How does gpu withstand heat?

[stevems]

When I heard a power cable that was slightly touching the case exhaust fan I opened my case. when playing crysis 2. I decided to touch my hd 6950 while it was running crysis 2 on the backside pcb and it was extremely hot. I checked the temp on sapphire trixx and it was only 60 Celsius. How does the gpu withstand that really extreme heat? I was starting to wander if the thermal paste had melted away or something. Is it possible for thermal paste to melt? And I have not made any modifications to the card or anything.

 

[jimbopops]

Its typical for GPUs to get EXTREMELY hot in the absence of liquid cooling or good air flow in a case. When I play demanding games like BF3 on my rig it usually sticks around 60 celsius. If it goes above 70 or 75 celsius i would be worried but ive heard of gpus that idle at that temp in some rigs. So long story short you have nothing really to worry about except NEVER TOUCH YOUR GPU OR YOU MIGHT GET SERIOUSLY BURNED, that is all.

 

[stevems]

Best answer selected by stevems.

 

[Deemo13]

Well, 60C is like 140F, so that's probably why it felt hot. Silicon PCB is more heat tolerant than humans are.