Overheating MSI 6970

[Wonderdog]

Recieved my new rig from overclockers on Friday - got it built and configured and am running into some major issues with the MSI 6970 2GB. Random crashes in games after ~10 mins of play had me confused, until I had a look at the temps.

The card is running very toasty in general - 45°-55°C at idle, everything stock, with 11.5/11.5a catalysts.

Playing any kind of game see's the card creep up rapidly to 90° (measured using the temp monitor in MSI Afterburner - note NO overclocking in place) at which point the card cuts out and the catalyst driver notifies of a failure.

CPU temp is low throughout, room and case ambient temperatures are low, airflow is not obstructed in any way - just feels very much like a pup card.

Anyone have any suggestions/insights before I begin the annoying RMA process and leave myself GPUless until its resolved?

 

[Shadz]

Sounds like you have all the base's covered to be honest.

If the card is not overclocked, the room is at a decent temp,and if its only doing this
when the card is put under stress then I would suggest that the card is Faulty and you
need to RMA the card.

Sorry to give the bad news

 

[666_Pounder]

Whats your fan doing? On default fans my 6950 gets bloody hot, using afterburner has got it under control without any ridiculous noise.

Does sound like its not quite right though regardless.

 

[Wonderdog]

Fans on default/auto lead to overheating in games within 3-4 minutes. According to Afterburners monitor that has the fan at around 35% (2000RPM)

Even manually cranking the fan to a constant 65% (4000RPM) via afterburner - (which makes it sound like a hoover - totally unbearable) barely manages to stabalise the temperature around 72 degrees (in my aforementioned cold ambient environment). Any less than a constant 4000RPM leads to a gradual temperature climb towards the failure point again.

Basically, anything that pushes the system (Badcompany2, Rift etc) invariably trips the card within minutes unless I have the fan at a point where its screaming. I think I'll be RMA'ing it for a refund and ordering a replacement at the same time - I can't afford to be without a working machine (I also use my desktop extensively for work).

 

[chaotic_uk]

temps are normal i keep being told , powercolor told me the max should be around 95c . my 6970 hit 98.5c in a room temp of 25c in avp maxed out in dx11 , tbh the fan needs to use a diff profile but it will increase the noise . also will be louder than the gtx480 tbh

 

[ViRuS2k]

be weary though if you send the card back to OCUK they will test the card on a bench not in a case, so make sure you have good case airflow before sending it back and considering it faulty ect or you will be in for a bill and the card shipped back to you.

 

[Tealc]

90 degrees doesn't sound particularly hot for a 6970. My 6950 was usually around that temperature whilst playing BC2, sometimes a little higher and it never crashed. Even 95C is within the thermal limits of a GPU as they can do more than 100C.

It might be that one of the coolers' thermal transfer pads isn't aligned correctly on the VRM or the other little chip that needs colling so when the card heats up it causes the failure. Only way to verify that would be to crack open the cooler and you don't want to do that.

 

[Wonderdog]

Thanks for the input guys.

If the card can't cope with running games out of the box in a normal environment for 3 minutes using the latest recommended MSI / Ati drivers without failing, then its not fit for purpose. Having to manually crank up the fan's to a constant unbearable level using a seperate overclocking tool just to maintain basic stability isn't acceptable - so whether there is a design flaw with the cards in general, or I've just got a bum one (these things happen) I reckon it will be getting RMA's first thing monday.

Tweaking a card up to achieve maximum performance is once thing, having to tweak it down from stock to achieve basic stability demonstrates something is wrong.

Its a shame, as my 5870 ran without a hitch since purchase, and the 6970 isnt actually a spectacular performance increase over it - I mainly selected the 6970 for the 2GB ram (handy at the 2560x1600 my monitor runs at).

I'll phone ocuk and order/pay for a new card while I wait for a refund on this one.

 

[whipgeez]

try it with the side panel or panels off to see if your case is restricting airflow

 

[Wonderdog]

Already done. Makes no difference.

Card is running in a Sugo SG07 chassis, so the intake is fed directly from the room even with the case on, and venting clearly out of the back with no obstructions.