Graphics Card Overheating

[BustaRomeo]

I've got an XFX 6800ultra card and up until now it's been great. But now today I see that straight after startup the card is running at 67°C, and if I try play anything it goes over the 115°C threshold, causing it to slow itself down and makes my games either slow down, hang, or crash. I've got a rather small case, so ventilation isn't superb, but it never used to run this high before. It's not overclocked (never has been). Any suggestions? I really don't have the money to replace this thing.

[Flyboy711672005]

Dude..... if you're card overheating, chances are it's because of you're small case and cause it has no ventalation like you said. Also... it partly could be caused by being couped up in a small space. This will especially be true if u have a computer desk like mine that put's the tower in a small unventalated area. But moving it out of the space alone won't do anything.

So what u can do is either buy a fan and install it ( not hard at all ) or if that dosn't work, you may want to consider a water cooling system for you're PC which will give u more kooling than a normal fan will by a substantial amount. Although I'm not sure how those work, u can just look into it yourself.

But yea... you're best bet is to buy a really really good fan from online or like any computer shop in the universe. Make sure u get a good one though dude cause from the sound's of it if it's running that hot you need a great one.

[hagatha]

The first thing you need to do is open the case and give it a good once over. while its up and running give the vid card a visual inspection. pay close attention to the vid card cooling fan. Is the card dirty/ dusty..... get a can of dust off made for electronics and clean the case out (turn the computer off first).... especially the power supply and cpu fans.... for that matter all the fans. If haven't done it in a while you will be amazed at how dirty the case can get. get you a few zip ties and do some wire management.... maybe buy a couple round cables if you need them. If the fans are loud, they are probably going bad.... get a couple new ones. What I've told you here doesn't cost very much at all.... not compared to a $200 vid card...

Lee

[TimPoet]

But now today I see that straight after startup the card is running at 67°C, and if I try play anything it goes over the 115°C threshold,

115 degrees, are you sure that is C, not F?

Either way, you got a problem there. I wonder why it started getting hot all of a sudden? There could be a clue in the answer to that question. Maybe the card's fan is failing?

You can try running it with the side panel off so there's more airflow.

[clroberts]

115 Degrees Celcius is probably the accurate number. 115 Degrees Farenheit is actually about 55 or so Celcius. (Hey can someone post that conversion from F to C. I can never remember that one) 115 C is very hot. I am just amazed at how much hotter the video cards can get compared to the CPU.

[BustaRomeo]

Nope, it is definately °C. I know it is probably because of the small case, but then why up until now has it been running fine? The card has been taken out twice in the past to get cleaned and to grease/oil the fan because it started making a horrible screeching sound. The fan operates just fine (like I said, when the computer starts up the fan runs at full speed), but as soon as Windows loads (ie, the video drivers take over), the fan slows down quite a bit, and regardless of its temperature, refuses to speed up. I moved all my PCI cards down a notch, and it only managed to drop the idle temperature by 3°C, to 64°C. The card is dust free.

[TimPoet]

Originally Posted by BustaRomeo The card has been taken out twice in the past to get cleaned and to grease/oil the fan because it started making a horrible screeching sound... but as soon as Windows loads (ie, the video drivers take over), the fan slows down quite a bit, and regardless of its temperature, refuses to speed up.

I'm no expert on cards and all, but I never heard of a fan needing oil....
Maybe that damaged the fan and now it won't power up like it should to cool properly? Or the screeching episode indicated the demise of that fan.... That's just a guess.... Perhaps you could replace the fan.

[A4875]

The screeching sound the fan made could mean that the fan is failing which would also account for the sudden temperature increase. I would replace the fan and see if that fixes things.