Curse

yeah_hi · Jun 09, 2006, 08:08 PM // 20:08

Hi there. Apologies in advance for the length.

Firstly, here's my setup:
Coolermaster Wavemaster tower case, front intake & rear exhaust
AMD Athlon XP 3200, upgraded fan (i.e not stock)
750MB RAM
PCI 256MB XFX 6800GT, with stock cooler, and factory clock speed.
24" widescreen Dell 2405FPW LCD (DVI connection) running @ 1900 x 1200
Windows XP

I'm finding that GW is running my GPU terribly, terribly hot when in fullscreen - yesterday it got to 110ºC, and set off an alarm

Here are some GPU settings for comparison:
Idle or GW minimised: 69ºC
GW window-ed: anywhere between 80ºC and high 90s
GW Fullscreen, all settings on max: 100ºC+

My CPU idles at 46ºC, and barely gets above 55-60ºC under load.

So, what can I do? I figure it's the large monitor and high-res that's making it work so hard (my partner has identical card, and rarely gets above 80ºC with his 17" LCD).

If I forked out for SLi and went for 2 x 256MB 7900GTs, would that spread the load somewhat? I've looked at performance cooling, like the NV Silencer, but reviews show that I'd only get maybe 10 degrees cooler under load - still somewhat high.

Am I just going to have to lower the resolution and settings? I really hope not

Any ideas would be gratefully received - thanks!

Aera · Jun 09, 2006, 08:16 PM // 20:16

Degrees Celcius or Fahrenheit?

yeah_hi · Jun 09, 2006, 08:23 PM // 20:23

Celsius

Lurid · Jun 09, 2006, 11:02 PM // 23:02

You need to:

1. Get better case air flow
2. Do wire management
3. Get a better cooler for your GPU

Getting SLI would be pointless, with that setup. Hell SLI is pointless period, and with that setup you would just be horribly bottleknecking the cards. Well, really it isn't even possible to go SLI without a complete system overhaul. IMO go single card w/ a X1800XT or 7900GT and a dual core AMD.

kvndoom · Jun 10, 2006, 12:29 AM // 00:29

Yeah you need to check for dust on the GPU cooler and airflow through your case. 100+ degrees is just plain smokin,' man.

swiftygem · Jun 10, 2006, 07:14 AM // 07:14

I think this isn't about enough airflow, 110°C is huge temperature, damn you can make a tea on that GPU

This looks more like either the fan on the heatsink stopped working, or the whole heatsink somehow managed to come off the chip and memories.

Lurid · Jun 10, 2006, 08:12 AM // 08:12

If there is sufficient dust caked on the GPU it could have potentially stopped the fan, and insulated the heat, causing it to sky rocket....

yeah_hi · Jun 10, 2006, 05:12 PM // 17:12

Hi guys - thanks so much for the suggestions!

Today, I stripped the whole machine down, and gave everything a good clean. I cleared the substantial amount of crud off the 2 front intake fans, then removed the XFX grille from the GPU, and picked out the lump of dust and cat fur that had worked itself in between the fan and heatsink

There still seems to be good contact between the heatsink and chips.

Gave everything else a clean down, removed some uneccesary cabling (a front panel output I never use), and then went mad with the cable ties, so there is now nothing but space between the front intakes, the GPU, and the rear exhaust.

Put it all back together, and powered up - all fans running beautifully. My current stats are:

Idling or GW minimised: 59-60ºC
GW windowed (changed some settings to 'medium' instead of 'high': 73-78ºC
GW fullscreen: Not plucked up the courage to try yet - will do in a bit!

I think I'll definitely invest in a new cooler for the card, if I can lower these temps by another 10ºC I think that would be pretty good.

If I'm brave enough to give GW a go in fullscreen, I'll update again