HD6950 Flex temps seem high

[benji182]

Bought this sapphire 6950 flex edition from OcUK yesterday and after reading it idles around 35'C and peaks around 65'C when under load i was worried when i looked at GPU-Z (see picture below)

i've been playing TF2 and although its not a graphics card crushed it peaked at 65.5'C so that was fine but it hasn't dropped below 55'C while idling and i'm just curious as to why this is so high?

anything i am missing with regards to setup or options?

thanks.

 

[Cleeecooo]

Is the fan control set to auto?
You are using just one monitor right?

Put the fan to 100% manually, let it cool down and see if it heats up again

 

[benji182]

Is the fan control set to auto?
You are using just one monitor right?

Put the fan to 100% manually, let it cool down and see if it heats up again

forgot to mention i don't really know how to do anything software wise, just building the computer.

it is running 2x Dell 24" monitors, both from the DVI ports at 1920*1200

how do i manually turn the fan up?

 

[Cleeecooo]

how do i manually turn the fan up?

Download MSI afterburner.
You can also do it in catalyst control centre.

it is running 2x Dell 24" monitors, both from the DVI ports at 1920*1200

The review would have tested idle temps with one monitor.

when you have two monitors, the clock speeds stay high as if you were gaming. 60 degrees is normal for two monitors.

Disconnect one of the monitors and only if you don't notice a change in temperature should you be worried. Obviously, give the card some time to cool down before doing this

 

[benji182]

It was set to auto in CCC and at 100% that is loud lol.

i wasn't aware that 2 monitors put so much grain on the GPU. So if gaming on one monitor and the other just has your steam friends and ventrilo it will be as if gaming on both?


edit: should overdrive be enabled by default? sliders are currently set at 800/ 500-840MHz

 

[Cleeecooo]

It was set to auto in CCC and at 100% that is loud lol.

i wasn't aware that 2 monitors put so much grain on the GPU. So if gaming on one monitor and the other just has your steam friends and ventrilo it will be as if gaming on both?

no. It's just the clock speeds that stay high.

Think of it this way. If you carry a 5kg bag of sugar using both hands, it's fairly easy. However, when you double the load, it is much harder and takes more energy. It's kinda like that with a graphics card. It's fine with one monitor, but having the second makes it harder for it and puts it under more stress, resulting in more heat.

As for gaming on one, it will be fine having the other displaying steam. use afterburner to monitor your temps in game to make sure they don't go too high.

The game will require most of the GPU's work. The steam just acts as if you were web browsing aswell

 

[Cleeecooo]

overdrive is basically overclocking. It's fine if it's enabled, as long as you don't go crazy with it and break your card by overclocking it too much.

Keep the card at its default clocks untiol you decide to overclock it

 

[benji182]

i'm not planning on overclocking it any time soon but was just wondering if the box should have been ticked by default as it was yet i hadn't told it to, i guess if its left at its default settings it makes no difference being enabled or not.

i guess your analogy does make sense but i just didn't think it would make it 20'C hotter than standard, hope its not cooking my GFX to death =/

thanks for the help, after unplugging one monitor and turning the fan up to 80% its dropped to 44'C so not the 35'C others have been getting but not 55ish'C

 

[Cleeecooo]

i'm not planning on overclocking it any time soon but was just wondering if the box should have been ticked by default as it was yet i hadn't told it to, i guess if its left at its default settings it makes no difference being enabled or not.

i guess your analogy does make sense but i just didn't think it would make it 20'C hotter than standard, hope its not cooking my GFX to death =/

thanks for the help, after unplugging one monitor and turning the fan up to 80% its dropped to 44'C so not the 35'C others have been getting but not 55ish'C

a lot of reviews will have been done on an open bench.

You can leave the box ticked. no real difference.

Don't worry about the temps, 60 isn't very hot. It will still last a long time.

 

[Marine-RX179]

thanks for the help, after unplugging one monitor and turning the fan up to 80% its dropped to 44'C so not the 35'C others have been getting but not 55ish'C

You have to bare in mind it has gotten hotter this week, and how good is the airflow for your case would also make a difference. The difference of having good airflow or not, and having something for venting the heat generated by the graphic card out for the lower half of the case or not could make a huge different to the temp of the graphic card, as you could have heat being trapped and build up at the lower half of your case.

You could consider getting something like the Antec Super Cyclone for venting the heat out from the lower half of the case:
http://www.overclock.net/air-cooling/463037-antec-super-cyclone-blower-must-see.html

I myself just bought one because of the hotter weather this week.

 

[Dynix]

Idle temps are going to differ a lot for people!

I've got a relatively small case (Antec 300), 6950 flashed to 6970 (slightly overclocked), i7 920 (overclocked), 5 HDDs and just 2 * 120mm fans blowing air out the back/top on the lowest setting. Idle temps for me are apprantely 60-65c!

 

[benji182]

cheers Xtrm2Matt, i was just concerned that's all that mine was a lot higher than what a few websites had state but now i know its working hard running two monitors it is to be expected.

I've got a TJ07 so airflow is great for the hard drives and CPU but the GFX card doesn't have the best circulation.

That Cyclone does look rather nifty Marine =)