Video card temperature question.
 

I have an ATI 4800 series video card and with default settings it runs 78c degrees idle. The default fan speed is 15%. I don't know what that is in RPM but I can set it up to 35% speed which is as high as I can go without hearing the fan over the rest of the computer. This brings my GPU core down to 53c idle.

My question is, Is this even better? Sure, Lower temp sounds good but if the fan dies the GPU is screwed anyway.

Probably won't make a difference one way or the other. In theory, more heat could reduce the lifespan of the chip or more speed could reduce the lifespan of the fan, but the differences are so small and chances are they'll both be working fine long after the card is obsolete. 78 isn't obscenely high and the default settings are usually fine. Usually video cards only run into heat problems under load. Most video cards will shut themselves off before they can be damaged by high temperature. As far as defects go, it's more common for memory chips to fail than the GPU itself.

Idle temperature doesnt matter much. What you need to know is how hot it is under heavy loads. If it starts getting close to 100c, you will soon start seeing artifact and so on during your games and such.

Yeah I agree with dippin. As long as it stays under 100c under load it should be fine. Some GPUs like the Geforce 8 series are known for running hot as hell though without any problems.