My video card is overheating any suggestions? (in Off-topic)

Would opening my case improve cooling?

Most likely not. As the air flow through the case would be broken, maybe a larger case-fan is a better option?

Yes. Also if its being surrounded by enclosed spaces (EG: My case/box sits inbetween a table, a shelf and a wall) then you should move it to a more ventilated area. You can consider getting extra case fans, I know these aren't very expensive. You're not OCing are you?

if your vid card doesn't have a good fan you can try that or a heat sink

a PCI Expansion Fan Next to it might help: here is a few places with neat cooling options:

www.Xoxide.com

www.frozenpc.com

www. crazypc.com

Enjoy!

I just did it the cheap and easy way. Opened my case and turned the gpu fan to 100% instead of 60%.

The only thing I want to know is why it started heating up recently. I was only playing Combat Arms, not a gpu killing game.

Could be dust build-up on the GPU heatsink and fan. If you can see an appreciable amount of dust on the GPU then it's probably worth a few minutes of your time to clean it off.

Dust is actually a serial killer.

Cleaning again...... I just upgraded the PSU and the CPU and installed a new fan. The fan was the worst EVER it took about 5 hours to install it because of the tight space and the clamp was so stupidly hard to clamp. That was a nightmare.

Could one open up the case around the gpu and get ride of the dust safely?

Opening up the GPU unit itself is risky, given that it may not be designed to be taken apart easily and also that the warranty (if any) will probably be voided by doing so. Try blowing compressed air through the fan before you take any drastic action.

+1 compressed air.

+2 compressed air

Opening the case is rarely a good solution, they are designed in increase airflow and opening the case disrupts this.

my case has no sides on it, and i have my pc sitting next to my AC vent... never gets hot.

Dear compressed air;

Why do you cost so much? I didn't want to open you yet and now it seems like your already half empty. Please refill yourself while I'm away.

Love,

IE

The cheaper solution is to find a thin straw and blow really, really hard. Try not to breathe in when the dust cloud hits you.

^cheap coffee stirrers work great! ; )

LOL you guys are funny.

Could this overheating also be caused by the gpu not getting enough juice from the psu?

It probably wouldn't work at all if it weren't getting enough juice.

Well remember that Radeon question someone had awhile back about it shutting down? It was said that wattage was a probable cause.

Even if it did still work, that would make it run cooler.

Wow, strange, I just uninstalled my driver and the temp dropped by 10C and still dropping, whats going on?

its sitting at a nice idle of 46C compared to 61C

Doesn't uninstalling your driver force you to 640x480?

nope

Well actually now it did and I just reinstalled and updated the driver. Now its a good 45C with the updated driver.