NVIDIA says GTX 480 GPU designed to run at high temperatures

NVIDIA has recently unveiled its first Fermi video cards with the GTX 480 and GTX 470 getting official on March 26. As with any new and high-end video card, the things aren't cheap or quiet. The beasts also eat lots of power.

Apparently, some of the gaming geek hoards have been complaining about the power consumption and heat output of the video cards. Some have feared that the amount of heat the cards generate will result in a lower life expectancy for the GPU.

Overheating has killed more than one GPU and CPU in a gaming rig. NVIDIA has posted on its official blog that the GPU in the GTX 480 was specifically designed to run at high temperatures. Big green states that the trade off for high power consumption and lots of heat generation is the performance of the video card. The crux of the post is that the heat output is nothing for gamers to worry about; the cards were designed to handle the heat.