My last resort...

Kevrpgfan · Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 10:52 pm Post subject: My last resort...

Hiya dudes Smile

After weeks of thinking whether I should ask u lot or not... I've decided I will...

I bought a 2nd hand Sapphire x800XT about 6 months ago and have been very worried since... my m8 owned the card before me and he never had any probs but then he just played games willy nilly and never knew what temps it was getting to =/

Anyhoo it usually idles about 50C ish but it depends on the weather and whether a gale is blowing through the window (tonight it's sitting round 47.5C)

Having looked about a lot on loads of forums the idles temps are pretty normal... but then again are they? cause my m8 jimmy also has the same card but lives in a very cold room with a case which has the gpu upside down =/ so his is 10C lower str8 away (lucky git)...

Anyhoo to the main point... the playing games temperature =/

the highest I've seen it get to in a game is 96C and on that day it was idling at 50.5C... of course this was on 1280 x 1024 with 4X A/A...

I'm just wondering whether this is normal cause I see a lot of people saying theirs don't go above 80C... which seriously pisses me off...

I've had a few ideas on trying to sort it... like taking the card out and cleaning it so it's dustless but errrrr as I am a chicken opening the case and taking it out is beyond me completely... Suggestions are welcome...

Thanks in advance...
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m0nk · Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 12:02 am Post subject:

how u test the temperature. id like to know how hot my x850 gets considering my pc has no fans except the ones on the card and processor. i have to leave the side of the case open to stop the gfx card fan going so fast and loud.
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Kevrpgfan · Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 12:07 am Post subject:

http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

I using 0.24 which is stable though I have had to reinstall it a few times cause sometimes I'd load windows and it would say it can't find the chip on my card that reads the temp Rolling Eyes

Added after 1 minutes:

Solar · Joined: 04 Feb 2005 Posts: 549

all ati cards newer than the 9800 have built in thermometers/sensors
as kev said download atitool to find your temps

silicon chips are baked at 250c when they are built, and then tested at 160c when finished so there is no reason it wont be fine.
but hell no, 90c is way too high for it to be running at, im guessing its either been overclocked or flashed without any additional cooling
My old AGP x800pro ran at 45 idle and around 52 during gaming @ clock speeds with standard heatsink and fan
When i flashed it to xtpe with speeds @ 560/590 it ran at 50 idle and about 60 during gaming, and that was with the arctic silencer added !
It died in the end from constant heat off bf2
My PCIE x800xl i have now is idling at 48 and 53 during gaming.
So you should have a good picture as to what temps are ok.

First off download a newer or older version of atitool, the one you are using might be giving off the wrong temp (they some times do)
If its not that then...
Try underclocking it a little, say around 10mhz
take it out and check for dust around the heatsink,
try removing the heatsink and check if the thermal paste hasnt melted away, if it has obviously put more on
Lastly take the side of your case off then give it a good run on a game, check the temp after to see if its the case causing the problem

I hope yours doesnt blow like mine did.

You will find a lot better help here
http://www.ocforums.com/index.php?
or here
http://forums.bit-tech.net/

m0nk · Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 1:46 am Post subject:

kkk i dl'ed it and mine shows 40 C when i not doing much. that all go0d then i guess.

Added after 3 minutes:

3D application detection (Direct3D 8, Direct3D 9, OpenGL) to overclock your video card only when required.

clever it does that^ makes me wanna over clock mine for no reason
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SMaCK · Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 11:24 am Post subject:

Is there one for nVidia cards as well ??
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m0nk · Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 12:05 pm Post subject:

that works for nvidia =)
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Solar · Joined: 04 Feb 2005 Posts: 549

Plutonic · Site Admin Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 882 Location: Bed

my nvidia card comes with temp detection under desktop->properties->settings->advances->temperature settings
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Djoszee · Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 4:54 pm Post subject:

why dont you install another fan when you're not happy. Also, look @ your fans speed settings in BIOS
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Solar · Joined: 04 Feb 2005 Posts: 549

naah dont install more fans

more fans = more noise, more dust and more power consumption
just the 1x 120m fan is better, less noise, almost no dust and better air flow

ps : ownage sig dj Shocked

/me runs to the toilet.....

PigL3t · Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 3:08 pm Post subject:

Kevrpgfan · Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 8:24 pm Post subject:

Thanks for all the replies...

As far as I know the card has never been overclocked or flashed... I know the card was top of the range a year ago so I expect it to get quite hot but over 90C eeek... to be honest i'd be happy if it never went above 85C... I know the temp isn't dangerous to the card but it might be to my other parts...

my cpu is 30C atm and during games it doesn't really move any more than 2C above idle... even after a 2 hour session... I've got a fan card underneath the card which I think has made about a 1-2C difference... I did buy a new case to try and sort it out... Thermaltake Tsunami... which has 2x 120mm and one 90mm...Theres loads of fans in the case basically... but I'd say the card is probably 2-3C higher (idle) than it was when i had the old case... mainly cause when I had the old case I had 2 pci slots removed directly below the card... but even then it went from about 49C to 84C and that was in NOLF... so basically I don't think the case being closed makes much of a difference...

I think it must be down to either the thermal compound melting or just dust blocking up the heatsink or something... I'm trying to tempt a friend round to sort it out for me...
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Solar · Joined: 04 Feb 2005 Posts: 549

too many fans is just as bad as no fans, dont forget that Cool

Kevrpgfan · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:14 am Post subject:

ok solar I'll remember that... though I've got 3 case fans, 2 psu fans, a fan card with 2 fans on it... and that doesn't include the cpu fan or the fan on the graphics card Laughing

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