gpu overheating?

NeTTy · 2 Feb 2008 at 13:48

I've just upgraded my cpu motherboard and ram delivery/service as always was excellent (thx ocuk) build went fine everything seemed happy enough yesterday so went to bed looking to see what it can do today

First up I load TF2 and it ran great

BUT after a few mins the display started getting a bit jumpy and then I got a repetative beep from the motherboard, so I quit the game back to desktop and checked temperatures, was a little worried to see the cpu fan wasnt spinning at all and cpu temp had risen from a nice 30~ to 60 wasnt overly worried by this but decided to disable smart fan control and run the fan full tilt to check if it was causing the problem.

So try again but got exactly the same problem after just a few minutes of play check the ati ccc and see that the gpu is running at 106, in windows its currently sat at 68 Checked the fan is spinning properly and it is, removed the side panel and indeed the area around the gfx card does seem very warm.

I dont really know what temperatures of graphics cards are acceptable (my previous motherboards have never detected the temp of the gpu) does the temps I'm seeing seem normal or excessive?

My spec

E8200 2.66ghz wolfdale
gigabyte GA P35 DS3L
sapphire ati radeon x1950 pro 512mb
2gb ocuk value 1066mhz ram

Any ideas? Im in lost territory here as its my first intel build so noobish mistakes are a possability

mp260767 · 2 Feb 2008 at 14:00

seems a bit high, leave it running for a bit and see if it drops under 68 as that is high for idle imho.

is the gpu fan running at 100% ?

if it is then you could either rma it or take the cooler off and try re seating it.

NeTTy · 2 Feb 2008 at 14:12

mp260767 said:
seems a bit high, leave it running for a bit and see if it drops under 68 as that is high for idle imho.

is the gpu fan running at 100% ?

if it is then you could either rma it or take the cooler off and try re seating it.

gpu fan afaik is running at 100% is there anyway I can check it other than listening/looking at it?
Not sure If I can RMA the gpu as its probably around a year old now iirc and up untill I installed the new motherboard/cpu/ram yesterday I had no issues with it.

NeTTy · 2 Feb 2008 at 14:38

Ok just tried TF2 with the case side off and it lasted a little longer but same thing happened after a few mins

This time I returned to desktop to find this message from ati ccc

"Your graphics adapter is running above a safe temperature . the clock frequency is now being reduced in order to lower the temperature to a safe level. Check that the system fans are fully functional and that airflow is unobstructed"

The temp was 104 but dropped very quickly on returning to desktop, is it possable that its getting to much volts or something from the board as it worked without issue on my old setup is there any bios setting that may reduce the temp?

I really dont want to go through reformatting and reinstalling my old gear just to check the card and dont have another system I can test the card in

Rackerz · 2 Feb 2008 at 14:46

Sounds to me like the airflow in your case isn't very good. It's not a software problem, your card is just getting too hot. Is it dusty in your case or are there lots of cables hanging about?

NeTTy · 2 Feb 2008 at 14:55

Rackerz said:
Sounds to me like the airflow in your case isn't very good. It's not a software problem, your card is just getting too hot. Is it dusty in your case or are there lots of cables hanging about?

Case temp is @ 30~ hovered out the empty case whilst installing the new components yesterday wires are pretty messy right now due to not having any cable ties etc but before the new install my case temp has always been around 30~ without causing any problems.

mp260767 · 2 Feb 2008 at 16:38

i'd try reseating the cooler on the gfx card or getting a new one for it.

think ati tool should be able to check the fan speed/control.

NeTTy · 2 Feb 2008 at 16:39

problem solved

Took out the gpu and picked all the crappy bits of dust out of the fanand now temps are down to 48 idle and around 75 under load

Not sure if it was the dust on the fan or if it was simply just reseating the card that did the trick but either way im a happy bunny

mp260767 · 2 Feb 2008 at 17:00

nice to hear its sorted

, and actually putting down what you did to sort it rather than the often used "its ok now thanks", helps other people get ideas if they have similar problems.

NeTTy · 16 Feb 2008 at 21:33

Had this problem resurface last night 100 under load, took out the card again checked fan again all clean still, replaced the card and the temps went back to 47 idle 75~ under load.

Can anyone suggest why it happened again and why removing and replacing the card makes such a huge difference to the temperature of the card?

/confused

Thinking about removing the cooler cleaning it up and applying TP but having never done it am a bit worried I'll screw it up so don't really want to do it unless its totally necessary.

help :x

NeTTy · 27 Feb 2008 at 13:01

Sorry for bumping this again but my card is at it again my idle temps are around the same (50C) but under load its hitting 90C+ having looked around for people with the same card my idle temp seems a little high but around normal for stock cooling but the under load temp is way higher I've reseated the card once again but this time it made no difference.

I'm using atitools to adjust the fan speed as it gets hotter 50% at idle temps up to 100% at anything over 80C I'm thinking my only option is to remove the hsf and check the paste or maybe get a new hsf for it as I said earlier I'm a little nervous about doing this as I've never done it before, so can anyone think of anything else or could anyone provide a link to a guide to removal of this hsf (I've googled but cant find one).

Thanks again

Sasso · 27 Feb 2008 at 13:09

the HSF for this card is similar to the 2900xt and 8800gts yea? like it suck in air from the case then blows it along the card over the HS..... one thing you might want to check is take the card out and angle it so you can see through the fan and onto the hs because im sure when my mate upgraded from that to an 8800gts, i always get nosey with technical stuff

, i asked if i coudl see the other card and looking around it i then saw that the entrance to the HS was caked with a couple mm of dust!!! :eek:

i said did he ever clean it and he said no and that it did run a bit hot......
i would imagine so, that dust just turns it from a cooler into an oven

NeTTy · 27 Feb 2008 at 13:18

Sasso said:
the HSF for this card is similar to the 2900xt and 8800gts yea? like it suck in air from the case then blows it along the card over the HS..... one thing you might want to check is take the card out and angle it so you can see through the fan and onto the hs because im sure when my mate upgraded from that to an 8800gts, i always get nosey with technical stuff , i asked if i coudl see the other card and looking around it i then saw that the entrance to the HS was caked with a couple mm of dust!!! i said did he ever clean it and he said no and that it did run a bit hot......
i would imagine so, that dust just turns it from a cooler into an oven

this is the cooler on the card

I will check the dust levels again later (don't have time now) but I did check this a few weeks back and it looked clear.

thx

NeTTy · 27 Feb 2008 at 16:02

further quick question I put the fan at 100% and turned the pc off while I was out came home booted up and its sat at 42C idle havn't tested it under load yet but if it reduces the temps a lot is there any reason I shouldn't leave it at 100% permanantly?

Edit: forget that just tested under load it still climbs to 90+ just it takes a few minutes longer

IAmATeaf · 27 Feb 2008 at 16:32

If cleaning the dust off the card didn't fix the prob then I think you've really got to look at the airflow through your case, you can pick up a bag of cable ties from your local pound shop, this will help as the vid card you have uses the air within the case to cool the card. Another thing is do you have another card plugged in under the vis card which might be restricting the air flow?

NeTTy · 28 Feb 2008 at 11:15

I've already cable tied everything in the case, as I said earlier I bumped this thread from a while back but have since done it

airflow isn't a problem either have ample case cooling and the case temp and other components are running well within respectable levels.

So last night I take out the card get out my small screw driver which then promtly decides to snap on the second screw :mad:

so with no way of removing the plastic cover to the hs I replaced the card and guess what, the card is now running at a normal temp again 45~ idle 77~ under load, I'm at a complete loss as to whats going on here if it was a cooling issue then it would be constantly overheating and reseating the card wouldn't make a difference at all?

I'm sorry if this whole thread is a little confusing perhaps I'd be better off making a new one, I just cant think of any logical answer as to why the card is behaving like it is :confused:

mp260767 · 28 Feb 2008 at 12:04

NeTTy said:
further quick question I put the fan at 100% and turned the pc off while I was out came home booted up and its sat at 42C idle havn't tested it under load yet but if it reduces the temps a lot is there any reason I shouldn't leave it at 100% permanantly?

Edit: forget that just tested under load it still climbs to 90+ just it takes a few minutes longer

but did it return to the 42C at idle ?

when you've reseated the card is there any chance that it isnt quite seated right.

by this i mean is there any chance the edge of the card that connects to back side of the case (with the connectors on) is sitting on the edge of the case/mobo, so in time it moves slightly ?

when you have the card out check the connector on the card, do the pins look okay ?

cooler is fairly easy to remove, if you look at it should be a few screws that hold the face plate onto the cooler, then unscrew the cooler from the card.

looking at the pic u posted the face plate has 6 screws on i can see.

NeTTy · 28 Feb 2008 at 15:20

mp260767 said:
but did it return to the 42C at idle ?

when you've reseated the card is there any chance that it isnt quite seated right.

by this i mean is there any chance the edge of the card that connects to back side of the case (with the connectors on) is sitting on the edge of the case/mobo, so in time it moves slightly ?

when you have the card out check the connector on the card, do the pins look okay ?

cooler is fairly easy to remove, if you look at it should be a few screws that hold the face plate onto the cooler, then unscrew the cooler from the card.

looking at the pic u posted the face plate has 6 screws on i can see.

Yeah the card returned to 42C it sits between 42C and 45C idle atm whilst its running fine when I'm having issues it tends to be between 50C and 53C.

Its seated just fine the face plate has plenty of space between the mobo and the rear of the case the only issue I can see that could be a possability is the power cable for the card is kinda obstructed by a drive bay it fits ok but the wire is bent which I guess could possably cause movement over time, will look into this and see if I can get something moved or find a better way of doing it if not I'll just hack part of the bay out.

All the pins are fine.

After looking at the card properly I can see removing the hs shouldn't be too hard just need to buy a new driver

thanks for the suggestions

mp260767 · 28 Feb 2008 at 15:29

NeTTy said:
only issue I can see that could be a possability is the power cable for the card is kinda obstructed by a drive bay it fits ok but the wire is bent which I guess could possably cause movement over time

can't see how it would affect the temps but deffo worth looking into as 1950 pro's like their power so if it works slightly lose might give ya problems.

when you remove the cooler front, as you don't seem to have done it before there may be dust in the cooler fins underneath it depending on the arrangement, again this doesnt correspond with the reseat "fixing" the issue but worth a check to help with temps overall.

NeTTy · 29 Mar 2008 at 17:46

Well I've come to the conclusion I need to get an aftermarket cooler in I've removed hsf, cleaned hsf, replaced thermal paste changed my case fans around to have one blowing directly onto the graphics card changed my drive bays around and its currently sat idle at 50C and hitting between 80C to 92C in games like cod4/tf2 with the fan set at 100%.

Can anyone recomend me an aftermarket cooler for my card preferably one that will fit without doing anything substantial I dont care about noise I just want acceptable temps.

If fitting an aftermarket cooler doesn't help I guess I'm looking at a new card :/