Is it possible for the temperature of a GPU core do drop by about 13C in one second? Does anyone know if such a sharp decrease in temperature is even physically possible?

The reason I ask is because I saw my GPU temp to be 89C immediately after a game and it dropped down t 76C almost instantaneously in less than a second.
I am beginning to think there is some inaccuracy in the nvidia driver measurements.

However, if anyone knows about the thermal properties of silicon and stuff I would like to know if it is really possible for a gpu core to drop by 13C in less than a second.

Sarosh

"I am beginning to think there is some inaccuracy in the nvidia driver measurements."

DING DING DING!

It's not necessarily nvidia, but the temp probe being used. Most built within components are notoriously inaccurate.

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Does it drop right after you exit the game or during the game? If its during gaming, then something wrong with the temperature sensor. Even though for exiting gaming, let say you heat up the heatsink with steady heat source, then suddenly you turn off the heat source. It will take a while for the heatsink to cool down and will drop down slowly unless the temperature around is freezingly cold. But dropping 13C less than 1 second sounds funny. Unless the heatsink is pure silver + 100CFM air flow blowing into the heatsink and the temperature is very cold, then 13C is possible.. Also the GPU temperature sensor for ur 6600GT is is built into the core or near the core? If it's built near the core, perhaps there is hot air blowing into the sensor then as soon as you exit the game, the fan RPM went down and thus dropped 13C???? I'm not sure but the best way is to touch is with your finger or use a thermalstat for verification...

TMP-Man

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Thanks for replying dudes, and sorry if I seem to be overdoin this. But if I blow up my 6600GT I am back to either the onboard graphics or a fx5200, and I dont want that to happen.
I check the temperature in two ways:
1) I keep the nvidia temperature properties window open in a corner of my desktop and run 3dMark05. In between the test the program comes back to desktop and I can see the temperature.
2) During any game when there is lot of action I press the windows key or Alt+tab and see the temperature on the nvidia properties window.

Earlier it would hardly corss 73C, but recently it is always crossing 80C, and it reached 89C between the 3dmark tests.
In all cases it drops by atleast 10C almost instantly. Last time I checked it was 89C and it immediately dropped to 76C and then 65C and settled down to 52C eventually.
The ambient temperature is 38C.
I was wondering what kind of material can cool so fast, almost 13C in less than a second, and that too only with air cooling.

I did some reading, and most people seem to suggest that as long as there is no problems, such as artifiacts or hangup then the temperature is fine. I am experience no problems at all, but I would also like to take care of my card, because I am sure I am not going to find any other agp card here that is even half as good as this one.
The threshhold temperature is 127C and I cant reduce it.
Is it true that the gpu is designed to run at high temperatures. Some say that even 100C may be normal.

Sarosh

Its probably just a lag in the update of the temperature in the nvidia program, IE not a realtime reading, but updated every 5-10 secs or so

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