GPU temperatures
We've separated our temperature results by GPU because we weren't able to gather the same temperature data from each card. We used Everest Ultimate to track temperatures, and while the app reported GPU and memory temps for the GeForce cards, it would only coax a GPU diode temperature from the Radeons. The same idle and load conditions were used as in our noise level and power consumption tests.
Gigabyte's 3870 maintains a consistent hold on third place through our idle and load conditions, followed by Sapphire's 3850. With some of the highest clock speeds of the lot, it's no wonder that the Asus, VisionTek, and HIS cards run a little warmer than their counterparts.
For whatever reason, the Asus 8800 GT doesn't report temperature data to Everest or even to Nvidia's own system utility, so it has to ride the pine for this round of tests. Our SLI rig has two sets of temperature data—one for each graphics card—but we've reported the highest of the two values.
What's interesting to note here is the difference in cooling performance between the MSI NX8800GT and Gigabyte GV-NX88T512H-B, both of which use Nvidia's older 8800 GT heatsink, and the XFX cards, which have the new one. The old design was certainly quieter in our noise level tests, but its GPU temperatures are close to 30 degrees higher under load. I'm not sure I'd want my GPU running that hot, and apparently neither does Nvidia, otherwise it wouldn't have sacrificed noise levels to improve cooling performance with the updated heatsink.
