Is there a tool that I can use to monitor the temperature of my GPU and CPU or possibly auto-record to monitor how it changes under certain loads?

Related to this, how hot should my 4850 be most of the time, as I have F@H working on it at a 50% load.

Hmm, I think HD4850 figures are generally 50/80C idle/load.

The 4870 can work at temperatures of around 110C. Don't be surprised if you find it running at 80C idle. My 4870X2 chips run between 60C and 90C idle and between 80C and 90C under load. Hope this helps.

Aaron I have the 4850, not the 4870, does this change operating temps.

It appears I idle at about 80 and load at about 85 max, should I be concerned at both a) idle temp b) leaving it fully loaded all the time with folding on the GPU. Also is using the CCC Overdrive window an accurate temp source?

Thirdly (alot of questions here lol) can I reduce these temperatures easily if I should be concerned by them?

The 4850 should be about the same as a 4870. The ambient temperature inside your case however will be slightly higher than with a 4870 since the 4850 does not exhaust the hot air out of the back of the case.

Your idle and load temperatures are absolutely fine. And CCC will report the temperature more accurately than other applications.

The best way to reduce the temperature is to increase the fan speed (and therefore noise) by using RivaTuner 2.10 which was released only 2 days ago. You can also use a CCC XML profile to modify the fan speed, but you should consider this a risky procedure that can fry your card. Use RivaTuner 2.10 or Gainward EXPERTool to adjust the fan speed.

http://www.guru3d.com/category/rivatuner/

As a general tool for temps, you could try speedfan? Might help help for overall readings
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

New spin on this, is it more beneficial for me to run my pc with the sides of the case off

that tru in most cases as the air abient temp cant get v high as u av a hole room of air to use

I would say no as it mucks up the airflow. You will not have much movement of air if you have the side of the case open. You'll have a lot of air, but no air pressure.

I agree with both points, it really depends on the case and the fan settings.

it dose depend on how ur set up but imean like stock sysem and many others the air fow dose sqat compared to having a huge mount of air and normal flow of air ( the hot air escaping from the the uper part of the huge hole where the siides off)

My GPU now runs 55 idle, 60 load now I've turned the fans up from its default stay at 20% at all times. (This is 50% speed and its still not too loud)

I might oc it a little if it stays like this

My GPU's all run at around 50C with fan speed set to 67%.

It's quite loud but that doesn't matter as I am either playing through my Sennheisers or loud with my Harman Kardon's...

How do I change the fan speed of my ATi card? I'm used to the NVid control panel.

I had to modify my XML file in the CCC Profiles folder.

From memory, I think it is something like:

%userprofile%\Local Settings\ATI\ACE\Profiles\{ProfileName}.xml

You first need to create the profile in CCC making sure that ATI Overdrive is enabled. When you create the profile, you should save only the ATI Overdrive (OC'ing) settings. Then the fan speed adjust code will be available in the XML file.

There is a tutorial on this here:

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=271014

It works for some people and not for others. Chances are you will need to read and understand what has been posted, then try and jig it around a bit for your own XML. I found that I needed to edit the final 2 entries in order for both my cards to adjust their speed.

Anyway that's one method...

RivaTuner 2.11 is the easiest way of modifying the fan speed on a 4870 but it still is not compatible with the 4870X2's...

Thanks Aaron, I'll look into that sometime.