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7950 hot idle temps?

SoundEng

SoundEng

SoundEng

Soldato
Joined
4 Mar 2008
Posts
2,614
Location
Wandsworth
Hi all,

Just installed my new 7950 (XFX Double D) and its idling at around 60C which I am assuming isn't right?

I am running 2 monitors off of it (i've heard this can affect it?) one at 2560x1440 and one at 1920x1080.

Do you reckon I have a faulty card?

Thanks

Ali
 
that's not right. Probably poor contact between the GPU and the heatsink or no/too much TIM.

RMA to retailer if it voids your warranty when you remove the cooler (probably does)
 
On my 7850 attaching a second monitor bumps the voltage when idle from 0.825V to 1.00V and the core increases to the full 860mhz

Just something to bear in mind, but as has been said, it shouldn't get that hot under load so there's definitely something wrong.
 
Agreed about trying it with one screen to compare to the idle temperature figures most people & reviews post.

As others have said, when connected to more than one monitor the GPU memory doesn't downclock and the GPU core doesn't downclock fully either. This is deliberate since the 5000 series to avoid the issues that came to light at the time - grey screens, not waking up from sleep, screen tearing at desktop. My card is overclocked to 1125/1575 and at idle it runs at 500/1575. With the stock cooler I was idling at 60C, but since changing to the accelero I idle at 50C and with the current cold temperatures in the room my PC is in I'm currently idling at 47C :)

Use GPUz to see what your clock and memory speeds are, then try just one screen physically plugged in and see if you get comparable clock speeds and idle temperatures to the reviews for that card to see if you have an issue.
 
seems to be a couple degrees lower with one screen.

I can see it idles at 500mhz on the core and the memory remains at its normal clock speed.

Oddly I've just bumped the clocks up to 1000/1450 and when running 3dmark 11 the max temperature it has hit is 68 degrees which is only about ~8-9 degrees more than when idling. and I have just run the render test in gpu z for 10 mins and its not gone above 70C

If I ramp the fans up to 100% the temp drops to around 37 idling.

Having just run OCCT for 6 mins the temp hit 82 degrees.

Thoughts?

EDIT: With the memory at 1450 it idles at around 67 :/
 
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What driver are you using?

A know there was an issue within the 12.11 betas prior to beta 6, and the Official 12.10, that caused V and clocks to stay high when idle. I think the Official drivers prior to 12.10 were OK.

It was fixed in 12.11 beta 6 and up. 12.11 beta 11 is the current one.

BETA6: http://www2.ati.com/drivers/beta/AMD_Catalyst_12.11_Beta6_dotNET4.exe

AMD Catalyst 12.11 Beta6 resolves the issue with engine and memory clocks running too high when the GPU is idle. Clocks will now run at the proper level when the GPU is idle. This issue was only observed with specific displays and was observed in the AMD Catalyst 12.11Beta 4 and AMD Catalyst 12.10 drivers; The AMD Catalyst 12.11 Beta6 has replaced the AMD Catalyst 12.11Beta 4 driver that was posted Oct 23, 2012
 
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I drive 3 screens on my HIS IceQ Boost 7950 and it idles around 50 degrees. Running 6000x1200 Eyefinity in BF3 it goes up to about 60-65 max. Cpu temps around 35-40.

Edit - thats with settings via CCC @ 20% extra power, 1020 core 1450 mem auto fan, which in idle is around 30-33%
 
its currently sat at 70C with fan running at 50%

the load temperatures don't seem that bad. Its just the idle temps that are weird.
 
Hmm so I tried it in a different computer (using the drivers provided on the disc) and when I only have one screen plugged in it down clocks the memory to 150Mhz and the core to 300Mhz. this drops the temps to around 40 degrees.

Does this sound about right?

If so, is there anyway I can have two screens plugged and have it clock down to those clocks? I tried the latests betas before and it didn't clock the memory down.
 
hellarda said:
Hmm so I tried it in a different computer (using the drivers provided on the disc) and when I only have one screen plugged in it down clocks the memory to 150Mhz and the core to 300Mhz. this drops the temps to around 40 degrees.

Does this sound about right?

If so, is there anyway I can have two screens plugged and have it clock down to those clocks? I tried the latests betas before and it didn't clock the memory down.
Click to expand...


My 7950 sapphire card runs at 30-40 idle on one screen and 50-60 degrees idle with two screens. I know my 6870 was the same. I don't think there is anything you can do. It certainly does not hurt them, so dont worry about it.
 
The only thing you can do as far as I know is use MSI Afterburner to underclock the card, use this underclock as the 2D profile and set a standard or overclocked profile for the 3D profile.
You can set it so Afterburner automaticly switches between the profiles or you can set it up on hotkeys.
 
50, maybe 55 is right for dual screens.

70 isn't bad for load either.

Personally, I'd just keep it, presuming the fan stays quiet at idle?
 
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