Curse

Taurucis · Aug 31, 2008, 05:20 PM // 17:20

So I recently got my laptop back from repairs after the video card fried itself (It's a Macbook Pro with one of those faulty NVidia chips) and I'm kind of concerned about its temperature, I don't want it to fry again.

Normal temperature for the GPU is about 50-54 degrees Celcius when it's idling, and this is when I'm running a fan underneath it.

A couple days ago my dad tested Guild Wars without the fan, the temp easily got up to 82 Celcius.

I just finished testing the computer's temperature by playing Runescape with the fan running, and the temperature was climbing up to 75, I think it probably could have gone higher but I didn't really want to check. For some odd reason Heroes of Might and Magic 3 makes it hit 70+, I don't know why.

Does anyone know the "healthy" temperature for a video card in use?

Leonora Windleaf · Aug 31, 2008, 05:37 PM // 17:37

Don't know about Notebook GPU's, but usually, anything under 80° Celsius is considered ok, if not really that healthy (I think). Maybe some-one else knows more about this.

Elder III · Aug 31, 2008, 06:26 PM // 18:26

What is your GPU? If you can post that, then someone here should be able to tell you how to go about setting it so that the fan runs faster or something like that to make it cooler (and safer).

Laptop's will by default run hotter than a desktop (not nearly as much room for air to circulate in there). It depends on your video card/motherboard, and what kind of cooling system you have. 80 Celsius is much hotter than you really want it to be, no matter what the manufacturer may say about your particular card.

Taurucis · Sep 01, 2008, 12:44 AM // 00:44

It is an NVidia GeForce 8600M.

Apparently that chipset is faulty when it comes to cooling.

The Meth · Sep 01, 2008, 03:44 AM // 03:44

I don't think its a chipset problem, I have an 8800GT and a 8500GT and both idle at 48ish and I've never seen either of them reach over 55 under load. Its more likely the symptoms of it being in a laptop. Technically the card might be able to handle 80 degrees, but its quite possible the card will die 2x sooner then if it was running cooler. TBH I think you are fine though, I did a quick search for "Geforce 8600 temperature" and the results I found showed 80 under load to be pretty normal.

Taurucis · Sep 01, 2008, 04:10 AM // 04:10

Here are a few links that might be helpful. The last two links, the ones about people having trouble with the dead Macbook Pro display (I had that problem) it is caused by the NVidia chip frying.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13554_3-10020782-33.html
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...08/nvidia.html
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquir...ia-g84-g86-bad
http://discussions.apple.com/thread....78474&tstart=0
http://discussions.apple.com/thread....sageID=7538324

You say that you have an 8800GT and an 8500GT. The affected ones are the 84 and 86, so I think it would be a little hard for your graphics cards to be suffering from the same as what my Macbook has

One of the links says to expect "temperatures in the high 70s" IIRC. I was just playing Heroes of Might and Magic 3, the temperature was climbing into the 80s.

But what I need to know is the threshold for an Nvidia 8600M's temperature to be so high that I need to turn it off.

fenix · Sep 01, 2008, 05:31 AM // 05:31

Just did some reading, and you're safe at temps up to around 100-110 Celsius, which is where damage can start to occur. Temps at the mid 80's are still safe, albeit hot.

A cooling pad for the laptop can help, something like this one;

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834998051

Depending on how much you want to spend, it can sure help keep the temperature down a bit. But yeah, mid 80's aren't enough to damage things, but if it's getting towards 100, then I'd look at something to help it.

Quaker · Sep 01, 2008, 03:14 PM // 15:14

Just to throw a wrench into the works - what are you using to measure the temps and is it accurate?

Taurucis · Sep 01, 2008, 03:52 PM // 15:52

It's something called NVIDIA MonitorView.

I don't know about accuracy, however, my dad installed it and it seems to be alright by his standards.

I already have a bit of a cooling system going - my laptop is elevated by four cans of Garbanzo Beans, and there is a little fan running underneath.

Elder III · Sep 01, 2008, 08:32 PM // 20:32

lol - I like your cooling pad!!! more bean power please XD

You can get some nice pads for your laptop that will drop the temp down 10-15 degrees, depending on what you get. Just having the laptop elevated helps allot in most cases.

For the 8600 is known to run hot - try downloading Riva Tuner and then you can set the fan to run at a higher percent and thereby make your system cooler. I think the default is 40% - I'd set it at 60% to start with and then work upwards until you get the temps that you want.

fenix · Sep 02, 2008, 01:14 AM // 01:14

Yeah Riva Tuner is a good one to measure temp and modify fan speed, could be helpful as well.

beserk · Sep 17, 2008, 09:01 PM // 21:01

Personally i just put a textbook beneath my laptop so the fan beneath is exposed, cheaper solution to a cooling pad XD.

Quaker · Sep 18, 2008, 03:21 AM // 03:21

But, gee wizz, I thought from those commercials that Macs didn't have problems - maybe it's time for some soothing apple/vidia tea.

Lady Lozza · Sep 18, 2008, 05:50 AM // 05:50

GPUs can take the heat far better than CPUs can, the problem with a laptop is that it is all bound into one little bundle. In general I would be more worried about your GPU causing your CPU to overheat.

Most GPUs can operate fairly happily up to 85 degrees celcius. There are a few exceptions. They can also take up to 100+ degrees before becoming heat affected. CPUs you don't want running too much about 50 (some say 70, I'm cautious, if only because some CPUs don't handle that well). So in the case of a laptop you do want to limit the termperate from your GPU as much as possible to avoid heat realated crashes. If your laptop isn't automatically shutting down at large heat loads then you may definately risk frying your computer.

Someone has already recommended RivaTuner, Nvidia also has nTune, which should help you adjust fan speed as well. Unfortunately with both these programs there is no guarentee they will work with all computers. If one doesn't work, try the other.