How do I check the temperature my graphics card

I recently purchased a Radeon x850 pro from ATi's clearance site. after playing a game for about half an hour i notice that it gets quite hot. it's enough for me to be able to feel the heat from the outside of my case when i place my hand on it. i don't overclock so i'm not sure if it's a problem with my card or if it's normal. i'm wondering if there is some program to measure the temperature of my graphics card and notifies me of which temperature is considered dangerously high.

i am also not satisfied by the cooler that came with my card. i originally thought that i would receive a dual slot cooler from what i have seen by looking at the pictures of the ati x850 pro online. however, what i actually got was a cheap, plastic looking fan and heatsink with an ugly graphic on top. i should have bought the x800xl instead.

ATITool will tell you your temps. I have that same card. My idle temps are around 40C-45C and my load temps never get over 70C with stock cooling. What kind of case do you have?

No problem. Your case should have plenty of airflow. Post your temperatures whenever you find them out.

you telling other to shut up, bit hypocritcal isn't it. then again since your a troll i shouldn't be surprised.

to the OP. AFAIk only the newest card like my 1900's and maybe 1800 come with dual slot coolers. older cards like your shoudln't need such robust cooling solutions. it's understandable to feel paranoid but IMO the most inportant thing is you room temperature in controlling your comps temp. check what that is and if it is too hot open a window.

Look up ATI Tray Tools, it's a great program, really handy once you learn to use it. I especially enjoy the auto-overclocking. Anyway, it will tell you your temps, too.
I have an x800 that would get to 100C with stock cooling. It never artifacted or anything, but I replaced the sink anyway. You may want to look into some Zalman coolers for your card. My card doesn't get above 70 now.

They can definitely put out a lot of heat.

Those are normal temperatures. Although, if you're overclocking, I'd recommend forking over $20 and getting an aftermarket cooler.

From what I've seen, you won't get much of an overclock out of an X800XL. But hey, any improvement is a good improvement right?

I couldn't get more than 520mhz with my XT with the stock cooling, but with a Zalman on it I can clock it to 540. Don't know if that's worth it to you, but it also dropped my temps by 10C.

the ati tool icon in my system tray shows that my x850 pro graphics card gets to 75 degrees celcius after about 1 and a half hours of playing quake 4 on high settings. afterwards, it immediately drops down to 50 degrees celcius when i turn off the game. this is while the rest of my case is about 45 degrees celcius (i got this estimation from the speed fan program.) is my graphics card overheating?

Should be fine. If it was getting up towards 100 I'd be worried, but 75 isn't out of the ordinary for modern chips.

Or he just has no friends