How hot should my graphics card run?

[kamolahy]

My graphics card is a X1800 XT... It was beeping a bit while playing games.. every once in a while. I was afraid it was running too hot. What's the limit I should watch out for? It's at about 90c right now.

Thanks.

[Mr.Ferrari]

Should never touch above 80-84.
There is something seriously wrong with your case flow. Or something seriously wrong with your card.

It has a variable fan speed in which it increases when temps get to high. I doubt that the fan at 100 percent would case it overheat.

First of all.
Can you hear the fan running?
How loud is it if it is running?

For the time being what I would suggest is your download Riva Tuner or ATI TOOL. And manually increase the fan speed from there.

[kamolahy]

How high can I up the speeds?

What are some suggestions for cooling it off much better?

[kamolahy]

Yeah I was just looking at ATI tool and it's running real HOT!! I have one fan in the back of the case.. that's it.. I have this sucky fan that slides into one of the slots where a pci card should go, but it's too bulky to fit into the case, so I have to just sit it there..

One thing is that because I only have 1 fan.. I keep the side of the computer open.. I'm afriad that it woudlnt' have air flow if I closed it.. is this tru?

[kamolahy]

Update: I ran ATI tool and got the temperature so far down to 74c...

But I don't know much about cooling. What should I do to make this stay cool inside the case!?!?

[kamolahy]

Also.. my last question... :)

How long can I keep the fan running at 100%??? Is that bad for it to work so hard?

[Mr.Ferrari]

The fan speed is only limited by your noise tolerance.

Too keep it at a certain fan speed forever without having to open ati tool everytime. Go to fan control. Set the desired speed. Go to startup click load your default profile on startup or via registry key.


For me to give you any case cooling suggestions you have to give me a link or atleast a pic of it.

[kamolahy]

I'll try to post a pic of my setup tomorrow morn;)

[blue60007]

90C isn't that bad - for a load temp - I think the load operating temps of the core are around there (it's on the high side though) - now if it's *idling* at 90C - that's a bit high cause it would get even higher during a load.

[bill_bright]

Video card temps run hotter than CPU temps and I agree that 90C "technically" is not that bad - but it would sure bother me.

Certainly only one exhaust fan is not enough for a gamer (I do hope you mean one fan in addition to the PSU's fan).

To start, you can pop the side of the case off and blast a desk fan in there. But while open, check for dust and dirt and clean if necessary. Also, check your case for fan alternatives. Can you add another exhaust fan? Look in front and in back of your drive cage just behind the front panel. Many cases allow for mounting a fan there. If you can, do so. You want to strive for good front to back flow. Check your power supply to ensure you have enough power connectors.

You said it was "beeping" - I know of no video cards that beep - so what was beeping? The computer, or was a monitoring program causing it? Was the beeping coming from inside the computer or from the external speakers? What are your CPU temps?

[FLG]

As blue said, 90c isnt all to bad. Heres the bottom line...are you noticing artifacting or laggy GPU preformance? If the answer is "No" then your fine. Though either way i would recommend instaling a front fan to blow in some cooler air.

[jfk]

The X1*** series run hot. A 90C load is absolutely normal for that card. You can use ATI Tool to improve things, as you've started to do. Instead of running the fan a full 100%, which sounds like a turbine, use the option to increase fan speed based on temperature. You can step up the fan speed as temps increase, keep it WAY below 100%, and still achieve lower temps. Open ATI Tool, go into settings, click fan control, then check the "Dynamic based on gpu temperatue". You will then be able to set fan speed %age based on temperature. All you need to do is ramp up the fan speed 10-15% at each step and it will cool much better and run much quieter.

Also, you need to do something with your case. One case fan is way to little to be running that vid card. You need more airflow to help keep the inside cool. Try running with the side off as blue mentioned.

[FireByyrd]

man, these X1800XTs ARE hot. -__-

I leave mine around 50%-56%.. it's not that loud. it's bearable.

[kamolahy]

Video card temps run hotter than CPU temps and I agree that 90C "technically" is not that bad - but it would sure bother me.

Certainly only one exhaust fan is not enough for a gamer (I do hope you mean one fan in addition to the PSU's fan).

To start, you can pop the side of the case off and blast a desk fan in there. But while open, check for dust and dirt and clean if necessary. Also, check your case for fan alternatives. Can you add another exhaust fan? Look in front and in back of your drive cage just behind the front panel. Many cases allow for mounting a fan there. If you can, do so. You want to strive for good front to back flow. Check your power supply to ensure you have enough power connectors.

You said it was "beeping" - I know of no video cards that beep - so what was beeping? The computer, or was a monitoring program causing it? Was the beeping coming from inside the computer or from the external speakers? What are your CPU temps?

Well, the beeps are coming from inside the computer, not the speakers. I thought it was the video card because it ONLY beeped when I was playing games and maxing out the system. When the games go off, the system doesn't beep.

I have a place to mount a front fan, but I haven't done that yet. I can turn up the fan on the Video card and get a new fan as well as put my desk fan facing the side of the computer, hopefully that will help.

I want to look into water cooling though, because i now have to have my system loud and open at all times.


Oh.. here's a puzzler. I play everquest 2, which is a very graphics intensive. However, I messed with ATI tool last night and tested various games. I tested WoW, Guild Wars, Battle for Middle Earth 2, and EQ2.

When I did this, the computer was idling at 70 c (thank goodness after manually turning the fan up to 100% operation). Afther I turned the games on, all of them made the video cards temperature rise.. however EQ2 stayed at 70-72... virtually no heat increase.

How does this work? What are the mechanics behind that?

[bill_bright]

70C for your CPU? What CPU do you have as that may certainly be too hot and may be causing your problem. If the beeps were coming from inside the case, then it is most likely the BIOS is yelling at you about the CPU running too hot.

As far as your front fan, get a good quality fan from Antec, Vantec, Papst, or Panaflo - there are others - look for ball bearings and not sleeve bearings. The better fans use precision manufacturing and parts which equates to less vibration and noise.

Also, if your case supports larger fans like 92mm or better yet 120mm, get them. They move massive amounts of air, but at a lower RPM, therefore they are quieter too. Then you should not need the desk fan.

As far as the "magic", it's not, it is just that your CPU has handed off most of the work to the GPU, so the CPU is not working much harder than when at 70.

[blue60007]

Is EQ2 a very graphic intensive game? If it's not it's possible it wasn't putting much of a load on the GPU.

[kamolahy]

Is EQ2 a very graphic intensive game? If it's not it's possible it wasn't putting much of a load on the GPU.

Oh Man! EQ2 is one of the most graphics intensive games on the market. I can play virtually any game out there with all the settings up except EQ2. They made the game knowing that when it was released, no system could really use all it's features. On the flipside, warcraft will run on lower end machines with good settings. It's honestly a mystery to me.. it doesn't get 1 bit hotter when using EQ2..

... is that because the game mostly just needs more RAM to run as good as it does? Is it possible that my GPU is powerful enough, but my memory is insufficient?

[FireByyrd]

a extra stick of ram never hurts.

[blue60007]

Maybe the game is very CPU dependent - and the GPU is sitting around waiting on the CPU? Does it speed up any if you cut back on the AA/AF, resolution, etc? I have a game that once there's a ton of AI on screen, it chugs to a halt no matter what graphic settings you have.

[glc]

EQ2 needs the strongest video card you can afford and 2gb ram to run really well.

If you are getting beeping from the case speaker, your CPU is probably overheating - what are your CPU temperature ranges? Load up the motherboard manufacturer's monitoring software and see what it says. What motherboard and CPU do you have?

[Mr.Ferrari]

No matter what the temp is. If the card is beeping, it usually means 2 things. Its getting shorted out, or its overheating. I would never let the card reach to that extent. No matter what card it is.

Or as glc stated it could be the cpu as well.

I know I had a instance where I had my card beep like that. I had turned off the fan of the video card and forgot to turn it back on..

But if you have your drivers installed, when the card truely does overheat, it should give a warning on the screen, telling you the card is overheating.

[jayb1234]

It sounds like most of your heat problems are realted to a poorly designed case. Running it with the side off and a fan blowing into it is not a very good idea. One insect flying into it could short something out and ruin the whole machine. Water cooling isn't a very good solution either. It is complicated to set up right, unreasonably expensive, and any failure can ruin the whole computer. Your best option is to pitch that case and get one that is designed for proper airflow. Any case on Intel's Thermally Advantaged Chassis list (http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-na/eng/tech_reference/box_desktop/int_inst_info/dsk_tested_source_lists/53211.htm) should give you acceptable temperatures using the stock CPU and video card heatsink/fan units.

[blue60007]

What CPU/mobo do you have? Perhaps you don't have the heatsink completely installed.

I don't see anything wrong with running a computer with a fan blowing into - at least temporarily. I don't see how a fly would short it unless it was dripping wet.

What case do you have? And you have one exhaust fan? Before you go dumping your case, let's look at how its set up first.

[bill_bright]

New case? Let's get real here. I agree with blue - there's absolutely no reason to suspect the case yet. Just because the case currently only has a single rear fan is no reason to throw the case out. The mere fact that this case supports a front fan suggests a better than budget model.

And I agree with blue again - we're not talking high voltages here - no bug is going to short out the computer - unless it's mechanical and made of conductive material, or as blue suggests, just flew out of the bath without drying off first. And if it has time to build a nest or fan stopping web, then you have other problems.

Blasting a fan in the side is a valid troubleshooting method and temporary solution to inadequate ventilation. Yes, it is temporary, but still fine to do. The only problem with the desk fan is it may throw in a little more dust - but then again, I think it would have a hard time settling, and building up. The other issue with a desk fan would be electrical noise in the audio - but that would be easily detectable, and would cause no harm anyway.

[blue60007]

I do agree you wouldn't want to leave it like that for an extended amount of time - I'd hate to see the fan flop over into the case. At any rate, the case I have has a single rear fan and side intakes (basically no front intakes - there is, but doesn't bring much air in) and I don't have overheating problems. Neither cases I have are on the TAC and they work fine with no overheating issues. Provided, I do have a good cooling set up (exhaust fans placed properly etc).