Some reviews are reporting 70-80+ C in testing, which quite frankly, scares the *$*@ out of me.
 
Any thoughts on having better case cooling, or waiting for a company to just put a better than stock cooler on a card to sell retail?

Damn, I can't remember where I read it, but I read a review where they installed a V1000 (from Zalman) on a 4850.  I remember that it had a huge impact on the core temperature, which is what one would expect.
 
Sorry I don't remember where I read it though.  I tried Gizoogling it, but it's so recent that it doesn't find it.

Heat issues will be fixed with a update to raise fan speed or a utility to control fans is updated for these cards, the cooling on it is fine.

similar fan problems with launch of the 38xx cards. Fans were fine, the bios needed updating. The later versions 38xx fans work great.
 
Still tho. you'd think ATI would do a better job with fans, especially considering the big heat/fan issues the 29xx series and the fans speed problems of the 38xx series.  
 

Thanks for the replies.
 
I cannot believe how appealing these cards are looking, and I am well past due with my AGP 6600GT and much older P4 2.6C

 
That looks strikingly similar to my rig from three years ago. But I had a clawhammer 3700+ 2.4ghz with socket 754.

Yeah, I built my current 'gaming rig' in December 2003, and only changed the video card after the fact.
 
Needless to say, I am probably going to poop my pants with joy if I do something like a Q9450 and a 4870 or 9800

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/for [...] ew-21.html
 
that one site. i saw another that said the mounting holes are the standard holes and they mounted an AC Accelero S2 and posted temps in high 30's low 40's LOAD.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/for [...] eview.html
 
there's a review, and the cooling is at the end... I apologize if someone already posted.

Ummm remember the x1900's? 90C+ on load. Come on its a GPU not a CPU!

Wow, that Thermalright is a monster.  I assume the non-GPU parts are still getting adequate cooling?

They probably just wanted lower fan speeds for quietness during all of the reviews so that they don't go down in history as the loudest vga.  

Well, thats it.  Maybe they could speed the fans up for lower temps...but I don't want the noise.  I have the nice all-copper Zalman on my 6600GT.  Quiet, cool, and look awesome.

This is the only reason I haven't ordered a 4870 yet. I'm waiting to see if we get any better cooling solutions soon.

4870 does not suffer from a poor cooler... It has the second slot cooler that at the most needs a BIOS update to run the fan faster. On my Visiontek 4850 I flashed to an Asus and use their software utilities to turn the fan from 14% to 50%. Blends right in with my Antec 900 fans on medium.

^ Slick