8800 gt Temps

[sychnant]

I have noticed more fan usuage on my 2 yr old EVGA 8800GT recently.
The idle temps are about 60 and the max when gaming are about 75/77 (on games like Dirt 2 and BF BC2) But the fan is running at 95% and i have underclocked the card from its default 650 MHz down to 550 MHz.
I am using MSI afterburner to monitor the settings.
Could it be i need to apply fresh thermal compound and pads, or should i invest in a new cooler? I don't particularly want to spend 25+ pounds because i will probably be updating to the ATi 5770 in a month or so.
Is the fan likely to fail running at almost 100% when gaming?
Thanks for any info and recommendations.

 

[jigger]

That's quite hot for an under clocked card and %95 fans speed. It could be the heat sink is packed with dust.

 

[Kharbyne]

As above check the fan and heatsink for any dust.

 

[arc@css]

+ another vote for checking for dust. I have just taken my graphics card completely apart and found loads of crap clogging around the heat-sinks. Taking the time to do this has resulted in shaving off over 25 degrees of the idle temp!

 

[sychnant]

Thanks for the advice, i have blown through the fan and h,sink, didn't seem very dusty and i have checked it with the side of the case and it seems about 8 degrees cooler, but the fan is till running 90+ % and its still underclocked to 550 Mhz.
The case is a good one ( see specs) and i have all the case fans running. Any ideas for a new card cooler ( the card is out of warranty now i think) Thanks again

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
OCZ 4GB (4x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2
EVGA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB Superclocked "Crysis Edition" GDDR3
HD 1.Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
HD 2.Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache
Pioneer DVR-112DBK 18x18 DVD±RW IDE Dual Layer ReWriter
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS II Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black
Corsair HX620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU(CMPSU-620HXUK)

 

[jigger]

It sounds like it needs the thermal paste changing then.

If it the reference heat sink you can remove the black plastic cover and see what type of condition the heat sink is in. They get clogged easily. Can you feel the heat venting from around the SLI contacts ?

 

[RaV]

That does sound a bit strange. Though mine does idle at 65 degrees while the fans at 30%. But after a few BF:BC2 games today the max temp was 76 but the max fan was about 70%. (690 core, 1728 shaders, 970 mem) Im also using MSI Afterburner to dynamically change the fan speed.

Maybe open it up and see what you can see.. But running the fan at 100% shouldnt cause any problems.

Im sure some people will protest this, but I normally use a few ear buds, and drag them around under the fan in the corners of the HS, and all the larger clumps of dirt stick to it. But just make sure none of the soft ear bud bits break off

 

[Theguy]

i took the case off my 8800gt semi recently because of the fan going at 100% after like 5,10mins of play. i found that dust was just clogging up the fins, scooped it all off, kept the case off the card, and my temps have gone from high 80s,90s, down to 50 give or take.

 

[sychnant]

Thanks for the advice guys.. i will attempt all your ideas, i have a cotton wool bud i have just taken out of my ear.. (don't think i will use that one) ))
EDIT 2HRS later.. I opened it up and rearranged the paste under the GPU a bit and gave the fan and H sink a good suck with the vacuum ( the same vacuum that sucked 3 keys off my keyboard last week ) and now the temps seem a lot cooler when gaming and at idle and the fan is running at only 60% when gaming and 30% when idle...I have also clocked the card back to mid setting of 600Mhz to see how it goes
Thanks again Guys..