What's too hot for a graphics card?

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by weed_eater_guy, Jan 9, 2008.

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  1. weed_eater_guy It ain't broke, don't fix it! Registered Senior Member

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    I'm running two radeon HD3850's in an Antec 900 case (which has lots and lots of fans, every other part stays nice and cool), I recently built this system some weeks ago, and somehow a game I just recently started playing was running one of the cards up to about 80 degrees C. I'm considering buying some better cooling than the stock cooling due to this, but I can't find any reliable information online about what "too hot" is for a graphics card. Guys got any tips? Thanks!
     
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  3. Chatha big brown was screwed up Registered Senior Member

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    Okay, you should defintely check the ventilation, 80 degrees is really high

    Are you playing the game for 20 hrs in a row?

    Is the computer near or too close to a wall?

    Maybe your processor is relatively weak, which would deem to buy a new mother board, but judging from your graphic card it should be okay

    Radeon is not a very effective card. "Be cool", buy Invidia.

    It seems you have a dual card, (i'm serious) remove or deactivate one card as maybe the motherboard is having a heck of a time running both cards, but as the case is on just this one game I doubt this would work. Maybe one card is not running?

    If all else fails my dear bro, just buy liquid nitrogen
     
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  5. Sangamon Registered Member

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    wait wait

    80c is too much for a CPU, but for a gfx-chip that's still well within normal range. OK running it cooler wouldn't hurt, but there are cards that go beyond 100c without too much hassle

    i would recommend yes find a better cooling solution than the stock one...a decent cooler will get those temps down to about 60-65 under load. Also they will run quieter

    But playing @ 80c isn't excessive...i would start worrying when it breaches 90c
     
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  7. weed_eater_guy It ain't broke, don't fix it! Registered Senior Member

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    Chatha, yeah, it's a dual HD3850 setup, but the particular game i'm trying to run is EVE-online, where with my dual-monitor setup, I disabled crossfire so one card would run the game, and the other monitor is free for killing time on the web during this MMORPG's lulls (there are plenty), thus, one card is taking the whole brunt of the game in this configuration. I recently let the game run till the graphics temps topped out, the processor is a 2.4GHz quad-core, and it hangs in the mid 40's (only running the game on one core since the game doesn't seem to like multi-core), the motherboard is nice and cool too, but the graphics card that's running the show topped out at 88 degrees C!!! I'm using an Antec 900 case that has two 120mm intake fans, a 120mm and a 200mm exhaust fan (yes, 200mm, huge!), i set them all to run at full speed when I did this test, so I just assumed ventilation was just fine (one of the 120mm fans blows more or less directly between the two graphics cards).

    I just called ATI and asked the support guy (since i can't find tolerances for this card for the life of me...) if this temp was within tolerance and he acted like it was totally normal for the card to get this hot at full load. I'm a bit suspiscious with everyone else telling me different...

    The case I have has an empty hole and mount for another 120mm fan to sit right above the two cards, I'm looking to buy a case fan for that at the moment. Hopefully, I don't need to replace the stock coolers with something that causes me to forfit some of the pci slots... Dunno, any thoughts?

    And thanks for the help guys, seriously.
     
  8. John99 Banned Banned

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    i dont know if thats too much for your cards but you can try customizing your case so an 80mm or two (1 for each card) blows across the top side OR a strategically place 120mm blowing right in between. Its usually easy pretty to do. And remove all the card slot covers so the air exits the system. Not only that but with two cards there is much more radiant heat.
     
  9. weed_eater_guy It ain't broke, don't fix it! Registered Senior Member

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    Actually the 120mm slot on the case I'm looking to fill does just that with my current motherboard, blows air right between the cards. Too bad no computer shop around here seems to have 120mm in stock

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    oh well, maybe when i get back to college...
     
  10. John99 Banned Banned

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    oh, i was writing that post as you were posting the one above it. Pretty much says the same thing.
     
  11. Xelios We're setting you adrift idiot Registered Senior Member

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    Heh I played EVE-Online for a long time, now taking an extended break. You better not be in BoB

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    I think around 70C is normal for a GPU, 80 is a little high but unless you notice lockups or artifacting I wouldn't worry about it. They're built to run hot, and having two side by side is bound to make both a little hotter than normal.
     
  12. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    I wondered if you were still playing Xelios. I got roped back into the game again, I'm suppose to be out BOB bashing but well my toon was originally Industrial so now I'm having to totally reskill which is going to take a while.

    By the sounds of it the alliances are hitting BOB on all sides with the intention of wiping it out.

    On topic in regards to the GPU temperature. While the Graphics card might be able to handle the heat, it obviously is increasing your boxes overall ambient temperature which could cause problems. What you've pretty much worked out in regards to getting a fan for the box makes sense, since it's not so much the GPU that your going to have to cool but the unwanted heats got to be removed from the box. This obviously generates a few problems, for instance you're going to have to draw more power from your PSU and fans can make a lot of noise.

    Btw, EVE-Online should have no problems running on a multicore, I've been using a Core 2 Duo for playing, What I can suggest is that since the last upgrade where the graphics engine was updated that you might want to make sure that you don't put the 'Cache' thats found in settings up to above normal (High and Extreme will attempt to use an awful lot of RAM, if you are running more than one client or are using a browser etc then don't go above the Normal setting or you'll choke your systems Memory.)

    I do get occasional locks every so often when the screen freezes, usually its possible to recover by using a Windows key to get back to the desktop and then just refocus the EVE client and usually it's unfrozen.

    Hope you manage to sort it out.
     
  13. weed_eater_guy It ain't broke, don't fix it! Registered Senior Member

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    Actually, I found out the problem, and this is very interesting...

    I found a review of the HD3850 and HD3870 where the writers had wondered why the card's temperatures topped out at 90 degrees. Turns out, the fan on these cards, dispite how the fan should operate (faster when hotter), will ONLY RUN AT 30% SPEED. Speculation seems to be that ATI wanted the cards to be quieter than the HD2900's, so they did a dirty trick to accomplish that goal...

    I downloaded Rivatuner (google it if you want), which is a pretty nice graphics card overclocking-n-stuff program where I then forced the fans on my cards up to 60% speed, fast, but not fast enough to sound annoying (gets really whiny at 100%).

    And wouldn't you know it, my cards run at about 58 degrees max... ambient temp is still in the 30's, processor is mid 40s, and this is while running EVE, i've yet to actually find something that uses the full load of the processor, it's a monster.

    So, if you have an HD3000 series card, LOOK INTO THIS!

    Thanks yall!
     
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