6800GT's ambient temperature!

[BlueMagician]

Got my XFX 6800 GT's finally up and running in on the DFI board.. YAY!

A question though.. Airflow is proving to be a huge problem. My chip temeratures are acceptable:

CPU idle ~32deg
GPU #1 idle ~ 40-45deg
GPU #2 idle ~ 45-50deg
NF Chipset ~ 45deg

BUT the ambient temperature recorded by the GFX cards is 70-90 degrees!

I mean yeah, it sure is warm in the GFX card area, but can that figure be right/safe?! It's made worse by the fact that airflow between the two PCIe cards and my one PCI card is nonexistent, and there's no room to fit the Arctic Cooling NV5's.

I'm running with the side off the case at the moment, which doesn't improve things much. I'm thinking of cutting a 120mm fan for exhaust, into the side panel directly over the GFX cards to try to promote airflow from my two 80mm intakes... What do you think?


Thanks in anticipation,
S.

[MD]

Well my Ambient is 36 on my XFX6800Gt, so theres gotta be something wrong there, I have a 120mm fan right shifting a fair amount of coolish air through teh case, but all the same, theres something seriously wrong with your setup....

m@

[Randell Floyd]

A fair few Nividia drivers have had problems with temp reading. Try another driver from the Forceware range and see if that gives you a correct reading.

[alexander]

It is obviously a wrong temperature. If the card is working fine then don't worry.

[Butcher]

Quite a few versions read the GPU and ambient temps backwards - if your GPU is cooler than the recorded ambient, you have such a driver.

[RDL]

You could try modding the case slightly, and fitting a duct to one (or both) of the fans. That would lower the temperatures a lot.

Did you put any Artic Silver 5 on the graphics cards?

Also, what are you measuring the temperature with?

[Mblaster]

I'm sure it's just that the ambient and GPU temps are the wrong way round, and it's the GPU temps that are 70-90 and the ambient at 40-50, as 40-50 is a VERY low temp for a 6800GT.

[BlueMagician]

Interesting point about the temps reading the wrong way round - makes sense I guess! But strange, as I'm using the (66.93?) reference release drivers from NVIDIA - I wouldn't expect them to be messed up. I've tried 71.xx in the past, but couldn't get SLI to work, so..

I have the GT's on stock coolers - the AC NV5's won't fit - so no AS paste either, hence the high core temperatures, which sucks..


I have put the original 80mm intake fans back in my case (those ACTC80's shift NO air whatsoever!), and moved my Raptors higher in the bays so that one of the 80's has a clear path to the two GFX cards.

I plan to cut a hole in the side of the Wavemaster panel, and mount a 120mm fan directly above the PCIe slots - probably in 'suck' configuration to get the warm air out of the case.. Do you think this would be acceptable?


S.

[exAndrzej]

Running products warm is not necessarily dangerous - as long as it is inside the design limit for the product

A few years back, one of the HEXUS Hierarchy used to have a rule of thumb about each 10 degree increase in the running temperature of a component shaving X months off its life - but I have no idea if that is still valid across the board (time for a 'Dear PD' letter methinks...)

As a rule - the best thing to suggest is to contact the store that sold it to you - explain your concerns about the product running at 'fresh cup of coffee' temperature - and get them to confirm by email (i.e. in writing) that there is no issue - that the life span and performance of the card will not be affected - and that you should not worry

If they won't put it in writing - then you need to use your expression and maybe chase the card manufacturer as well

I can't imagine that any decent store would worry about confirming that all is well with a product in this situation and that is all you need to hear

BTW: Make sure you let them know what the ambient temperature in the room is... cos it is FREEZING outside now and - by summer - the air coming in to your box could be 10-15 degrees higher than it is now. Assuming the same amount of 'work' happens in August - it is possible that you will hit temperatures around the 100 mark (assuming that it is not a false reading at present !) which is probably not ideal for any card

Just to give you a 'line of logic' to consider...

The performance characteristics of the 16-pipe X800XL and the 6800GT are of a similar order (see graphs below) - albeit that we are ahead in HL2 and they are ahead in Doom 3

Given that an X800 XL can be passively cooled (and there must be a limit to how effective a passive solution can be) I would be surprised if the temperatures you are getting can be 'correct' - so PLEASE check with your supplier as soon as possible and let them put your mind at ease !

[hardhousehead]

hey,

As we are talking about the 6800 GT's temp -

I am getting a new PC pre-built from Mesh with a 6800 GT card. I wanted to ask does anyone know if they will test the PC to see if the card will get too hot?

[Dooms]

It will be fine - All cards will be fine in any 'standard' machine otherwise whats the point giving them the cooling they come with?

I dont even bother looking at system temps anymore unless im having problems and then its just part of the troubleshooting... If your system is running fine why worry about it? End of the day as i said above every component is made to work, every fan / hs is made to do its job and it will do its job fine unless there is a fault or you have a system packed and packed with stuff and no extra cooling.

If a shuttle can stay happy, not overheating, with a AMD 64FX chip & 6800ultra & 2 raptors (and alot of people have this setup!) your big case computer, with just the standards and lots of room to 'breath' will be fine aswell.

[hardhousehead]

cool. If I have a prob il just have to call mesh up

[Butcher]

The slow down temp for 6800GTs is 127C, so I don't think it's too hot. And 66.93 definitely has the swapped temps.