Do current-gen vid cards build much heat?

[Kaisha]

Had to replace my old AGP 6800GT 256mb the other day because it fried itself (had it for 4 years, and its survived a mobo frying itself as well as its own fan breaking, so it has had a history), so I went to the store and grabbed a PCIe 8800GT 512mb beast.

So far, everything's running good (aside from the fact my aging CPU can't keep up with it), but one thing I've been wondering is how much heat do newer cards in general produce compared to older models? The thing needed a 6x molex connector (PCIe standard I assume. It's my first non-AGP card), which typically means more power needed, aka more heat generated no?

Mainly wondering if I should install another fan to help deal with any additional heat the new card may generate?

On another note, can someone recommend a program to monitoring PSU usage?

[Cephius]

My 8800GT tends to idle around 50-55C, and its about a constant 70F in my room. I've seen it get up into the high 60s or low 70s Celsius under load. So yes, these cards are hot, but they are designed to run hot, and thus don't really need any additional cooling. The only time I'd consider adding extra fans or a PCI fan cooler is if they get really hot under load, which would be 85-90C.

I'm not sure if any program can monitor PSU usage, as the PSU itself has no connector to report to the motherboard how much power it's drawing. You can either estimate (there are some sites that do this, google it) or hook it up to a UPS which can monitor and report how much wattage is being drawn from it.

[Kaisha]

I should be good then. My old card ran about that hot, and my new one has more air-flow with my PCIe port being two slots higher than the AGP one.
(yes, my motherboard has both slot types <.< )

[Don Katsu]

My 8600GT Idles around 55c
Goes up to 65c-70c under load

I had the same concern as you do, a friend of mine that works for nVidia told me this is normal for the 8 series.

[Rags]

My 8600 GTSXXX 512mb ( or whatever the name is) runs at around 49 during normal web surfing. There is a PCI fan underneath it to keep it cool. But it still runs at around 49 degrees. I guess its the normal temp. My system is 32 and my CPU are running at 32 as well. My room temp is around 69-70 degrees.

As for what it runs under load I am not sure. I have never really cranked out any games that would beat on my system.

[mootsfox]

70C is normal. At 90C you should get worried. That is when you need to add more cooling.

As for software PSU monitoring, it doesn't exist. You can buy something like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6882715001 which will show you how much you pull at the wall. Any reason for wanting to monitor your PSU?