Aerothorn on 2/7/2009 at 03:29
So - how hot should my graphics card be getting?
After playing a graphically-intense game for a while, I noticed it started lagging, and my card was very hot to the touch afterwards. I'm trying to measure my temperature on it using Rivatuner, though it's telling me that its current (idle) core temperature is 52 celcius/ 122 Fahrenheit. Minor googling on the subject says this is WAY out of bounds for non-idle usage, so I'm wondering if I'm just not using Rivatuner properly. Any ideas on this?
It's worth noting that I'm using an Asus Dark Knight GTS 250 with a fancy copper cooling thing built in (large enough that it takes up an extra slot) so I'm rather surprised at the heat. I have an 80 mm fan that blows directly onto the card as well.
bikerdude on 2/7/2009 at 09:30
Seconded, my GTX280 even with my mods, idles at 52c
Aerothorn on 2/7/2009 at 14:18
Really? Awesome. I'll run a background test to see how it does when active, but that's good to know.
It's worth noting that I removed the rear 120mm fan of this computer, as the CPU fan was blowing directly into that fan vent and I wasn't sure how the conflicting air forces would do. Probably was a bad idea though, so I'm going to re-install that and unplug one of the two side 80mm fans (powersupply doesn't have enough cables for all 4, not that I should need them).
Also, I knew a GTS 250 equaled a 9800, but wasn't aware of its relation to the 8800. I guess that explains why my 7800GT was able to perform decently for so many years - not as much graphic-card advancement as I thought.
EvaUnit02 on 2/7/2009 at 15:55
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
I guess that explains why my 7800GT was able to perform decently for so many years - not as much graphic-card advancement as I thought.
Nah, Geforce 8 series was a massive generational leap over the 7 series, architectural, performance and software wise. Unified architecture, unified shader model, CUDA support, etc, puts the 7 series to shame.
If you're still running some dinosaur CPU like a P4 or Pentium D, of course your new GPU will be majorly bottlenecked. Even more so with DDR1 RAM.
Geforce 9 series were just rebadged 8 series G92's though. We didn't see an actual all new generation of Geforce until the GT
X200 series, operating off of a new core. The 300 series will also be operating off yet another new core chipset, bringing DX11 support to the table - not just another cop out scam like the 9 series was.
bikerdude on 2/7/2009 at 18:07
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
It's worth noting that I removed the rear 120mm fan of this computer, as the CPU fan was blowing directly into that fan vent and I wasn't sure how the conflicting air forces would do.
....just put the 120mm back in, but have blowing air out of the case, and make sure the cpu fan is blowing towards the rear as well.
Aerothorn on 3/7/2009 at 01:02
Unfortunately, the fan only has screwholes on the one side and I'm not technically competent enough to know how to make new screw-holes in plastic. I still think it's an improvement, but I'm not sure how good the conflicting air current is. Any ideas?
bikerdude on 3/7/2009 at 09:18
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
Unfortunately, the fan only has screwholes on the one side and I'm not technically competent enough to know how to make new screw-holes in plastic. I still think it's an improvement, but I'm not sure how good the conflicting air current is. Any ideas?
Easy, find a screw driver that slighly smaller than the fan screwa, then heat up the end and melt a hole...!
A PC case is essentially a box. It can be safely said that there is a consistency to ALL PC case configurations; processors, video cards and drives are generally in the same area. However the specific style of PC case and type of components varies greatly from user to user. These differences will affect your specific results. CPU temperatures may be higher or lower depending on type of heatsink and processor. Another extremely important variable for testing is ambient room temperature. The temperature of a room, warmer or colder, can greatly affect personal results. Essentially you should have a minimum of 3 fans in your case, front, rear and top and ideally these should be single 120mm units - they have a better air-to-noise ratio. And the cpu cooler fan should be facing in the same direction as the rear fan.
Inline Image:
http://icrontic.com/draco/images/articles/pc_airflow_heat_cooling_guide/wsinsidecaseflow.jpgNow like some of you I have a high performance PC, in my configuration, I have an extra front and side fan blowing at the back and the top of the gfx card and the gfx card cooler blows its hot air out the back of the case.
Aerothorn on 3/7/2009 at 18:58
Thanks for the advice! Really appreciate your help in this forum.
But won't melting a hole just create, well, a hole? Don't screws need the little screw-shaped areas to "hold onto"?
As far as graphics card airflow goes, one of the bummers is that I have my sound card below it, and so the card's fan just blows into that - there wasn't really any way to avoid this as the card only faces the one way and the PCI express was above all the PCI slots. BLeh. Fortunately, as noted, it has a semi-fancy heatsink so it shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Edit: Okay, I found that I could move my PCI card down a slot, giving the graphics card plenty of breathing room. I was also able to jury rig the fan - while the screws won't go all the way in, they'll go in *just* enough that they won't come out, and when I screwed all 4 in and mildly angled some of them it holds the fan in place and doesn't rattle at all. We'll see how well this works in the long term, but right now it's great since my CPU is almost perfectly aligned with that fan so it's blowing air out very well.
Of course, my rear fan is blowing backwards and my front fan is blowing forwards, but I don't think that will be too much of an issue.
bikerdude on 3/7/2009 at 19:50
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
* But won't melting a hole just create, well, a hole? Don't screws need the little screw-shaped areas to "hold onto"? I was also able to jury rig the fan - while the screws won't go all the way in, they'll go in *just* enough that they won't come out,
* As far as graphics card airflow goes, one of the bummers is that I have my sound card below it, and so the card's fan just blows into that. I found that I could move my PCI card down a slot, giving the graphics card plenty of breathing room.
* We'll see how well this works in the long term, but right now it's great since my CPU is almost perfectly aligned with that fan so it's blowing air out very well.
* Of course, my rear fan is blowing backwards and my front fan is blowing forwards, but I don't think that will be too much of an issue.
* No, the screws are designed to screw into plain holes, which 100% of fans come with.
* You'll find that isnt isnt blowing hot air onto the sound card, its actually moving the air in the opposite direction, but giving the gfx card more space is a good move.
* You'll fiund that it will drop the over temps in the case byt a few degrees c.
* the front and rear fans have to be blowing in the same direction, so you`ll need to flip the front around.
