch it

Even at idle temps it's enough to burn you. Touching is not a good way to see if somethig is overheating, especially when the shutdown heat is like 120c.

 

[Stinkles]

Nope mine doesn't have a built in temperature thing.

 

[Stinkles]

Ok im pretty sure its not temp because i took off the side panel of the case, and felt the heat sink on the video card after about 20 minutes of being on the comp it was pretty hot. I put a fan to it ad it dramatically lowered the temp i then tried to play the game and almost immediately it crashed. If any one can help me pls. If you think it might be something leave step by step instructions and ill try it. Im desperate because its upsetting me lol.

Thx in advance.

 

[Kage]

Video cards can get hot anyway.

If it is the card doing it though, you should be getting some interference like pixelated blocks/colours, etc. It shouldn't just work perfectly fine and then just fall over.

Unless of course, the video card is throwing out air near your processor and theres too much hot air flowing around, crashing the processor and so your computer with it.

Have you got enough fans circulating cold air through and hot air out of the case?

 

[LukeD1]

There is a program you can download for free called ATItool. Now to monitor GPU(the processor on your vid card) tempatures, your video card needs to have a certain chip. I have a Radeon 9600 se (non-pro) and it doesnt have the correct chip for temperature reading capabilities. My guess is yours doesnt either.

ATItool also enables you to overclock but if I was you I wouldnt mess with that just yet. Do a simple google search for ATItool and you should have a result for a download site.