In this study the high temperature tensile deformation behavior of a commercial Al-Si-Cu-Mg cast alloy was investigated. The alloy was cast with two different cooling rates resulted in average secondary dendrite arm spacing of 10 and 25 μm, which are typical of the microstructure scale obtained from high pressure die casting and gravity die casting. Tensile tests were performed at different strain rates (10 -4 s -1 to 10 -1 s -1 ) and over a wide temperature range from ambient temperature to 500 ºC. The fine microstructure had superior tensile strength and ductility compared to the coarse microstructure at any given temperature. The coarse microstructure showed brittle fracture up to 300 ºC; the fracture mode in the fine microstructure was fully ductile above 200 ºC. The fraction of damaged particles was increased by raising the temperature and/or by microstructure coarsening. Cracks arising from damaged particles in the coarse microstructure were linked in a transgranular-dominated fashion even at 500 ºC. However, in the fine microstructure alloy the inter-dendritic fracture path was more prevalent. When the temperature was raised to 300 ºC, the concentration of alloying elements in the dendrites changed. The dissolution rates of Cu-and Mg-bearing phases were higher in the fine microstructure.