so i just got and installed today a brand spankin' new ATI x1950xt 256mb card. it is, for lack of better words, a friggin' tank! it's handling anything i can throw at it on maximum detail settings at 1440x900, 4xAA and 8xFSAA (i think that's the abbreviation) and it throws out at least 50FPS if not more.

my question is this; i think the card is running a bit hot. i don't have much experience with how hot they are supposed to be, but it's idling around 54C and under load it gets to about 74C. the fan is working because i can feel the air and occasionally it will kick into overdrive, but it seems to wait until the card is really hot to do it. are there any programs that would allow me to set it so that the fan really kicks on before it gets way hot? i don't mind the noise, really. i'm more concerned about the care of my card.

thanks

er... nevermind, i think. the new version of ATI Tool allows for custom fan settings.

Are there shades of Gilda Radner there?

Well, the program I use is called ATI Tray Tools. It allows you to setup how fast the fan goes according to how hot it is, like 40% fan speed normally, but automatically goes to 50% at 65c, etc You can set it all up, plus you can set it to show the Video Card temperature in your system tray, and it shows your FPS in 3d applications (Games/3d Modeling programs, etc..just things that use 3d).

You can Download it at http://www.guru3d.com/article/atitraytools/189/

Good luck