nvidia 6800 GT 256mb overheating problem

[bball_1523]

I have had a new computer (specs in signature) since july 2005 and just recently my videocard has been overheating to 130 degrees C. I have a nvidia 6800 gt 256 mb videocard and it has worked fine for a lot of games such as GTA:SA, HL2, the sims 2, etc. Just recently I bought the new Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and have been trying a bunch of tweaks to get better framerates to run the game at the high settings it detected for my system.

Well what happened was I downloaded a Coolbits tweak and it increased me framerate, but my videocard also popped up warnings about the card overheating to temperatures of 130 C. So I am wondering what I can do about my overheating problems?

I have no overlocked anything in my system ever, and I have stock cooling. I checked for dust and will get an air duster to clean parts and see where it takes me. Other than that, what can I do to get my card back at normal temperatures?

[kingsownall]

it might be defected, check if the heatsink making contact with the card.

[bball_1523]

Originally Posted by kingsownall it might be defected, check if the heatsink making contact with the card.

the mobo heatsink?

[Alaron]

You say that Coolbits increased your framerates. Then it probably did overclock your card. Make sure the memory and clock speeds are set back to their defaults. Then see if the problem persists.

[bball_1523]

I reinstalled drivers w/o coolbits and it still gives me super high temps around 120-130 C!!!!!

I don't know what to do?

Should I buy fans to cool my vcard?

[Brad the best]

Originally Posted by bball_1523 the mobo heatsink?

your video card will have a mini heat sink on it , my radeon 7500 even has a little heat sink . so i am sure yours does . I think its defective , you might want to send it away on warantee if you can or buy a new card and maybe look at one with a fan on the card , or a fan that will go onto a card . what are the other temps in your computer?

p.s i would go with warantee before buying a new card . they have a few year warantee on them i think , i could be wrong thow

[Drunner611]

Overclocking will do that, but if your happy with the results look for a 3rd party cooler such as Accelero VGA Coolers. I think X1 will be your model. Only 35$ in the US.

[bball_1523]

about the warranty, will they still take in my card if I tried using Coolbits? I did NOT mess with any coolbits settings such as overclocking, I merely installed the .reg file after updating my videocard's official drivers from Nvidia. Will they still accept my card?

Also, will cheap case fans help at all?

Oh and one more thing, I was trying to take my card out of the PCI-e socket, and for some reason it would not come out. It had some kind of attachment at the right end of the socket and I seriously could not pull it out. How do I get this thing out safely?

[bball_1523]

I cleaned a little dust out and now it is around 56 C idling. What does this mean?

[glc]

It means that you had a dust issue. Pull the card and blow some more to make sure you get it ALL out.

[bball_1523]

Originally Posted by glc It means that you had a dust issue. Pull the card and blow some more to make sure you get it ALL out.

how can I get it all out? It seems as if the dust is stuck onto the fan. Can I unscrew the plate covering the heatsink?

[blue60007]

Ah, there's your problem. That dust needs to go. Don't take the heatsink apart - you might not get it back together.

Recently I took my card out and did the same thing (cleaning out a small amount of dust dropped temps by 10C). You need a can of compressed air (from any office store, or wal-mart) (or an air compressor set to lower pressures). You want to aim the air through the fan and out the back of the heatsink. Be sure to hold the fan still; if it spins you'll generate voltage and that won't be good. Also try shooting the air in from the back of the heatsink (opposite the end with the fan) and knock the dust out through the fan. Again, hold the fan still. Remember to hold the can of air upright and tilt the card, not the can.

[bball_1523]

Originally Posted by blue60007 Ah, there's your problem. That dust needs to go. Don't take the heatsink apart - you might not get it back together. Recently I took my card out and did the same thing (cleaning out a small amount of dust dropped temps by 10C). You need a can of compressed air (from any office store, or wal-mart) (or an air compressor set to lower pressures). You want to aim the air through the fan and out the back of the heatsink. Be sure to hold the fan still; if it spins you'll generate voltage and that won't be good. Also try shooting the air in from the back of the heatsink (opposite the end with the fan) and knock the dust out through the fan. Again, hold the fan still. Remember to hold the can of air upright and tilt the card, not the can.

I already tried spraying the air, but it couldn't get all the dust off the fan. I can't spray through the back because there's something blocking the back of the card to the fan.

I tried playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and it maxes out around 76 C. Is this ok?

[glc]

You can use a brush to get the dust off the fan.