Roasting Radeon

[Shamrock]

Hi, I think I've got a bit of a problem with my 1800xt! It is idling at 85-90C and when playing intensive games like stalker its breaking 100C, which cannot be healthy. As far as I can tell the fan is working properly, it speeds up when under load and blows out hot air, but I'm about to check it for blockages/dust. Is there any other reason why my card is overheating so badly? My room isn't particularly hot despite the warmer weather.

 

[Gonzo0]

poor contact between the core and the heatsink possibly??

 

[blakka]

poor contact between the core and the heatsink possibly??

Most likely.

Take the heatsink apart from the card and apply some fresh paste and then re-sit the heatsink.

 

[Shamrock]

Hmm, would it become loose over time? It's the stock hsf and I've not removed it before. I'll have a go at re-sitting it if I can find some spare thermal paste.

Cheers.

 

[blakka]

They can become disloged if you move your pc about a lot.

I am pretty sure that if you take the heat sink off and re-sit it your problem will disappear.

 

[Shamrock]

Ok so I re-sat it and replaced the paste with a fresh layer and its still idling at 80C.

 

[FreeStream]

Ok so I re-sat it and replaced the paste with a fresh layer and its still idling at 80C.

Its either still not mounted problem or thats wrong, touch the metal back plate of the card (my XTX has a X bracket which gets pretty warm if the cards been at 60C)

How warm does the heatsink feel on the fan side? How hot the air is coming out? If its pretty cool than its contact.

*possibility* that the voltages have been messed up, check with ATi Tray Tools, should be 1.45V stock IIRC, try and lower than

CR.

 

[Shamrock]

The air is hot and the metal was almost too hot to handle! I'll have a look at the voltage now, just gonna see if the cat 7.3's make any difference.