82 degrees safe gpu temperature?

my HD4870 is doing like 82-83 degree celsius. is that safe, or is it overheating? I did not overclock it, but it's a very hot day here

 

That's hot, I'd try to cool that down at least 15 degrees.

 

It's not safe, it could actually in the long run damage the card.

Have you checked the heat sink for dust? They're deceptively effective dust traps, and having an impromptu fur coat on a fan makes it a lot less effective. Cleaning out the dust makes a huge difference.

 

hmm here they say it's fine..

http://www.overclock.net/air-cooling/477682-ati-hd-4870-safe-temps.html

 

Well, it does mean less work for you if you are happy to leave it where it's at.

If the card is rated for up 80, that doesn't mean it's a good idea to take the temperature right up to breaking point and leave it there. Your choice though.

 

I wouldn't worry very much about it unless your fan is running @ %100 trying to keep it cooler. ...and yes, it is very hot in our area! I agree with Mimsy's philosophy but there's not much one can do without spending some money.

 

I would watch the temp. I would start to worry if it pushes over 85ish

If it's very hot there that wont help the temps. I bet it's much better during a cool day.

 

well I opened up my case to remove some dust, and it was full of it. I also removed my CPU heatsink and fan to clean it, only to realise that the thermal paste has dried up, and I don't have any right now... (it's funny it dries so fast. it's been 2 years that I have this rig)

I also removed the dust on my video card on the part right next to the monitor connectors. You know, that area which lets hot video card air get out of the pc.


I also checked out for some dust around the vid card fan. There was a little, and I sucked it out with the vacuum cleaner. Removing the vid card heatsink seems to be complicated to remove, and involving too many screws. So I decided to not touch it.

any other ideas to cool it down?

 

You've done what you could but the paste drying up is a new one on me, did you build this machine? Anyways if your video card's temps are at full load then you're fine, if that's @ idle then it's in big trouble.

 

Well it was like 78-79 on idle. I can't check how it is now, because I haven't re-installed my cpu yet (i'm on my dad's computer now). Also, I didn't build it, a store did it (microbytes)

 

Dried up thermal paste and dust all over the fan and heatsink is never good, regardless of what temperatures your card is rated for.

I've seen thermal paste dry up before, but not in two short years... smart move not to use the computer until you can get some more. Any computer store can sell you thermal paste, it's pretty cheap to get only a little tube.