Just a Tip for some GTX 280 Owners....

jrodga2k5 · 2 Feb 2009 at 17:15

Hey everyone,
So my GTX 280 had been idling around 72 degrees which in all honesty was quite alarming and it only rose to around 80-85 during load so there was something up surely....

There was, apparently when the Rockstar Social Club is active in your system tray which mines was (loads during windows start up) the graphics card continues to run at its 3D clocks and is working your card a wee bit.

As soon as i clicked this off the clocks dropped to a lot lower and the card proceeded to cool during standard windows use and browsing etc. The idle therfore dropped to around 53-55!

So just something I observed happening and while it may not affect every system I just thought people would like to be made aware

MrMoses · 2 Feb 2009 at 21:54

thanks

that GTA IV brings too many troubles.

gurusan · 2 Feb 2009 at 21:55

GTAIV...worst port of the century.

GJ02 · 2 Feb 2009 at 22:15

its not its cool, yoy just have to bare with it thats all

Sean_UK · 2 Feb 2009 at 23:41

MrMoses said:
that GTA IV brings too many troubles.

R* Social Club run when windows starts option to 'off', and problem solved.

explicit4u · 2 Feb 2009 at 23:44

God GTA4 is ridden with issues.

Sean_UK · 2 Feb 2009 at 23:54

40% fan>

R* Social club on: 56c
R* Social club off: 44c

Yep OP is correct, it's clearly causing 3D clocks to kick in...

Geckovich · 3 Feb 2009 at 01:07

Just makes you wonder what other apps could be doing the same thing...

Meaker · 3 Feb 2009 at 01:43

You can use the EVGA precision tweaker to look at current clocks.

Rostam · 3 Feb 2009 at 01:59

They really failed with GTA4 tbh, So many issues makes you wonder if they tested it before release.

RaiderX · 3 Feb 2009 at 02:06

Rostam said:
They really failed with GTA4 tbh, So many issues makes you wonder if they tested it before release.

tested it? whats that mean? heh, but yea, the game wont even run on medium with crossfire 4870 at 1920x1200, it sets itself back down to 1680x1050, the memory estimates are annoying as i'd like to run it on max even if i dont have enough memory as its not always gonna be using as much as it says

Hectic Glenn · 3 Feb 2009 at 02:20

Making that social club account has no benefit to me whatsoever. It was just part of a pointless process. God damn the memories are all coming back

jvowles · 3 Feb 2009 at 08:54

what a rubbish piece of software.

Shocky-FM · 3 Feb 2009 at 09:20

thanks, always disable it after exiting the game though, slightly more serious is the card going into performanace mode when using dual monitors.

Koko56 · 3 Feb 2009 at 10:07

gurusan said:
GTAIV...worst port of the century.

not that bad...

though the problems are there for a lot of people...

RaiderX said:
tested it? whats that mean? heh, but yea, the game wont even run on medium with crossfire 4870 at 1920x1200, it sets itself back down to 1680x1050, the memory estimates are annoying as i'd like to run it on max even if i dont have enough memory as its not always gonna be using as much as it says

If you say you can't run it well at those settings, wtf makes you think putting more strain on the GPUs would make it better?
The game is pretty CPU dependent and you say you have a Quad core CPU, so it is odd why it does not run too well.

Here a 4870 1GB is used to play the game at 1920x1200 with medium textures 20, about 40s and 5. That looks reasonable and you should be able to have soemthing similar. Also, SLI/Xfire seem to have little impact on performance in GTA IV.

clone · 3 Feb 2009 at 10:34

Never had any heat problems with my BFG OCX idle around 44c and loads up at about 60c when playing games,but one trick i have learnt is to have a fan blowing in cool air from the intake of the card.

jrodga2k5 · 3 Feb 2009 at 12:00

Sean_UK said:
40% fan>

R* Social club on: 56c
R* Social club off: 44c

Yep OP is correct, it's clearly causing 3D clocks to kick in...

It certainly is a strange one isnt it! I actually couldnt believe that a stupid app like Rockstar Social Club was forcing 3D Clocks to kick in but glad I noticed.

To be honest though on the card at least GTA runs sooooooo good

I also noticed the dual monitor thing last night so I will make a point of downclocking the card during that stuff too!

Hopefully something can be sorted in a driver update but who knows...

jvowles · 3 Feb 2009 at 13:38

i am a PC gamer through and through, but basically ports are killing games! There are a nnumber of examples...

Sean_UK · 3 Feb 2009 at 20:26

clone said:
Never had any heat problems with my BFG OCX idle around 44c and loads up at about 60c when playing games

Have you even read the OP? Software and game issue, namely R* Social Club for GTAIV, and not some idle or load problems for general gaming with 280 been the actual cause.

clone · 4 Feb 2009 at 07:19

Well a card that idles @ 72c is not right in my book