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Asus HD6870 + 120hz: high idle temps

xiphrex

xiphrex

xiphrex

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Hi,

I just installed an ASUS EAH 6870 card and have noticed high idle temps of 60+C whilst running my monitor in 120hz.

Ive noticed that when running in 60hz the GPU/MEM clocks are 100/300 at idle, but when running in 120Hz they are 300/1050 (yes, memory running at full speed)!

I have no idea why it is doing this. I appreciate that maybe the default idle clocks of 100/300 may not be enough for 120hz, but I dont think the memory needs to run at full speed all the time!

Because of this my idle temps are 60+ instead of 40C, and the fan is much more audible.

Anyone else encounter this problem, and is there a fix?

Ive already had a look at the preset clock speeds in the bios and can see what I need to change but would rather avoid having to flash the bios if there is a less risky fix out there! Running latest ATI 10.12 drivers.

Cheers
 
I apologise if you've done this already but have you tried different drivers?.

I don't know if it would help but thought it would be worth a suggestion because running at 200Mhz above idle core and 750Mhz over idle memory is warranted. That's 200% for the core and 250% for the memory :eek:.
 
Might need to try an older set of drivers I guess. Not sure which though.

I tried running at default idle clocks by underclocking manually and at 120Hz it was fine, no flickering or anything. My HD4770 ran at low idle clocks as had no issues at 120Hz either.

But apparently according to the ATI forums my card is meant to do this and is normal: http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=260&threadid=144236&enterthread=y (oh and he locked the post as well before I could explain that no card needs to do this to be able to work with 120Hz, nice forum admining there)

This is absurd and I dont know why no one else has commented about this ridiculous change in idle clocks. Even whilst I type this in a room that is 16C with my CPU running at 34C (which it never runs at, it is freezing in here) my GPU is still at 60C lol. Crazy to be honest.

I regret going with ATI again, should have gone nvidia, but I thought this card would run cooler, oh how wrong I was.
 
100% more would be what I'd expect. Not 200% and 250%.

I'm sorry to hear about your experience and can only wish you luck if you decide on moving to Nvidia, although I do not know if this problem would be the same on a 120hz screen if you choose to do so.
 
xiphrex said:
But apparently according to the ATI forums my card is meant to do this and is normal: http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=260&threadid=144236&enterthread=y
Click to expand...
I am quite sure that my Sapphire HD6850 does not require to run memory at max when idling @ 120 Hz. It will actually downclock itself to 300MHz and raise the clocks only if there is some work waiting (also on 10.12 Catalys). Or is the 6870 design so advanced when compared to 6850 that it needs to max memory while idling ? Lol. Ati cards are a pain when it comes to 120Hz. I've had / still have my share of problems with 6850 as well.

Edit. you say 300/1050 ? Are you sure you do not have opened any flash video like youtube ? Looks like it could be this known bug (unrelated to 120 Hz)
 
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Well I run windows 7 with aero on, but I would be surprised if that really needs full speed memory!

Otherwise theres no video/flash open.

I have been looking at bios flashing. I edited and flashed the bios for my older HD4770 so I might try the same and edit the profile that makes it go to such a high speed.

Kinda a shame though as I can boost the voltage on this card and I was gona try get even more performance but at 60 idle thats looking unlikely.
 
My HD4770 didnt do this and it performs far worse than this card...

Makes no sense.

Only reason I can think of why ATI have done this is that they cant be bothered to fix the flickering properly for those that are affected, so the work around is to semi-disable power management.
 
i am doing eyefinity and my memory runs at full speed all the time at idle, i guess it is just how it works but as for the temps there not normal im idling at about 32C on my 5830...
 
As I said, my 6850 idles 100/300, and bumps the clock automatically to 775/1000 when there is some user activity and all works fine in 2D, therefore statements that "this is normal at 120 Hz"are simply wrong imo. Don't know why it's happening though. Try it under different drivers. 10.11 with latest hotfix maybe. It's ridiculous that probably you'll have to flash the card just to enable proper 120Hz 2D.
 
appletree said:
As I said, my 6850 idles 100/300, and bumps the clock automatically to 775/1000 when there is some user activity and all works fine in 2D, therefore statements that "this is normal at 120 Hz"are simply wrong imo. Don't know why it's happening though. Try it under different drivers. 10.11 with latest hotfix maybe. It's ridiculous that probably you'll have to flash the card just to enable proper 120Hz 2D.
Click to expand...

Lot's of cards up-clock with 120hz screens, my friends GTX470 does it as well, want to guess what temp that idles at?
 
GTX470 works fine with a single 120Hz panel (multi monitor I think requires higher clocks) if you use the default power management settings.

ATI cards have quite a few issues with 120Hz panels and this is just one of them.
 
Chevens said:
My 470 idles at 30oC @120 Hz - your friend should format and reinstall drivers. :)
Click to expand...

Well as my 470 'Good Edition' on auto idles at 43C on air @ 60hz 2560x1600, I think your either talking bs or you have it on water.

On water with a 140x420 rad mine still only idles 27c in a reasonably cool room.
 
Rroff said:
GTX470 works fine with a single 120Hz panel (multi monitor I think requires higher clocks) if you use the default power management settings.

ATI cards have quite a few issues with 120Hz panels and this is just one of them.
Click to expand...

Some 470's upclock to 405 @120hz, a poster named Snooble should be able to confirm...
 
nvidia cards clock up when being run at 1080p/120hz and above, if you're running 1680x1050 you won't see this but above that it's a similar situation as the op, although my 480 idles at like 49c with this setup and there renowned for running hot so those temps seem excessive
 
Not as bad as my 5770 which idles 400 / 1200 at 60Hz :O

This was after I flashed my card. But when it idled at 157 / 300 on the old bios I would get green lines and it would crash constantly.
 
bee said:
nvidia cards clock up when being run at 1080p/120hz and above, if you're running 1680x1050 you won't see this but above that it's a similar situation as the op, although my 480 idles at like 49c with this setup and there renowned for running hot so those temps seem excessive
Click to expand...
This sux, what clocks core/mem does it use when clocked up ? Does this apply to 5xx series as well ?
However I still don't get it why HD6850 will run 1920x1080@120Hz on 100/300 clocks (with perfectly acceptable performance) while 6870 is on 300/1050 Does the op use bigger than 1920x1080 res ? Anyone else with 6870 and 120Hz panel ?
 
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