Hi

I have a HP a6130n which has AMD dual core 64 x 2 5000+, and other specs I don't know. I bought a bfg 8800gt 512mb GPU, and i couldn't help but hear several people saying that it runs quite hot on heavy load.
I got the GPU today and I'm about to install it tomorrow. I've heard from someone that removing the bracket or the cover of the GPU around the fan helps optimize temperatrue. I'm not sure if this will work or not and if it does, please tell me how and if it doesn't, tell me other options (nothing those including $, ex: watercooler). I'm going to play crysis w/ this GPU if that could be a reference to your answers.

Thanks

That's not a good idea. The braket is there to channel air, so that the breeze blows close to the heatsink. Removing it will make cooling worse, as the fan won't be as efficient.

Taking away the heatsink, replacing the thermal compound with a better one (AS5 or similar) and setting the fan to 100% under load are good cheap measures, replacing the stock HSF with an aftermarket one (doesn't have to be as pricey as watercooling) is a much better solution, I'm using TT DuOrb and I've never even hit 60ºC.

You can also just turn up the fan speed.

lol, just make sure u have good intake fans that arent blocked by cables and itll never hit 80C. dont change the thermal compound, it does 1C at most. leave it stock on auto and make sure good air goes to it. expect 61C idle, up to 80C load. mine doesnt hit 80C unless im playing crysis, 77C is more like it for me.

How about if you just install the card and see how it works before jumping to an assumption that you need to change a design you have not found any problem with yet?

Ignore people who only say "quite hot" but don't tell you they have any problems like crashing or stalling in games. Many who see a GPU temp that's above 60C, look at their CPU temp being lower and get confused, somehow thinking their GPU needs to be as cool as their CPU because they don't understand that their CPU didn't need to be under 60C either (unless they were aggressively overclocking with very thin margins).

The reason to change your stock cooling would be to reduce noise, or replace a fan after it fails. It will not get too hot if you have the required amount of case cooling and if you don't have that - it is a case problem and case change you need to make.

If you then find you have concern about high card temps AND you have instability, at that point determine what your peak GPU temps are and forum members can compare to their cards and whether they have any problem near those temps.

I got 8800 GT and it did run a bit hot. Saying that not every card will. Different cards will do different things I rate. But if you worried, download Rivatuner and crank up the fan. I run it bout 60% and it goes well. As simple as that

So i really don't need to do anything but use softwares to be cautious about my GPU's temp. Thanks for the nice replies guys, it saved me some $ for not buying another fan.