[SecretMaster]

I got this computer back in mid-september. It came with an ATI Original X1900XTX and things seem to have ran smoothly.

But now I think the card is running a bit too hot for my tastes. Just playing WoW, the temperature is reaching close to 80C. I tested it out on a more graphic intensive game, Heroes V and the temperature reached nearly 95C. I'm worrying about the temperatures, they seem to be rather high. The fan is noisy enough as is but I don't even think its doing its job completely.

The other night, I shut down the computer. And then I turned it on a few minutes later and the computer wouldn't boot. The BIOS beeped once, and then three short beeps. I opened up the case and the card seemed rather hot. And when nothing booted, the fan was whirling like crazy. So I shut it off and waited 10 minutes and then everything worked fine. It may have been coincidence, but my suspicion is that the card was too hot.

Our older comp has a 9500Pro, and I've never experienced any sort of heating issue or noise issue. However, this card... as powerful as it claims to be it seems to be a real hog in terms of heat and noise. I don't know if all video cards out there are like this now, and if they are I really hope companies start addressing the issues.

Is there anyone to make this thing run cooler? Can I buy a different, better fan? And if I were to ditch this card and buy another one, which one would one recommend? A x1950 i was looking at, but I'm wondering if I'd just experience more of the same if I do that.

[Advertisements]

Your card is defiantly over heating.
How many case fans do you have. Try adding more.
Look for dust, if your case is bad, get a bottle of compressed air and clean it out.
Double, maybe even triple check that all your fans are indead running.
As a last resort you can buy a aftermarket cooler, but for a descent on your looking at the 40$ price range, not to mention voiding the warranty of your card, and taking a risk.
James

[james_8970]

Your card is defiantly over heating.
How many case fans do you have. Try adding more.
Look for dust, if your case is bad, get a bottle of compressed air and clean it out.
Double, maybe even triple check that all your fans are indead running.
As a last resort you can buy a aftermarket cooler, but for a descent on your looking at the 40$ price range, not to mention voiding the warranty of your card, and taking a risk.
James

[SecretMaster]

Well the card is relatively new so I don't think it is a dust issue. I opened up the case itself and there doesn't seem to be any dust. Should I physically removed the video card and blow it out with air?

The case I have is Lian-li V1000A (http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811112117)
It has three case fans (120mm).

[james_8970]

This may be a stupid question, but are any of the fans being blocked? Like are the against a wall or anything else that will prevent airflow?
Also this is a dual slot cooler, meaning the card has a cooler on the slot above it, is the back of your computer against a desk or a wall, if so remove it from that location and reposition your computer. If the GPU is struggling to get the hot air out, then temperatures will not stay down.
James

Edited by james_8970, 29 December 2006 - 03:13 PM.

[SecretMaster]

Okay well I have the back of the computer pretty close to the wall, but not touching right up against it. I moved the computer around so that the fans are facing the open room itself. If I can find my camera, I'll take some pictures and maybe you can tell me if it looks alright.

For now, I'll see if there is any improvement.

[james_8970]

Lets see if any results come out of it. And i trust your judgment, pictures won't do any good here.
James

Edited by james_8970, 30 December 2006 - 01:39 PM.

[SecretMaster]

There's been some improvement, but nothing too major. The temp dropped about 4C when running WoW and Heroes V.

I'm thinking of just buying a different cooler/fan for the card. Any recommendations at all? I've heard some stuff about the Arctic-Cooling Accelero. Is that any good?

Edit:

I've done a bit more research and I'm hearing mixed things about the Accelero X2. I know that it definately kills all noise issues with the 1900XTX. But I've read that it really doesn't do as effective of a job as it should in terms of cooling.

And I'm reading up now on the Thermalright HR-03 Cooler. From what I see, it appears to be a better cooler than the accelero. Should I go with the HR-03?

Edited by SecretMaster, 31 December 2006 - 01:01 AM.

[james_8970]

Um, i think it might be something else. I reviewed your first post, and the beeping code means that there might be a lack of juice getting to your card. So the PSU might be the culprit. Could you tell me the wattage of your power supply and its brand, as well as your CPU type.
James

Edit: download the program from here and check your voltages.

Edited by james_8970, 31 December 2006 - 02:40 PM.

[SecretMaster]

I have a 500-Watt Enermax PSU.

My specs for this computer are

AM2 X2 5000
Asus M2N-32 SLI Deluxe
ATI Original X1900XTX
2 GB DDR-2 800 XMS RAM

[james_8970]

Can you please download the program that i mentioned above, and check your voltages. Then post a screen shot here. I calculated everything and under a 100% load i'd say that you'd be using about 580W so i'd recommend a 650W power supply, but i just want to comfirm this with that program.
James

[SecretMaster]

Okay I installed the thingy and opened up the program.
This is what the readings are, right after I turned on the computer. I don't know if that would make a difference or not but I thought I should mention it.

http://i44.photobuck...pg?t=1167632382

[valleyup]

I have the x1950xt which is very similar to the x1900xtx. I believe they come with the same loud white blower that exhausts outside of the case.

The GPU was running 95C+ when fully loaded (using ATI tool 3d view) but my case temps were pretty good since the blower did a fine job exhausting it directly outside. It was horribly loud at any speed over 80%, sounded like a vacuum cleaner.

Then I got a Zalman VF900 which cools the GPU better, but it puts more heat back into the case.

Even though my Antec case has lots air flow and cooling, the Zalman blowing on the card raised the case temps too much and then raised the GPU eventually to 87C which was only a slight improvement on the stock cooler, but worse since it raised the rest of the case temps by 6C or more.

This was not acceptable so the final solution was putting two pci slot coolers (cheap $5 ones) beside the card (one on top and one below) exhausting out the back along with an 80mm intake fan mounted on the side cover blowing directly onto the GPU fan. This brought all the case temps back to normal and the GPU to 75C max loaded for over an hour. I looked, but could not find a GPU cooler that would cool like the Zalman and exhaust as well as the original one. Hope this helps someone. BTW, my 450w XCLIO works perfectly with my system, but I only run one hard drive and not many extras.

[SecretMaster]

This was not acceptable so the final solution was putting two pci slot coolers (cheap $5 ones) beside the card (one on top and one below) exhausting out the back along with an 80mm intake fan mounted on the side cover blowing directly onto the GPU fan. This brought all the case temps back to normal and the GPU to 75C max loaded for over an hour. I looked, but could not find a GPU cooler that would cool like the Zalman and exhaust as well as the original one. Hope this helps someone. BTW, my 450w XCLIO works perfectly with my system, but I only run one hard drive and not many extras.

Now that is the modification you did. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do something that extreme.

However luck seems to have come my way. The Thermalright HR-03 came in today and I spent an hour or so hooking everything up. The HR-03 is literally a blessing. At idle, my temps are from 35-39C. I played Oblivion at max settings for roughly 30 minutes and I was barely breaking 65C. I can't wait to see how far I can push this card with OCing. T

The HR-03 works in conjunction with a fan so I bought a Thermaltake 90mm fan. I hooked it on top of the massive heatsink that is the HR-03 and together they do the job wonderfully. The only problem is I've yet to install the fan-speed adjuster so right now it is spinning at max and is noisy as heck. That might explain why I'm getting such great temps, but I'm confident once I lower the speeds I will still see a [bleep] good performance. But it still works wonderfully. Of course, the mammoth that it is makes me take up one or two expansion slots, but I really don't see myself doing much to this computer in terms of adding new hardware.

Either way I'm satisfied. But James, would you be able to clarify the PSU issue with me?

[james_8970]

I'm glade everything is working right now. Sorry i was gone out for holidays, and what valleyup did was extreme, putting a dual slot cooler on the bottom is pointless as everything that creates heat is on the top, thus the reason why the fan is on the top. Confused why he/she did this

It the bios beeping thats worrying me. Does it still do it. And I incorrectly read something on another page, it has nothing to do with the PSU. But again, does it still do more then one beep at start up?
James

[SecretMaster]

I'm glade everything is working right now. Sorry i was gone out for holidays, and what valleyup did was extreme, putting a dual slot cooler on the bottom is pointless as everything that creates heat is on the top, thus the reason why the fan is on the top. Confused why he/she did this

It the bios beeping thats worrying me. Does it still do it. And I incorrectly read something on another page, it has nothing to do with the PSU. But again, does it still do more then one beep at start up?
James

Nope the BIOS hasn't ever gone screwy since that one incident. I honestly don't know what caused that issue, but I'm just going to assume that it was that the card was too hot. If it keeps happening again... then I guess it is back to the drawing board. But so far so good.