GPU temperature when idle

[Shantei]

At idle my gpu fan is set to run at 32% by default (below 70 degrees centigrade) and when my comp is idle it runs at 67 degrees centigrade

Iv'e discussed in another topic about what it's like when running Oblivion and it got up to a maximum of over 100 degrees centigrade and was advised to get Arctic Silver 5 (which I'm getting on Wednesday).

I believe my fan is running perfectly fine on my X1900 XT and the temperature room is no way near warm enough to affect it. Airflow is generally normal, so would the grease solve many of my problems?

Thanks in advance.

(ATi tool is set to keep my gpu temp at 58 degrees so the fan is running at 50%)

 

[Shantei]

Wow, I've actually found out what the problem was.

The fan sucks in the air from one end of the graphics card past the heatsink to cool it and out the back of the computer right? Yeah, layer of dust covering the entrance to the heatsink

I think that may be an issue with a lot of X1900 XT users is the layer of dust forming across the heatsink. Chokes it I guess .. well it's 43 degrees idle now so that's a big difference.

If I applied Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound how much more would the temperature decrease?

 

[Bob94571]

should improve them a little when i did my 7600GT with AS5 i dropped about 3-5 degrees off my idle and about 6-8 degrees off my load