Graphics card temperatures

Graphics card temperatures

So here we'll have a look at GPU temperatures. First up, IDLE (desktop) temperatures.

IDLE temperatures are always a tiny bit tricky to read out as even something as simple as Windows Aero or your sidebar applications could have an effect on it. Overall anything below 50 Degrees C is considered okay, anything below 40 Degrees C is very nice and anything below 30 Degrees C would be fantastic. (we measure at a 21~22 Degrees C room temperature).

But what happens when we are gaming? We fire off an intense game-like application at the graphics card and measure the highest temperature of the GPU. 

So with the card fully stressed we kept monitoring temperatures and noted down the GPU temperature.

• The temperature under heavy game stress for the card stabilized at roughly 61 Degrees C. We note down the hottest GPU reading, not the average.

With today's graphics cards, please make sure your PC is well ventilated at all times, this will seriously help you on the overall GPU temperatures. The MSi TwinFrozr III cooler is definitely showing off. That is an impressive peak temperature.