Not sure if my 7950 TF3 is faulty...

Nuclear Fusion · 27 Dec 2012 at 20:34

As many here will know, there was a batch of MSI 7950 TF3 cards that had heat issues. I'm starting to think mine might be slightly faulty- if not so extreme as some of the cards with 60C idle temps. My card idles around 35C, but under load it reaches 73C (at 1000/1400 clocks). For my maximum bench overclock of 1250/1700, I had the side panel off in a cold room (fan blowing cold air into the room) with a fan blowing fresh air directly onto the fans from below, and temps still got to around 85C. The core voltage was 1200mv and the memory voltage was something like 1650mv. Surely this seems too hot (even at that clock speed) considering all the cooling I used?

It's annoying because it is past the two week no questions asked return period, but it probably isn't deemed sufficiently bad as to RMA. I would change the thermal paste, but I don't want to void my warranty. Does this sound like a faulty card to you? Thanks

leigh_boy · 27 Dec 2012 at 20:40

Sounds perfectly normal to me and if its not got any REAL problems i wouldnt worry and you have a warranty.

pgi947 · 27 Dec 2012 at 20:40

MSI are allowing people with suspected faulty 7950 TFIII's to remove the cooler and re-apply paste.

From what I understand the bad batch is directly related to a TIM application error on manufacture.

Your temps don't look that bad but you can re-apply the TIM with confidence that your warranty will remain in tact

Nuclear Fusion · 27 Dec 2012 at 20:42

pgi947 said:
MSI are allowing people with suspected faulty 7950 TFIII's to remove the cooler and re-apply paste.

From what I understand the bad batch is directly related to a TIM application error on manufacture.

Your temps don't look that bad but you can re-apply the TIM with confidence that your warranty will remain in tact

Yeah that's the thing- my temps aren't that bad, but when I see people saying 'and the temps never even exceeded 63C' (not even using all the fans and cooled room like I was) it makes me think that my temps are pretty rubbish in comparison.

RetrogamerX · 27 Dec 2012 at 20:47

Nuclear Fusion said:
Yeah that's the thing- my temps aren't that bad, but when I see people saying 'and the temps never even exceeded 63C' (not even using all the fans and cooled room like I was) it makes me think that my temps are pretty rubbish in comparison.

My temps are 33c to 35c idle and can reach 74c on BF3. So your temps are fine. Now if your 7950 was over 50c on idle then I would worry.

Cleeecooo · 27 Dec 2012 at 20:48

RetrogamerX said:
My temps are 33c to 35c idle and can reach 74c on BF3. So your temps are fine. Now if your 7950 was over 50c on idle then I would worry.

Is thta with your 680?

Snodge · 27 Dec 2012 at 20:52

You think that's bad I ordered one idle at fan auto was around 50 degrees and at full load around 100 degrees and overclockers say that's theres no fault.

pgi947 · 27 Dec 2012 at 20:52

Nuclear Fusion said:
Yeah that's the thing- my temps aren't that bad, but when I see people saying 'and the temps never even exceeded 63C' (not even using all the fans and cooled room like I was) it makes me think that my temps are pretty rubbish in comparison.

IMO some people are far to fussy about temps (the 'OMG my cards hitting 70c its faulty!!' brigade

). Which can cause others to doubt their own temp readings when in fact they are fine.

I'd suggest having a look at your case fans and get them in an exhaust-heavy setup as the nature of the TFIII cooler is to expel hot air into the case, then have a look at setting a custom fan profile for the card, the vast majority of stock fan profiles are terrible.

But as I said in my first post, if you are worried about the temps then chuck some MX-4 on

Nuclear Fusion · 27 Dec 2012 at 21:00

pgi947 said:
IMO some people are far to fussy about temps (the 'OMG my cards hitting 70c its faulty!!' brigade). Which can cause others to doubt their own temp readings when in fact they are fine.

I'd suggest having a look at your case fans and get them in an exhaust-heavy setup as the nature of the TFIII cooler is to expel hot air into the case, then have a look at setting a custom fan profile for the card, the vast majority of stock fan profiles are terrible.

But as I said in my first post, if you are worried about the temps then chuck some MX-4 on

It was mainly just because I'm mainly limited by temps when overclocking, whereas I have a bit more voltage to play with, as I can't really go any higher in terms of temperature. I could probably do 1300 on the core at 1.25v if the temperatures allowed (I do want to reclaim my top 7950 GPU score title for the 3DM11 thread

)

Cleeecooo · 27 Dec 2012 at 21:02

Snodge said:
You think that's bad I ordered one idle at fan auto was around 50 degrees and at full load around 100 degrees and overclockers say that's theres no fault.

I'm guessing you had poor airflow then

pgi947 · 27 Dec 2012 at 21:03

Nuclear Fusion said:
It was mainly just because I'm mainly limited by temps when overclocking, whereas I have a bit more voltage to play with, as I can't really go any higher in terms of temperature. I could probably do 1300 on the core at 1.25v if the temperatures allowed (I do want to reclaim my top 7950 GPU score title for the 3DM11 thread )

Water

Rusty0611 · 27 Dec 2012 at 22:10

RetrogamerX said:
My temps are 33c to 35c idle and can reach 74c on BF3. So your temps are fine. Now if your 7950 was over 50c on idle then I would worry.

But you've got a 680?!

@OP: Yes yours sounds like it's one of the dodgy ones - reapply the TIM. ScottiB confirmed they'd honour warranty claims.

Geo-Gamer · 27 Dec 2012 at 22:24

Temps seem fine nuclear

I have my msi at 1150/1800 idles at 27c and it never goes past 70c on bf3 with fans on auto. If I put fans up to 70% then temps don't exceed 65c.

spoffle · 27 Dec 2012 at 22:40

pgi947 said:
IMO some people are far to fussy about temps (the 'OMG my cards hitting 70c its faulty!!' brigade). Which can cause others to doubt their own temp readings when in fact they are fine.

I'd suggest having a look at your case fans and get them in an exhaust-heavy setup as the nature of the TFIII cooler is to expel hot air into the case, then have a look at setting a custom fan profile for the card, the vast majority of stock fan profiles are terrible.

But as I said in my first post, if you are worried about the temps then chuck some MX-4 on

That's not really the issue, the MSI TFIIIs are advertised as "better" than reference cards in terms of cooling and noise as well as overclocking.

When you've got one that's idling at 50 and getting to 80+C on stock clocks, it's a problem, regardless of whether or not the temps and noise has a detrimental effect on the card itself.

Reference cards have better cooling than that.

Also it's not an issue with TIM for everyone, I replaced it on mine and whilst it did bring the temps down, they were still excessive. Instead of idling at top 50s low 60s, it was idling at low 50s, and hitting high temps with the fans at 100% too.

I believe the real issue that that the cooler isn't making full contact with the GPU or something.

85C at 1200mv with the side off and fans blowing fresh air to the card certainly doesn't sound right either. My top 7950 (both IceQ X2s) runs at 1200Mhz at 1250Mv and gets up to around 75 under full load with the fans nice and quiet.

bru · 27 Dec 2012 at 22:58

A friend of mine has pointed this thread out to me, asking me if I will reapply the TIM for him. Now I said I would post here first to get some confirmation about MSI allowing cooler removal and TIM replacement, before doing it to his card.
So could someone please link to a MSI page that says its OK to go ahead, because I'm not prepared to remove a cooler and potentially invalidate a warranty just on a guys forum post.

pgi947 · 27 Dec 2012 at 23:24

bru said:
A friend of mine has pointed this thread out to me, asking me if I will reapply the TIM for him. Now I said I would post here first to get some confirmation about MSI allowing cooler removal and TIM replacement, before doing it to his card.
So could someone please link to a MSI page that says its OK to go ahead, because I'm not prepared to remove a cooler and potentially invalidate a warranty just on a guys forum post.

See this post from the MSI rep: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=23289477&postcount=333

bru · 28 Dec 2012 at 00:08

pgi947 said:
See this post from the MSI rep: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=23289477&postcount=333

Cheers, Ive sent a message to ScottiB via trust to confirm that TIM replacement is still OK and wont invalidate the warranty.

bru · 29 Dec 2012 at 13:58

Not heard back from ScottiB yet,maybe because its the holiday season.
Call me cynical but i'm loath to invalidate a cards warranty without some form of reassurance that removing the cooler to replace the TIM is ok with MSI.

Nuclear Fusion · 29 Dec 2012 at 16:46

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=23446194&postcount=2

I posted about changing the thermal paste under component technical support, and an OCUK staff member reassured me that it is fine as seen here.

Rusty0611 · 29 Dec 2012 at 16:56

bru said:
Not heard back from ScottiB yet,maybe because its the holiday season.
Call me cynical but i'm loath to invalidate a cards warranty without some form of reassurance that removing the cooler to replace the TIM is ok with MSI.

I think this is pretty clear? :confused:

ScottiB said:
We are 99% sure that the thermal grease application is to blame and will be happy to provide a aid and warranty cover to anyone who wishes to reapply the grease themselves.