HIS 6870 Crossfire - Overheating

[Davepen]

Right,
Got my crossfire setup working, but now it seems I'm having more issues :|

When playing BF3, I can play well for a few minutes, but then the game starts to stutter, and then crash.

It seems to be a heat issue.

My question is, what are normal temps for a 6870?

The GPU on the main card is getting to 85c, and the 2nd card 79c. (this is the temp I am seeing once the game crashes and I check gpu-z, is there a better way to check?)

I know BF3 is a taxing game, and the card is getting pretty hot, but is this hot enough to make it crash??

My cooling in my case is pretty good, I have an intake at the bottom in the front, out at the top in the back, and a side intake blowing directly onto the cards.

Neither card is overclocked.

If I whack the GPU fan speed on manual and crank it upto 70% it keeps them stable for longer, but this doesent last.

I have taken both heatsinks off the cards and replaced the crappy paste on the GPU with artic silver, dosent seem to have made any difference :/

Any ideas other than buying 2 aftermarket coolers? (I'm broke )

 

[95thrifles]

If its GPUzs log from the time it crashed then yes thats best way to check, not by chekcing GPUz reading after reboot though cos it will of cooled down by then
As for temps, yeah those are fine, dont worry until you hit 3 figures, though in the log dont forget to check the other temps, when I had Xfired 4890s my VRM temps were the ones that would cause issue

 

[Azarathal]

If there isnt an existing side intake fan try cut a panel for a 140mm intake?

Not 100% sure if it'll work but when I have a side intake fan my gpu runs at a max of 60c, without it I can hit 70c.

 

[aceofspadesrob]

my 6950 both his get too hot and bsod only in bf3 anything else they only hit 70, but when i get over 80 oc i crashed, used after burner and forced the fans to 70% in bf3 ploblem disaperad

 

[Davepen]

I already have a side intake blowing directly onto the cards.

How do I check my VRM temp?

The system doesent crash, just the game.
First it stutters for a while, gets worse, then crashes

Highest temp recorded in the log is GPU: 90.5, VReg (?) temp: 26

 

[Azarathal]

Maybe switch the direction of air flow?

I had to do this, two front intakes, side intake, rear exhaust and two top fans, one intakes just before the cpu cooler and the other exhausts just behind it, dropped overall temps (including gpu) buy a few c

Have a play.

 

[aceofspadesrob]

turn down gpu ram speeds, i took mine down from 1280 on a factory oc setting down to 1200 and that lowered my temps from mid 80s to 74 max with fans on auto rather than with fans at 70% so cooler quieter and better proformance all round also upped settings from high to all ultra with temps still cooler

 

[Davepen]

Both cards are currently on 900 core 1050 memory, Ill take them down to 1000 but don't want to gimp them too much :/

I have a bracket on my side panel for another fan, gonna buy one tomorrow and use that as another exhaust, was also thinking about getting one of those slot exhaust coolers to stick between the 2 cards, anyone tried these? Any good?

 

[aceofspadesrob]

i dont think its ur cards im betting its a issue with just the 1 game as anything else i throw at mine they eat up , just seems bf3 is raping them hard in the face

 

[Marine-RX179]

I already have a side intake blowing directly onto the cards.

Actually it's better to have the side-panel as exhaust than as intake if your cards got coolers that dump heat into the case.

 

[Davepen]

Actually it's better to have the side-panel as exhaust than as intake if your cards got coolers that dump heat into the case.

The problem I have is I have this case:

At the moment I have the intake fan in the lower port on the side, this port isn't a very good exhaust point because there is no grate directly in front of it.

The higher one isnt great either, if I put an exhaust there I can barely feel any air coming out the side :/

Tried down clocking to 1000mhz, no change, cards hit a max off 100c :/ that's as high as the reader will go!

 

[Azarathal]

Actually it's better to have the side-panel as exhaust than as intake if your cards got coolers that dump heat into the case.

My 6950 exhausts as far as I know which will be awesome for when I xfire, I'll use a TY-140 on the 120mm side instead of a normal 120mm to test whether it makes a difference

 

[Davepen]

Yeah tbh, both my cards are double slot and exhaust, I think I may be better off with an after marker cooler cause I think the issues is more the contact with the heat sink to the mem/gpu, It's pretty shoddy.

I was looking at maybe 2 x Accelero TWIN TURBO Pro to fit on both cards, but it's gonna have to wait until pay day :/

 

[Marine-RX179]

Yeah tbh, both my cards are double slot and exhaust, I think I may be better off with an after marker cooler cause I think the issues is more the contact with the heat sink to the mem/gpu, It's pretty shoddy.

I was looking at maybe 2 x Accelero TWIN TURBO Pro to fit on both cards, but it's gonna have to wait until pay day :/

That wouldn't be a good idea, as those coolers dump heat into the case, and the heat will get trapped at lower half of the case and keep getting recycled back to the cooler.

To be honest, for your existing exhaust out back type blower reference cooler cards, the biggest problem you got at the moment is they are not getting enough cool air as intake in your current case. If you got a better case for intaking air from front, plus another fan hanging or place in front of the graphic cards, it should channel enough cool air for the cards' coolers to take in.

I just gonna use setter's example:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=20055935&postcount=6

 

[Davepen]

That wouldn't be a good idea, as those coolers dump heat into the case, and the heat will get trapped at lower half of the case and keep getting recycled back to the cooler.

To be honest, for your existing exhaust out back type blower reference cooler cards, the biggest problem you got at the moment is they are not getting enough cool air as intake in your current case. If you got a better case for intaking air from front, plus another fan hanging or place in front of the graphic cards, it should channel enough cool air for the cards' coolers to take in.

I just gonna use setter's example:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=20055935&postcount=6

I have an intake on the side blowing cold air directly onto the cards.

I don't get this overheating issue in any other game, and the cards idle at 50 and 45 respectively, just the BF3 beta causes them to overheat, stutter and crash the game.

Any idea where I can get one of those spot coolers?

 

[Marine-RX179]

I have an intake on the side blowing cold air directly onto the cards.

Any idea where I can get one of those spot coolers?

OcUK does sell the Antec Spot Cool, but it's currently out of stock. I can't tell you where else to get it due to forum rules. What I can tell you is to try googling "Antec Spot Cool" to look for where else you can buy it from.

 

[Davepen]

Yeah I was looking to maybe go buy one from a shop to do some modding tonight ^^ I will find one!

So are they pretty good?

I find it hard to believe that my cards/case cooling is totally at fault, due to the fact that it's only BF3 that has issue

 

[Marine-RX179]

Yeah I was looking to maybe go buy one from a shop to do some modding tonight ^^ I will find one!

So are they pretty good?

I find it hard to believe that my cards/case cooling is totally at fault, due to the fact that it's only BF3 that has issue

It should definitely help with lowering the temp a bit, but by how much? I can't say...and yes there is a chance that it only make marginal difference.

Another thing to bare in mind is that the reference cooler is not exactly that great a cooler, but for crossfire they are usually the better opinion, since crossfire cards with "dump heat into case" type the heat WILL build up inside the temp will keep getting higher and higher unless you got good exhaust for dumping the heat at the lower half of the case to outside of the case (the rear top exhaust simple not effective and removing the heat that keep generating at the lower half of the case, as it is simply too far away), plus their physical size might make it difficult to fit.

 

[Davepen]

So how about if I got one of those slot exhaust blowers to fit inbetween my cards?

Or if I fitted a case fan below the cards (and removed the blocking panels) to use an exhaust?

 

[Marine-RX179]

So how about if I got one of those slot exhaust blowers to fit inbetween my cards?

Or if I fitted a case fan below the cards (and removed the blocking panels) to use an exhaust?

If possible, it would be good if you can take the side-panel off and take a picture of how your set-up looks like, so we will have a better idea on what exactly we are dealing with (i.e. How much space between the cards, case layout/airflow etc). Doesn't matter if the picture is not the best quality...as long as we can make out the layout it'd fine.