• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Radeon 5870 overheating

geon106

geon106

geon106

Associate
Joined
23 Dec 2010
Posts
415
Location
Newcastle, Staffordshire
I've recently rebuilt my machine and since my Radeon 5870 has been overheating.

On idle it generally sits around 45oC, but as soon as i go into any 3D application or game the temperature can reach as high as 90oC

I have got a 120mm case fan on the side of the machine sucking air out away from the card, just as i did before I upgraded the machine. I've tried to re-seat the card and I checked the fan which seems fine(i can also hear the fan speed up when the card heats up during gameplay)

I've also tried it without the side of the case on and it still gets hot

As soon as I minimize a game the temperature quickly drops back down to 45 or so, but once i go back into a game it'll heat back up again within 10-20seconds.

There doesn't seem to be any loss of framerates in game nor artifacts, particular after some time playing.

However, last night whilst playing GTAIV the computer did randomly switch off, I turned it back on but everything seemed normal.

The graphics card isn't overclocked. I did turn TPU on to boost the processor but i've switched it back off to troubleshoot the GPU. I've also tried resetting BIOS settings and i'm running the latest Radeon drivers.

These are the stats from CCC whilst I type this with the card on idle:

Temperature - 44oC
Activity - 0oC
Fan Speed - 40%(set to speed up as the temp goes up, tried it on different settings though but doesn't change anything)

I've looked on the Asus AI Suite to see about the processor stats as well, just in case:

VCore: 0.968 V
+12V: 11.904 V
+5V: 5.080 V
+3.3V: 3.360 V
CPU 37oC (when under load this goes to about 65oC)
Motherboard: 33oC
CPU fan: 859 rpm

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am really confused and frustrated by the problem
 
I think i've solved it. Not sure entirely how though as I did loads of fiddling and now when playing games the temperature still goes up, but only goes at most just above 60oC and theres been no lock ups

I unplugged and re-plugged in my SATA cables, i changed the side case fan to suck in(didn't have any immediate effect however). I re-seated the soundcard. I set the GPU fan to be set not to go below 55%. I uninstalled the driver and went to an old driver, I beleive its 11.2, dated Feb 2011.

So one of the above seems to have helped. So far anyway, I shall report back in a few hours of gaming to see in case anyone else stumbles across this thread with the same/similar issue
 
flipping your side fan to blow air onto the card is going to work better than you having it pushing hot air out... this is going to have a dramatic impact on temps imo
 
JAPears said:
flipping your side fan to blow air onto the card is going to work better than you having it pushing hot air out... this is going to have a dramatic impact on temps imo
Click to expand...

Sadly after about 50 minutes whilst i was on the internet, the computer froze. Asus AI Suite stopped responding then explorer stopped responding, after about 3 minutes waiting to see if it comes back the screen went black and BSOD flashed before restarting. I've set computer to not automatically restart so I can note down the code. Once back on the desktop I quickly opened CCC and it showed graphics card as 49oC(though when refreshed went to 44oC so may have been higher before restart). The CPU is showing as 39oC
 
The GPU cooler isn't cooling properly.

Try setting it fixed to 80% speed. Keep an eye on the temps whilst gaming. If it gets too hot then it's not removing heat from the GPU, then you'll need to seek a replacement cooler or a new graphics card (the 5870 is getting on a bit).

If it works when fixed at 80%, then it's the driver not scaling the fan speed properly. Not sure what you'd do about that.
 
billysielu said:
The GPU cooler isn't cooling properly.

Try setting it fixed to 80% speed. Keep an eye on the temps whilst gaming. If it gets too hot then it's not removing heat from the GPU, then you'll need to seek a replacement cooler or a new graphics card (the 5870 is getting on a bit).

If it works when fixed at 80%, then it's the driver not scaling the fan speed properly. Not sure what you'd do about that.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking I may remove the soundcard, unplug the dvd drive and use 1 stick of ram in one of the free sockets.

Just to see if it is the card that is causing a problem. The reason I say this i've just ran 3DMark Vantage looped it 4 times on the graphics test and it went fine, the temperature of the graphics card when i finished the tests was 62 and quickly dropped to 54... Much better. So i'm wondering if the random lock ups are due to something else. The CPU temp is absolutely fine, that would show up if the paste or cooler wasn't applied properly. So i'm thinking if it is something else that could be causing the issue. I may if need be, reinstall Windows as well to see if it makes any difference
 
geon106 said:
Why would it suddenly start to overheat just from being moved from one motherboard into my new one?
Click to expand...

IF it's a faster CPU the GPU will faster thus more heat, Or it could be overvolting the card etc.. It's normally 9 times out of 10 just dust.

Without checking all bio's settings etc and using a volt meter i couldn't tell you.
 
jorzeh said:
IF it's a faster CPU the GPU will faster thus more heat, Or it could be overvolting the card etc.. It's normally 9 times out of 10 just dust.

Without checking all bio's settings etc and using a volt meter i couldn't tell you.
Click to expand...

I've removed the card to check for dust but the internal heatsink looks clean.

I was thinking about whether or not the faster CPU is causing the GPU to run faster. But i've set everything to optomised defaults in BIOS.

I've turned off the onboard sound, bluetooth and USB3.0 ports. Unlikely they are causing the issue but if I can rule them out them its worth trying
 
Can you take a photo of your setup mate and show the inside of the case showing the motherboard and all the bits inplace. Have you tried reseating the cooler and applying new TIM ? Also did you change your PSU when you made these changes or anything that has changed since the rebuild ? If your PSU has more power connectors for the graphics card try using different ones, one maybe not working right and make sure both cables are in tight.
 
Last edited:
I think i've solved it. 2 days running now without a lock up. I removed the soundcard and i'm using onboard. The graphics cards temperature is still somewhat erratic but it seems to be holding at a max of 70oC
 
if you havent got warrenty reset the cooler, if you have, let it overheat, and wait till the solder brakes, and then rma it
 
ZZZAC said:
if you havent got warrenty reset the cooler, if you have, let it overheat, and wait till the solder brakes, and then rma it
Click to expand...

for once, I agree with ZZZAC.

If you have warranty - just RMa for overheating, but they will test it on a test bench so may not get the same results as you.

If you don't have warranty, some new TIM may help, and, as suggested - a third party cooler
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom