8800GT Owners - Read!

I had a few lockups with my 8800GT, so after doing some searching on various websites and forums it seems that there might be a bug in the drivers when it comes to the 8800GT. The fan doesn't spin up under load, hence the temperatures hit such high levels.

When I loaded up Rivatuner or nTune, it said that fan speed was set to auto. However, this meant it was set to 29% regardless of the type of work it was doing i.e. 2D/3D or temperature.

I changed the fan speed to manual and set it to 45%, still quiet, but much better cooling. Anything above 45% was quiet noisey. Temp changes were as follows:

Stock fan speed (29%):
Idle 53c
Load 90c

Fan speed 45%
Idle 48c
Load 69c

As you can see, a massive difference (-5c idle and -21c at load), for only a small increase in noise. Just adjust the percentage to find the best cooling/noise ratio for you. I dont get any lockups at all now.

Reading around forums, people seem to think that their cards may have died due to heat and others have had consistent crashing when doing 3D work due to high temps.

possibly why I have read conflicting reports on the fan noise, some say its noisy, others say its whisper quiet, obviously people differ on perceived loudness and other components might be louder but still makes me wonder if the fan is spinning up for those who say its quiet.

keep us informed :D

Which OS are you running?

There was a similar problem under vista for ATi cards a while back.

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Originally Posted by LuckyNV

possibly why I have read conflicting reports on the fan noise, some say its noisy, others say its whisper quiet, obviously people differ on perceived loudness and other components might be louder but still makes me wonder if the fan is spinning up for those who say its quiet.

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I was one of the people who reported it being quiet! It was only a couple of days ago I realised that the fan wasn't spinning up. It just stays at the same rpm, regardless of temp or load etc.

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Originally Posted by kalniel

Which OS are you running?

There was a similar problem under vista for ATi cards a while back.

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I'm running Vista, but the reports are coming from XP too. Im using Rivatuner now to set the fan speed at 45% at startup, but it can be done with nTune just as well.


I don't think Im going to bother buying an aftermarket cooler now I've sorted it out. 69c load is much more acceptable than 90c!!!.

I wasn't refering to here, but other forums ;)

I'm abou to buy an SSC Edition eVGA 8800GT; glad I saw this! I know to adjust this from the beginning. Noise doesn't concern me; heat does though! lol

A buggy Nvidia card? Never :lol:

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Originally Posted by Clunk

A buggy Nvidia card? Never :lol:

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Hey, at least we know why they run hot now. :D And thats a very simple fix. ;) Though given I'll have a really overclocked version, I might have to set it higher than 45%...lol

Thanks for the heads up, I had read this in other places with the temperature issues.

If this is true then it just goes to show how crap nvidia driver testing is or they knew about this yet have either released dodgy cards so the launch wasn't a paper one or they'll fix the driver sometime.

I'm wondering if there was an issue with the cards and that's the reason for such a small amount of stock.

No...I think the problem is just the software (drivers). Sounds to me they were i na bit of a rush to get the drivers and card out to compete with the new Radeons and to get ready for the holiday shopping season. I'm sure there will be an update out sooner rather than later.

Looks to me like their inpatience is going to cost them!

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Originally Posted by mishima

Looks to me like their inpatience is going to cost them!

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I highly doubt that considering the rate at which these cards are selling at.

45K compared to hundres of thousands that ATI have shipped out? Lots of people are getting fed up waiting for the card, there just isn't enough of them produced.

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Originally Posted by mishima

45K compared to hundres of thousands that ATI have shipped out? Lots of people are getting fed up waiting for the card, there just isn't enough of them produced.

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Indeed, the availability of the 8800GT is becoming a complete joke, not to mention the hiked prices for Europe. My opinion of nVidia is rapidly falling to the point of 2 years ago, the only thing that kept me from ATi this round was previously horrible Linux drivers, and that's changing fast.

i was wondering why my 8800gt was hitting 82C on full load. ive now set it to 50% fan speed, getting 71C now. which im quite happy with.

i did try flashing it with the evga's ssc bios. but my bfg oc overclocks to ssc speeds anyway.