Just my point of view, even though, maybe one of your fans has burned out. Check the fan for your graphics card. If you have a heatsink, the thermal paste could have been put on improperly and not transmitting enough heat. You case also might be the culprit. It looks very closed from what i see and if you want, you could try to open up the case, but only if you know you hands around metal really well. Dust on the inside might definatly be a problem. I checked the customer reviews for your computer and it seems to have had a lot of video card issues so you might want to get a nvidia card. You could also try to reload the catalyst drivers. Check over you entire computer, maybe something is just failing, especially if it is old, and make sure the power supply is good.

^ this. and if the problem still persists, you might want to get another card.. i also would suggest a nVidia. that's what i use on mine. been having no problems with it ever since.

Ya same thing happens with my new pc too with this game(max graphics)... It lasts over an 1hr and a half long. Then it crashs to windows. The expansion plays for over 2hrs... Save often... Though my pc runs silent... I could turn up my fan settings...

I activate manual fan setting through the Catalyst control center (CCC) to 100% before playing games such as Crysis, and I've found that it can help the PC run the games quite a bit longer before the system heat crashes.

I'm thinking about getting some serious upgrade for my PC. First, I'm going to get more RAM. This should help my PC run intensive games, as it can load stuff up faster and not strain the gfx card. Second, I'm going to upgrade to Windows 7. This should help as it won't be as much as a resource hog. Finally, I'm going to get either the NVidea GTX 250 or the new ATI Radeon 5870 or 5850 when the prices drop a bit. If anyone knows which is better, let me know.

Also, I'm thinking about unplugging my current card and cleaning out the vent of any possible dust. I know you have to get a grounding wrist strap, but do you have to do anything else. Does the computer know if you've taken out the card or not?

I was having some overheating problems with my two ati xtx1950's that are 3-4 years old.

I thoroughly cleaned all of the dust out of my case.

I carefully took apart my graphics cards and cleaned off some dust that I couldn't clean otherwise.

I also replaced and upgraded my PSU, since it was as old as the graphics cards were.

Everything works wonderful again, just like new. Granted they're older cards, but they run great now with no problems whatsoever.

Hi. I've got a similar problem. I've got a Dell Studio 1537 with Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz, 3GB RAM, and an ATI Mobility Raedon HD 3450. My system has a serious overheating problem. Even when running nothing but Vista, after about 10 minutes it starts to go real slow. CPU usage is almost always above 50%, even when running nothing, and frequently gets up to 100%, especially when gaming. I downloaded SpeedFan which tells me my cores are almost always above 60*C, although my computer has never shut down from overheating, it runs VERY slowly. Unfortunately SpeedFan does not tell me GPU temperatures, and Catalyst Control Centre is broken for me and refuses to be fixed. Purchased my system in November 2008 (11 months ago) and it has been getting slower throughout it's life. Very frustrating!

Huh. It should.

I had similar problems in the past. To reiterate previous comments, be absolutely sure that none of your fans have died, your thermal paste is applied correctly, and your case is properly ventilated. Vista may or may not be causing the problems, I haven't had much experience with it.

To test if it's a driver issue, you should be able to simply uninstall and reinstall the drivers. As for reply 6, have you defragged recently? I personally reccomend a program such as System Mechanic to keep an eye on your basic maintenance, and perhaps picking up some software to strain-test your computer.

The system just shuts down completely? I doubt that that has anything to do with the GPU overheating. Check the GPU temperature first (you can see it in the CCC).

When I'm playing games like Crysis, I see that the GPU temperature gets to about 110 degrees C.

This actually happens to me as well, but only when playing older games that were graphics-intensive in their day.

The ATI 5000's would definatly be better, being a new generation, unless you dont want to deal with ati again, then you could get a single gtx 285 like i have. Runs great. A wrist strap is all you need, connect it to your case and your good to go. Just use logic besides that, like please don't drink Coca-Cola around the computer. (Pepsi is worse, its pure evil!) Windows 7 might help, but vista usually just takes up ram. And if you do take the video card apart, you will void your warrenty i bet, if you have one, if you do, you could just return it.

Fan runs fine. I crank its speed up to 100% when playing Crysis so it doesn't overheat as fast.

That's what I'm thinking. I'm probably going to take the card out to clean it. What I'm worried about is that the computer would act strangely after I did it.

To clean the card, I should just get some of the PC cleaning swabs, and stick them into the vents to get the dust out, correct?

GeneralEtrius....I too had recent problems with shutdown (power down).  Mine was CPU overheating.  As Spooky said, don't think GPU would cause a shutdown.  Speedfan will give both temps and sit in the tray.  Use a gas duster to clean the heatsink(s).

in my experience the gpu overheating frequently causes a BSD, freezing of computer, and only rarely shutdowns, but CPU overheats USUALLY shutdown.

and for cleaning the tunnel heatsinks swabs would be almost useless, the gas duster/compressed air approach is what I would recommend, and I would also clean the CPU heatsink especially behind the fan

harpo