What temperature should a passive cooled 7600GS be at idle?

Question

I have a Gigabyte PCIe 7600GT which is passively cooled - it's brilliant! http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/06/02/graphics_card_quiet_uk/page3.html
It idles at 43°C and I can't push it past 60°C whatever I do.
It performs better than my AGP 6800GT.

I thought I'd try similar with an AGP box. so I bought a passively cooled Gigabyte 7600GS.
From startup, if I display the GPU temp as soon as I can, it's at 65°C.
If I run 3DMark2001SE (hardly demanding) it throttles - reaches 125°C and reduces its voltage. Then it won't cool below 75°C even if I leave it idle for a couple of hours.
This can't be right - I'll exchange it....
But can I? What temperature should it run at? If I make the two hour round trip to exchange it, I'd like to know that I won't be turned away - on the grounds that it is actually working.
If I can exchange it, should I expect another card to be any better? Or should I go for a different card? There aren't many passive AGP cards available - any suggestions?

Took the side off the case. Pointed a 120mm case fan at the card at a range of about 3 inches. Temperature fell by 2 °C.
---
If the card dies in the next few days - I'll have no problem with the refund/exchange, but it's reaching temperatures it's programmed to avoid (125°C), and I haven't actually tried to stress it yet. The throttling makes it perform worse than the 6600GT I was replacing!

Answer 1

That doesn't sound right. The 7600GS is just a downclocked GT. The heatsink was probably not installed correctly at the factory, and any serious store should give you an exchange.

Answer 2

Modern GPU's should work even at 95 Degrees Celcius.

So I guess since your card is passively cooled the sensor doesn't take any chances.

I have an ATI X1900 GT that I overclock a lot, and the temps hit the 90's Degrees Celcius while gaming, and it's still running.

I've had it for 8 months now.

Sure I don't care if my card dies, but it's just to say that the GPU could take more than 60 Degrees Celcius.

Fanless GPU's are a novelty, not really made for you to play games on.
Buy a good aftermarket GPU heatsink like this one--->
Thermalright HR-03 Heatpipe VGA Cooler.

and slap a slow spinning huge fan on it.

I use this one:
Sytrin KuFormula VF1 Plus VGA Cooler 3 Speed Cross Flow Fan W/ Ramsinks
and at it's slow speed i can barely hear it.

There is no way you are gonna play a game like Oblivion at full tilt with a fanless GPU.

Answer 3

One possibility is that the thermal sensor is severly off on it's readings.

Does the heatsink feel too hot to touch? If it is than I would totally make the trip. If it feels warm, but not too hot, then the sensor is off and I would not worry about it too much right now. But I would get it replaced when I had the chance.

Answer 4

put a fan on it before u fry it ...a 43 idle is fine ...75 is way too hot ... at least put a fan on the side blowing on it ...