GPU temp - 74c Idle - Is this normal?

[Colin.B]

I had temperatures of around 89 degrees idle on my GPU using my stock heatsink for my card, and I since installed an Arctic Cooling Accelro X1 cooler, which lowered my temp to 74 degrees on the GPU and 46 on the chip..Well ATiTool says "temperature of temp chip"..Not sure what that is.

Anyways, are these temperatures perfectly acceptable for an idle PC? This is with the side of my case closed, and the three case fans blowing.

Note: The card is a BFG 6800GT.

I should mention we're on the third floor apartment so with heat naturally rising, I felt I should mention that.

[gwai lo]

I don't have the numbers for GPUs memorized off the top of my head, but like processors, the load temperature is the only one that's important. You figure that and your ambient temperature out while I see what I can find on what the 6800's are good till.

[Colin.B]

It went up to about 81-84 after running WoW for five minutes or so. I'll try CoD 4 in a second.

[gwai lo]

Googled around, Nvidia's released specs for their newer cards..but the older cards don't have anything. I found a review where a shot of the driver showed that 125?C was the "Core slowdown threshold"..however the box looked editable. Anyway, I can't seem to find this stuff, I'd say under triple digits and you're fine.

[+Mystic MVC]

That still does seem pretty high for such an old card. I expect temperatures like that with the Radeon 4850 and the 4870 and the 9800 GX2, but not the 6800GT.

[Colin.B]

Alright, thanks for searching around. The highest it got was 85 degrees in WoW, but it was mostly sitting at 81....Considering before I put this cooler on and I had only one working fan on the stock heatsink the temperature went up to 106...I'd say this is a vast improvement heh.

Now I'm amazed I can play CoD4 at 1024 on this card without it over heating.

Edit: Yeah Mystic this is true...But I'm using a cheap Orion PSU, this room in the apartment is one of the hottest, and it's been pretty damn hot lately. I'm hoping those are all big contributing factors. I hope.

[Impact]

Jeez, that's how hot my 8800 GT would get under a stress test with the stock cooler! That's one hot 6800.

[gwai lo]

Older cards were not as powerful, but that doesn't necessarily mean they didn't run warm. They were all based on larger manufacturing processes after all.

[Colin.B]

I'm actually starting to wonder if ATiTool is giving me an inaccurate number. I just started a stress test with a program, and the card got up to 91 degrees, but as soon as the program closed (really, there was barely any delay) the card dropped to 75 degrees. I couldn't imagine a 16 degree drop in a matter of seconds. Then again, I could be wrong.

I came across other 6800gt users saying their card was at 55 degrees. This is factory overclocked too but I couldn't see it making a 19 degree difference. Although..Maybe I should have mentioned that earlier? >_>

Edited August 29, 2008 by DigitalManifestations

[CrashG]

You can try GPU-Z.

[nonick]

You could always open up the case and clean the dust from the card's fan.

But most likely that temp is still in the OK range.

Also it doesn't matter what game you try, it depends on GPU utilization.

[Colin.B]

Well, I got GPU-Z and it's telling me my fan speed is only at 53 percent...That may be part of the problem. Of course, I have no option to change the fan speed in my nVidia control panel.

[Mekun]

  DigitalManifestations said:

Well, I got GPU-Z and it's telling me my fan speed is only at 53 percent...That may be part of the problem. Of course, I have no option to change the fan speed in my nVidia control panel.

Get riva tuner.

[CrashG]

  DigitalManifestations said:

Well, I got GPU-Z and it's telling me my fan speed is only at 53 percent...That may be part of the problem. Of course, I have no option to change the fan speed in my nVidia control panel.

  Mekun said:

Get riva tuner.

Riva Tuner should be able to do it. Here's a guide on how to configure v2.09 http://www.vaguetech.com/index.php?pageid=rt207 the one at guru3d doesn't quite have the updated guide.

[+Mystic MVC]

  gwai lo said:

Older cards were not as powerful, but that doesn't necessarily mean they didn't run warm. They were all based on larger manufacturing processes after all.

That is correct and I think that is what could possibly be skewing my view at the moment. :p

[Colin.B]

Thanks for the link Crash.

I'm at 73 idle with the fan at 100 percent, and 78-79 while gaming. It's definitely an improvement. I'd like it to be at 55-60 but like I said, other things may be a factor too such as how hot the apartment is, cheap PSU etc etc.

[CrashG]

  DigitalManifestations said:

Thanks for the link Crash.

I'm at 73 idle with the fan at 100 percent, and 78-79 while gaming. It's definitely an improvement. I'd like it to be at 55-60 but like I said, other things may be a factor too such as how hot the apartment is, cheap PSU etc etc.

No problem, glad to help. You can set fan speed profiles if you want, that way once it reaches a certain temp (that you can specify) the fan will adjust it's self based on temperature. Or you can just max the fan speed out, if you can stand the noise. :laugh:

Ambient room temps will have a impact. You can try improving airflow inside the case by routing wires/cables out of the way.

[Colin.B]

  CrashGordon said:

No problem, glad to help. You can set fan speed profiles if you want, that way once it reaches a certain temp (that you can specify) the fan will adjust it's self based on temperature. Or you can just max the fan speed out, if you can stand the noise. :laugh:

Haha. I'm just leaving it at 100. It's actually surprisingly quiet at 100 percent speed.

[kingroach]

I am running BFG 6800 Ultra OC, it idle at 62 C. Last month it was idling at around 78-80 C. I took apart the heatsink, cleaned everything and applied Arctic Silver 5. All the heat pads above memory chips was almost gone due to melting of the pads..

[Colin.B]

  kingroach said:

I am running BFG 6800 Ultra OC, it idle at 62 C. Last month it was idling at around 78-80 C. I took apart the heatsink, cleaned everything and applied Arctic Silver 5. All the heat pads above memory chips was almost gone due to melting of the pads..

Yeah, I cleaned the entire card and the new cooler just came in today, it was spotless. Can dust in other components and fans other than that on the GPU play a role in GPU temperatures?

[+shift. MVC]

Ambient temperatures can. As well as other components generating heat that is not being removed by exhaust fans which will subsequently raise your case temperatures which could lead to high GPU temperatures.

Is your CPU having any temperature problems?

[CrashG]

  DigitalManifestations said:

Yeah, I cleaned the entire card and the new cooler just came in today, it was spotless. Can dust in other components and fans other than that on the GPU play a role in GPU temperatures?

It can if it's on the case fans. It'll reduce the flow of air somewhat, how much of a difference it'll make, I haven't got a clue.

[Colin.B]

  shift. said:

Ambient temperatures can. As well as other components generating heat that is not being removed by exhaust fans which will subsequently raise your case temperatures which could lead to high GPU temperatures.

Is your CPU having any temperature problems?

This is the first time I've looked at CPU temps...So I'll just post what Speedfan says.

I should note that Speedfan is telling me my GPU is 19 degrees...And it drops to 0 as well heh.

[NEVER85]

I thought 78C idle for my card (Radeon HD 4850) was bad. I thought it was way too hot. Right now it's at 46C thanks to the HD4850 fix.

[Mouldy Punk]

I had a similar problem with my 6800GS. When playing GRID the temp would go up to 125C then hit its emergency 'holy crap' mode and slow the hell down to stop it from frying itself.

I took the card out, took off the air duct, and noticed there was a VERY thick wall of dust between the heat sink and the fan (nowhere near the GPU itself) which was stopping any air from the fan from reaching the heat sink. I clean it all up, put it back together and now it idles at a comfortable 41C.