How hot is too hott?

So...I was playing spec ops on MW2 just a few minutes ago, and my screen would just go black for a couple seconds and then go back to normal. It started doing this every 20 seconds or so...so I closed the game down in fear of something.

I had hwmonitor running, and it reported it got to 106 degrees C...that seems awful hot. I've never seen it go over 75 and that was playing Crysis...is this a sign that my video card is going bad? Yes it's OCed, but I've been playing with the same OC settings for well over a year and it never gave me problems. Any ideas?

Again, I just quit the game a couple of minutes ago, but it's idling right now at 56 C. It's always been around that temp since I got the card...

I just put my card back on default settings just in case...

EDIT: Uh oh, I think I'm smelling smoke...

Again, I just quit the game a couple of minutes ago, but it's idling right now at 56 C. It's always been around that temp since I got the card...

I just put my card back on default settings just in case...

EDIT: Uh oh, I think I'm smelling smoke...

HotRevolver

Indeed it was smoke...but not much.. It was still running and the fan was still working, and the temps got down to 53 C while idling. I just switched over to my motheboard's integrated video though...it finally has a use...lol...

I'm gonna let it cool down for awhile, and try to test it out later. I't s a EVGA 9800 GT fyi. Does EVGA offer lifetime warranties?

Clean out the dust in your cooler. My 8800 GTX hit 105C while playing crysis, and that was with the fan running on full load. I cleaned out the cooler, and now it's not getting above 80 with only 60% fan speed.

^I'll try that.

Looks like I'm not alone...it's the new drivers that's causing this.

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161525

Don't upgrade those drivers! It almost destroyed my video card!

^I'll try that.

Looks like I'm not alone...it's the new drivers that's causing this.

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161525

Don't upgrade those drivers! It almost destroyed my video card!

HotRevolver

Well I must be the only one to actually benefit from those drivers.