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Erratic 80 degree idle on my graphics card - any advice?

jpod

jpod

jpod

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Joined
16 Jun 2011
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Location
Cheshire
Hi

I wonder if you can help. Essentially if I leave my PC and it is not doing something, or goes into screensaver (one of the W7 types) it spins up and goes up to 80 degrees. I have no idea why at idle it should spin up when normally it ticks over at about 35 degrees.

Even googling it will spin up in chrome. Here is a screen shot of it after I have made a brew and returned to the PC this morning.

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium x64-based PC
Z68AP-D3
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz
8GB
AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series

May I add that it was a gift, it's under warranty and it was not from OC's my fav IT store.

It plays Planetside 2 without a hitch at 1080p and plays avi etc it is just a bit loud and fluctuates when playing a film.

The drivers are up to date.

Many thanks, any help would be appreciated since I am concerned about leaving the PC unattended.

8532878673_f4b8b19434_z.jpg
 
fully loaded at 80c you could bring it down a couple degrees by increasing case cooling but it looks ok to me assuming its reference cooling, are you running anything that kicks in on idle? folding or boinc etc?
 
When you say it was a gift, was it new or 2nd hand? Also try to see what's in your start up program's or resource monitor it may be something in the background, other than that a fresh windows install to see if that helps, also if your using afterburner use it's fan profile or make one as auto is pretty poor I think 33% fan on mine.
 
It was new.
Will look at background things and start up - had not checked that
Could try a fresh W7 install - yikes!
Not using Afterburner, just the AMD catalyst at stock settings

It is just idling at high temps, like it is fully loaded. The image I posted it at idle. It is reference cooling and no I am not folding etc!

Thanks so far, update you shortly. jpod
 
It was a new rig, I don't recall the graphics card behaving like this at the outset, I had to remove a failed SSD sometime ago so it had a fresh W7 about December 2013.

In the last 6 weeks I just noticed the card in the background going faster and faster in idle.
 
jpod said:
It was new.
Will look at background things and start up - had not checked that
Could try a fresh W7 install - yikes!
Not using Afterburner, just the AMD catalyst at stock settings

It is just idling at high temps, like it is fully loaded. The image I posted it at idle. It is reference cooling and no I am not folding etc!

Thanks so far, update you shortly. jpod
Click to expand...

Those are not idle clocks, so something is putting load on to your GPU.

Idle clocks should be 300 core/ 150 memory and depending on case cooling etc should give you idle temps from between 30º-45º.

I would delete the drivers, boot in to safe mode and use driver sweeper or similar program to delete any remnants then install newest drivers.

When you say it is idling, you haven't got any browsers perhaps with flash ads or something running as they can load the gpu if hardware acceleration is switched on?

Perhaps posting a screenshot of your task manager may help someone diagnose what is causing the gpu to clock up.
 
Hi
Thanks for the info, it is idling at the figures you say at the mo

Here is a screen shot of the info I think you refer to.

I have not had chance to try a re install of the driver but I will shortly, I will post but I am away from my rig for a few days.

Normally I run chrome with add blocker.

My PC does always ask to upload java which is a bit of a pain.

Thanks for your help so far I really appreciate it and learnt lots already here.

8534362443_f35d788513_b.jpg
 
Five stars is right,its ramping up to full clocks hence 80c,something to do with screensaver I'm guessing? Try disabling it
 
Agreed with the above.

The second screenie is the correct temps / clocks... (300/150) and as can be seen on the first screenie,
the clocks are starting off as norm ( correct idle ) something (screen saver?!) is then kicking in & forcing the bump in clocks resulting in silly temps.

The task manager screenie is pointless as thats whats running, when clocks are correct I.E. it isn't showing the problem programme ;)

I'd start by disabling the screensaver as above.

I'd then check the task scheduler -> scheduler library... Make sure theres no random checks etc scheduled, some will have checks scheduled every hour etc etc ( long shot ) No other idea's :(

P.S. Control panel -> java -> Never check for updates !
 
The symptoms sound suspiciously like the GPU stealing malware iehighutil.exe and ieutil.exe however there is no sign of these in your screenshot. Look at the full (all user) process list again during the high utilisation.
 
Hey thanks interesting posts for me, I am a bit of a PC noob.

Okay update - used my PC fine last night but fan noise hi and temps fluctuated. Checked no dust in it.

Did malware sweep - okay

Reinstalled driver no probs

Temps went up to 92 while the pc was idle and pc shut off - I have arranged to RMA via my folks who purchased it for me.

I guess the card developed a cooling fault slowly. It works but the temps rise from 35 to 55 in a few minutes and they would just rise till it switches off - beyond my capabilities assume it is a cooling issue. Update you when I get a diagnosis.

Thanks for your help much appreciated.
 
If you are getting high temps with no GPU load then it would point to faulty cooling. Almost as if the heat sink isn't making good contact with the GPU.

The malware I mentioned isn't currently detected by most security products. But if it was this you would see high GPU load.
 
Hi thanks IT Troll

There was not high GPU load all of the time - I think it is a poor contact with the GPU too - the fans spin etc there is good cooling but it overheats - I have resisted doing anything like taking it apart as I could be in 'a world of pain'. I'd rather let the RMA run it's course.

This was at an early stage of ownership, a long warranty on GFX is ideal, might add that this was a gift from my folks and not supplied by OC.

Thanks for your help I will repost and update soon!
 
Hmmm I am getting told this, it is not overclockers by the way, I didn't purchase this gfx card, my folks did.

This was the report I received:

Tested with furmark, crysis and valley for over 2 hours.
Idles at 54 degrees, normal for stock cooling.
load temp at 81 degrees, normal for stock cooling.
No artifacts, NFF
These kind of test results are not unusual with this GPU and cooler combination. The idle temperature is on the warmer side but certainly not within any cause for concern.

I am told that there was loads of dust in it although I could not see any visually when I inspected it.

It idled at 38 degrees, now it is 54

I think it has a fault, they want to send it back to me, there is 2 years left on the warrenty, I have had it for 1 year, there is no dust in my PC case.

Any advice, views appreciated, many thanks :p
 
This was not an item purchased at Overclockers by the way.



Update
I posted the card to the other retailer on 10th March 2013

I was asked to pay to have the faulty overheating card posted back to me! I insisted on an RMA.

Weeks later I was offered a refurbished card which I declined and after 6 weeks of no discernible solution offered by the retailer despite contacting them every day I asked or a refund on the basis that 6 weeks was an unreasonable amount of time to be without repair or replacement. I complained to the company director and I was offered £300 refund which I accepted.

I purchased a new one yesterday from OC UK, the best retailer in my opinion. Don't go anywhere else.
 
Last edited:
I don't get it, they tested it, found no fault, yet you still wanted to RMA / get a refund..?

XD

Well GJ getting your money back.



What card did you buy from OCUK in the end?
 
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