Do PCI Express 16 video cards get as hot as AGP 8x cards?

[randyannie]

Just wondering how the new PCI Express cards rate as far as heat goes. Are they about the same as AGP8x or less? I've noticed that some of the heatsinks on the PCI video cards look kind of skimpy and wondered if there was a reason.

Thanks for your thoughts, Prozackinator

 

[bharsell]

Just wondering how the new PCI Express cards rate as far as heat goes. Are they about the same as AGP8x or less? I've noticed that some of the heatsinks on the PCI video cards look kind of skimpy and wondered if there was a reason.

Thanks for your thoughts, Prozackinator

I know that the x800xl is fabbed on the 90nm die, which puts out less heat than the chips fabbed on the 130nm die. I think its the only GPU processed on 90nm, but I could be wrong. The 6800's have huge heat sinks due to the large power needed to push them, causing a lot of heat if I understand it correctly.

 

[Nereid]

The heat output on equivalent PCI-E x16 and AGP 8x cards should be the same, since they are based on the same core.

 

[Sahkolihaa]

Mostly depends on power consumption. A card that uses 2 power molex connectors (or 1 PCI-E power connector) will get far more hot than a card that uses 1 molex connector, due to the increased power usage.