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best way to keep my 780ti cool?

ali_83

ali_83

ali_83

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Joined
11 Mar 2013
Posts
117
Ive got a reference cooled 780ti from MSI fitted into a mITX case (I know ref cooled cards dont run as cool as aftermarket ones but I wanted rear exhausting due to my mITX setup).

Whenever I play something like FarCry3 the temps shoot up to 83 degrees within a few minutes and then drop back to the high 70s. It never goes above 83 though. I dont seem to get any drops in performance either, although I do have shocking eyesight and have spent the last few years console gaming so Im used to poor quality!

The rest of the system runs nice and cool (45 degrees under load on the CPU with a H100), system temp at 37 degrees (one large intake fan, one small exhaust fan). There is nothing blocking the card exhaust but I'm a little worried about the high temps. I read online about using MSI afterburner to set a fan curve for it which I have done but when I check the fan in HW Monitor its saying its only spinning at 60% on the GPU.

Is there anything I could do differently to improve the cooling? Any alternative settings I could use in Afterburner to stop it getting so hot? Or is it simply poor case choice thats responsible?

Thanks
 
Sorry should have mentioned its a Bitfenix Prodigy.

The case is positioned under my table so plenty of exhaust room. Aside from my monitor cable theres nothing near the exhaust of the card. Internally the card sits quite close to the side panel of the case but there are ventilation holes.

Ill try and get some photos tomorrow in the daylight when I get back from work.
 
There's nothing wrong. 83 degrees celcius is the target temperature of 780Ti reference cards. Look at reviews etc. they get the same target temps.
 
Ah OK, thanks for letting me know. As long as Im not in danger of cooking the card then I'll just leave it to it.

Thanks folks.
 
Are you using the windowed side-panel or the default panel with vent?

The windowed panel could make a graphic card in the Prodigy case being 5C or more hotter comparing the the panel with vent.
 
Do a custom fan profile if you want to run lower than 83c.

The way the standard fan profile works means you will hit 83c a lot as NVidia try and get the card to run as quiet as possible at the expense of temps.
 
The only thing you can do is to replace the default front fan with a 230mm one for a bit more airflow. But since the side is already pierced with holes, that will give you a small benefit only.

As 83c is the target temp, it means that you'd still run at the same temp, but maybe at 57% fanspeed instead of 60%. I wouldn't worry about it unless you want to start ghetto-modding for minimal benefit (changing thermal pastes, cutting off the "bars" at the card backplate etc.. stuff that voids your warranty :P)
 
I also have the BitFenix Prodigy, phenomenal case BTW, and I've installed three 120mm fans; top with inward flow, front with inward flow and rear with outward flow to keep a positive preassure.

They didn't make a huge difference which is most likely due to my severe modding, one of which inserted an HDD cage so I can store 6 HDDs which would restrict airflow. What really helped my temps was installing a Thermaltake Frio aftermarket cooler for the CPU.

Initially I thought it was a silly idea taking up what little airflow space was available but the two fans either side of the heatsink point directly to the rear of the VGA and knocked off about 5 - 10 degrees. I run a 590 GTX with a reference cooler.
 
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Yep, though ive gone with 2x non ref models in sli. Individually they will run much cooler than a ref model. But together things get pretty hot on the top one.
 
With 2 non-ref models you need a strong upward flow from top case fans, and also good inward blow from bottom/front fans. Most people don't run a bottom fan for some reason.
 
Thanks for all the info there folks, some useful stuff.

My intake fan is already a 230mm one that I nicked from an old Colossus case as I thought cooling would be an issue before I got the 780ti. Overall the system is running really cool which is great and if Nvidia say the card is OK up to 105C then thats fine.

Just worried me a bit that I might have been cooking my card.
 
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