Hot temps certain games only

It seems like my graphics card will hit the high 90s every time I play certain games (CS:S with high settings, TF:2 with medium/low settings, Left 4 Dead 2 with low settings, Portal with low settings).

And then there are the games like Max Payne and Max Payne 2 that I can play without ever having to worry about my temps. They never go past the 60s.

World of Warcraft is also a funny one...the higher I put the settings, the hotter the card gets. The lower I put the settings, the cooler it runs. Is this normal? It seems all my Steam games I mentioned above will hit the high 90s regardless of settings. Call of Duty 4 runs in the high 90s on low settings as well.

Battlefield 2 (another old one that I thought would be more like Max Payne or MP2) hits the high 90s, even when things like draw distance is low. ><

With all these games, I play with the default resolution or lower, no AA or anything, draw distance (if there is any) are set to low. Is it because this laptop is refurbished? There's virtually no dust anywhere inside. The only thing I could think of is that it's warm in my house (hovers in the low 80s). Nothing is blocking the vents, everything idles very cool when surfing the web and such.
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This doesn't restrict me from having a boat load of fun gaming though. Never have I experienced any slowdowns or BSODs. I have about a year left on the warranty so if anything does happen, I'll just send it in.

 

How hot a GPU (or CPU, for that matter) runs is directly related to how much stress (processing load) is put on it. Some games place a greater strain on the GPU, especially if you increase the settings (like you have seen in WoW). Some games are more demanding than others for a roughly comparable detail setting, and so will make your GPU run hotter than other games.

In short, it's perfectly normal behavior. You could help lower temps by propping up the back legs of the laptop (a cheap and quick method is to stick an eraser under each rear leg of the laptop) to improve air circulation.

 

Ahh, that's a logical expanation. Thanks

And yup, erasers are already under the legs. One more quickie though. Do desktop GPUs run at about the same temps as their laptop counterparts, or do they tend to run cooler? Assuming they are working under the best possible conditions (no dust/clear vents).

 

Usually cooler. Larger fans, larger heat sinks, more space for heat to dissipate, etc. Depends on the set-up, but that's usually the case.

 

I see...all this stuff seems so foreign to me @.@

Anyways, thanks for the great replies. Rep all around!

 

also undervolt CPU using the undervolting guide if u have a core 2 duo CPU.. helps a lot in dropping temps.