8800GT Questions

[SoildSnake]

My graphics card is making a fair amount of noise, sometimes even when i simply restart the PC and windows boots up; but when playing 1080P it can go crazy; like loud enough for me to get scared and shut down the PC!

1) Would this graphics cooler solve the issue?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-047-AK&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=787

Or would under clocking it resolve it; since they come over clocked? If so how do i go about doing this?

Specs:
antec p182 super midi tower case
BGF 8800GT graphics card
4GB OCZ 1066 Reaper HPC, DC RAM (updating to 8GB)
Abit IN932X-Max motherboard
2.4GHz intel quad core pro Q6600 95W processor

Thanks for the help

 

[Prof. Cheese]

Try making a custom fan profile (MSI Afterburner is your best tool) and you should be able to keep it under control.

Custom fans are nearly always a good improvement, but only spend the money if you really need to IMO.

 

[SoildSnake]

Strangely i spoke to support on the phone and he said adding a cooler will increase the chances of the card breaking!

Any body got experiences with this graphics cooler or know how quite it is?

Thanks again

 

[Prof. Cheese]

It's quite common for people to destroy their cards when changing the cooler if they're being careless. But if you concentrate on what you are doing, it's pretty straightforward and you shouldn't have any issues.

As for this exact cooler, I'm afraid I can't help you. Try Googling for some reviews though.

 

[Randomface74]

You need to figure out whether the fan is loud because your card is hot, or for some other reason.

Get a program called RealTemp and post your temperatures while idle, and while playing 1080.

Anything above 70C I would say is probably too hot, and some action should be taken. But lets see what your temps are first

Also, it's normal for your fan to be loud while your PC boots, it means the fan is on full speed because the graphics card driver hasn't loaded yet - so your card hasn't been instructed what speed to run the fan at. This is okay.

 

[JonJ678]

In fairness customers taking screwdrivers to circuit boards will always increase the chances of mortality. If you're not a particularly clumsy type, taking the heatsink off, removing the dust and putting it back on may well solve the issue. It's amazing how much accumulates inside them.

That cooler should be better, if only because it exhausts out of the case. But it's likely to make worse contact with the ram etc so may harm your card in the long run. My 8800gt used a thermalright heatsink for a while, which was huge but very good, and is now under water. It's had a pretty hard life and is going strong, so I wouldn't be too worried. That is, assuming you're familiar with screwdrivers and won't stab the card with it by accident.

Underclocking probably wont help, at least overclocking/underclocking my one didn't seem to make any difference to temperatures.