7970 Temperatures

[thefogo]

My HIS(reference) 7970 has always idled at about 45-55 degrees and I assumed that to be normal, but I received my second (XFX) one today and noticed that it idles 10C cooler than my HIS one

When crossfired the new one also runs 5-10C cooler than the old one, even though it's the primary card and is in the first slot.

They're both running at the same clocks, so, any ideas?

 

[C64]

The top slot card works harder than the bottom because it's the display one and also the top card is drawing in warm air from the bottom card that's why it's that much hotter the most important thing when considering sli/xfire is to ensure you have a board that leaves a nice gap between top and bottom cards (unfortunately most designs completely ignore this and only have a 4x slot at the very bottom when really it should be 16x at top and 4x in middle and 8x at the bottom) if you want better temps I would suggest getting a fan positioned so it blows air in between the gap.You are never going to get good temps using the reference style leaf blower coolers anyway and pretty much the only way to have a cool sli/xfire setup is to water cool the top card.

 

[OptimaLnrg]

Poor heatsink contact with gpu

Either

Ignore
Rma
Remount cooler yourself (voids warranty)

 

[thefogo]

The top slot card works harder than the bottom because it's the display one and also the top card is drawing in warm air from the bottom card that's why it's that much hotter the most important thing when considering sli/xfire is to ensure you have a board that leaves a nice gap between top and bottom cards (unfortunately most designs completely ignore this and only have a 4x slot at the very bottom when really it should be 16x at top and 4x in middle and 8x at the bottom) if you want better temps I would suggest getting a fan positioned so it blows air in between the gap.You are never going to get good temps using the reference style leaf blower coolers anyway and pretty much the only way to have a cool sli/xfire setup is to water cool the top card.

The top card is running cooler than the bottom one
Sorry if I worded it badly ^__^

 

[thefogo]

Poor heatsink contact with gpu

Either

Ignore
Rma
Remount cooler yourself (voids warranty)

Hmmm, I feared this may be the case

 

[OptimaLnrg]

If there's no stickers over screws or w/e you may be able to re-mount without leaving any trace

 

[thefogo]

If there's no stickers over screws or w/e you may be able to re-mount without leaving any trace

I had a look and it doesn't seem like there are any.

What are regarded as the best thermal paste's for GPUs?

 

[OptimaLnrg]

They're all pretty similar. Few degrees here and there. I'd say use whatever decent one you have that isn't conductive (just in case).

I use mx4.

Edit
The best performing wouod be one of those liquid metal pad things, but they look bat**** hard to use and you'll never get away with it if you have to rma it later.

 

[thefogo]

They're all pretty similar. Few degrees here and there. I'd say use whatever decent one you have that isn't conductive (just in case).

I use mx4.

Edit
The best performing wouod be one of those liquid metal pad things, but they look bat**** hard to use and you'll never get away with it if you have to rma it later.

I haven't heard of those so I think I'll stick with the normal stuff
I'll have a look at getting some mx4, though I might reseat the cooler with the current paste first - It might be just a bit loose or something?

 

[OptimaLnrg]

Once you break the contact you'll need to reapply paste to get a good contact, moreso if it's dried.

Theres a thread in general hardware. Stulid tested many brands.

 

[thefogo]

Once you break the contact you'll need to reapply paste to get a good contact, moreso if it's dried.

Theres a thread in general hardware. Stulid tested many brands.

Oh right, I'll buy some paste before I do that then
Cheers dude.

 

[tommybhoy]

Have you checked the Asic quality through GPUZ?

The XFX 80's? =lower stock voltage.
The His could be 60's? =higher stock voltage.

 

[thefogo]

Have you checked the Asic quality through GPUZ?

The XFX 80's? =lower stock voltage.
The His could be 60's? =higher stock voltage.

XFX is 78.5, HIS is 75.0; that wouldn't make such a difference would it?

 

[LtMatt]

Asic plays a role for sure, generally i agree with that Asic table. However it mainly comes down to silicone. Basically, you can't polish a turd, but you can wrap it in glitter.

 

[Gregster]

I would check to see the voltages of each card. I would be inclined to think the cooler of the two cards has a lower voltage than the hotter card. If it isn't higher, I would remove the old thermal paste and add new as long as you don't have to remove any warranty stickers.

 

[whyscotty]

Asic plays a role for sure, generally i agree with that Asic table. However it mainly comes down to silicone. Basically, you can't polish a turd, but you can wrap it in glitter.