ASUS HD 6950 2gb

Yeah, that definitely sounds like a botched manufacturing job. The cooler probably isn't mounted properly. Your options are RMA the card, or buy some thermal paste, detach the cooler, clean old thermal paste, apply new thermal paste, and try to reseat the cooler. Remounting the cooler yourself may void the warranty, so you're probably best off with the RMA option.

Yes, the best way is to RMA the card and get replacement...

The card overheats and that's may be caused by the cards improper Heatsink/Fan mounting or there may be insufficient thermal paste applied to the GPU. The solution is you may remove the cooler and clean the existing thermal paste and apply a high quality thermal paste to the GPU and resit the cooler back into its place and note the temperature, if it still over heats then RMA the card......

Thanks for the replies guys. Was going to RMA it on monday, but now I'm having serious concerns that my problem may lie elsewhere.

I purchased this card to replace a sapphire hd 4870, because it started failing last week. I was having constant crashes while gaming, and got the dreaded red d601 led lit up. (critical core power fault). So I bought the new card, and a new psu at the same time. The psu I got is Rosewill Hive-750. Well, when the new card started acting all wrong, I put my old card back in. Problem is, the old card is still crashing with the same red led lit up, even with the new power supply.

I'm just at a loss here, not sure what to think. I suppose it could be a faulty new card, and something internally went wrong on my aging 4870. But I'm worried now that it's something else, that's affecting the old card, and causing the problem with the new one. It just seems very unlikely to me that they both seem to operate fine at idle speeds/temps, on simple 2d applications, but both go comepletely haywire with 3d games. I just don't know what else to troubleshoot.

Rosewill, right? Next time you want to buy a PSU, make sure you get a better one like Corsair, Antec, Seasonic, PCP&C, SilverStone. Do not cheap out on PSU, it's the most important thing inside your PC.

May I know what is your HD6950 model? link?
Are you sure the others parts (CPU+mobo) temps are fine?

actually, the Rosewill psu came highly recommended from a friend, and it's got nothing but good reviews on the web. And i'm well aware that it's a bad idea cheap out on a psu, this one was $90, which was far from being cheap. I found it funny that you mentioned Corsair first, as being a better one....my friend's house actually burned to the ground because of a corsair psu.

anyway, here's a link to the 6950:
http://usa.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/AMD_Series/EAH6950_D...

cpu and mobo temps are quite cool, and everything is clean. cpu is mid 20's idle, mid 30's under load. mobo is low 30's idle, upper 30's under load.

Well, as far as I read on many reviews, Corsair is still get the MOST good reviews of it's quality. Not all high end PSU is perfect, they're still have flaws on some their products...
You can ask members of this forums, I'm sure most of them will suggest the same brands as I told above...  

back to topic, your others components are absolutely have a nice temps. Still, I suspect your card is faulty/defective, the best way is RMA it.
Or you can try using the other 8pin or 6pin from your PSU, see if that make any changes...

Yeah, it's a modular psu, i've tried every combination possible using the cables i have. I've also tried moving both vid cards to the 2nd pcie slot on my mobo, no change for either card. I managed to get a screenshot of cpuz, with the 6950, just before a crash.

gpu temp 101,0
fan speed 51%
gpu load 0%
gpu temp 1 101.5
gpu temp 2 53
gpu temp 3 123.5
vddc offset 1.1000v
vddc current %ocp 0%

Anyway, i guess my next step is the ups store on monday. I;ll keep my fingers crossed that it's just a bad card, and that the old one went bad too, and hopefully it's not something else. Thanks again for your tips.

unlucky...
I have same unit ASUS 6950 2gb. damn big card...
31c ~51c for me.
did you install asus doctor what ever software called include with asus 6950..
please uninstall that software.

I just remember i had that happen when i install that software.
After remove doctor from my pc.
Just use default option provide by ATI CCC.
My gpu temp go back to normal.
try that may be helps.

So was it the card, I just developed the same problem with the same card and I only changed to a new case.

I think you got a defected card.Better to RMA it.....