GPU folding -- 55nm GTX 260 and temps

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KansaKilla
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GPU folding -- 55nm GTX 260 and temps

Post by KansaKilla » Thu May 21, 2009 8:47 pm

I just traded in an XFX 260 (65nm) for an EVGA 55nm unit. Folding away happily. Problem is that both were/are space heaters and I have to crank up the fan via rivatuner to 60+ percent to get the gpu temp down to 67 or so. (At least it's now 60% fan versus 80% with the 65nm XFX version.) Fan noice = blech. Especially after going from an AC S1/120mm fan HD3850 to this.

Anyone having these issues? Suggestions? Googling around the world wide wibble doesn't seem to bring much back that is useful in terms of "actionable intelligence."

cordis
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no help

Post by cordis » Fri May 22, 2009 12:41 pm

Sorry, I'm not going to be any help, but it's interesting to hear the issues you have, I'll be watching this thread. I assume you're thinking about an aftermarket cooler or something to make it quieter? Since I've been thinking about beefing up the video cards in my machines, and looking through the reviews on the site, I was thinking that the Asus engtx260 would be a good card to try, although I'm worried if it will fit in any of my machines. Getting sound info on fans with cards is really hit or miss, are there any other good sites besides spcr? If the answer is to just swap the heat sinks, that would be good to know. Anyway, I hope someone can help you out!

KansaKilla
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Post by KansaKilla » Fri May 22, 2009 9:10 pm

the other sites with information on the gtx 260 and assorted issues i've found helpful so far are:
hardwarecanucks
the evga forums
techpowerup
and this link gave me the idea http://www.xtremesystems.org/FORUMS/sho ... p?t=199707

once my life has settled down, i'll tinker around with the card.

aristide1
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Post by aristide1 » Sat May 23, 2009 5:28 pm

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thhrgtxfornv.html

There aren't many air cooled options, but this should be a good one.

Its the same one as the previous poster. Me <- DUH! :oops:

cordis
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looks good!

Post by cordis » Sat May 23, 2009 8:49 pm

Hey, that looks like a good idea, let us know how it goes. Taking that and slapping on a nice quiet noctua fan might be an idea solution for one of my systems, it's a little micro-atx box that's about a foot from my head in my little computer nook.

KansaKilla
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Post by KansaKilla » Sun May 24, 2009 6:55 am

probably be able to get to it at the end of next week. too much stuff going down right now to take it out and tinker with it, but it is definitely on the to do list (along with a ton of other stuff from the boss's honey do list).

cordis
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well, in that case...

Post by cordis » Mon May 25, 2009 6:23 pm

As it turns out, there's a pny gtx 285 on sale at fry's for $290 with a rebate, and it looks like that heat sink will work on it, so I think I'll go pick it up. I found a local supplier for the heat sink so I think I'll be good to go. Well, add that, and pick up a 65W S type quad core to replace the current one in that box, it's around 75 degrees now. And I got a little linux monitoring program up and running, with all that stuff I should be good to go! Thanks for the ideas, guys!

aristide1
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Post by aristide1 » Tue May 26, 2009 6:44 pm

I'd be curious how well the heatsink will control a GTX 285. Please let us know how it goes.

cordis
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damn

Post by cordis » Tue May 26, 2009 11:30 pm

Eh, turns out the card is a little too big. I think I can move some stuff around, maybe snip a bracket and get it wedged in, but that will take some time. And I may have to cut a hole in the side of the case for the fan, but that will just increase the airflow, right? So annoying. I guess that's what I get for trying to wedge this into a micro-atx case. Oh well, I can always return the card, I guess. It's always more complicated than you think it will be, ain't it?

KansaKilla
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Re: damn

Post by KansaKilla » Wed May 27, 2009 10:53 pm

cordis wrote:It's always more complicated than you think it will be, ain't it?
That's the theme of my life.

aristide1
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Post by aristide1 » Thu May 28, 2009 1:28 pm

There's a reason it's called Murphy's Law and not Murphy's Exception.

Ever notice that little tab that locks PCI-E cards in place can't be reached to get the card out? Guess who's board doesn't have that tab anymore.

8)

cordis
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got it going

Post by cordis » Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:27 pm

Hey, so I got it set up. I managed to get the card (pny gtx 285) with the standard heat sink block in the case and ran it for a few days to see how stable it would be. After a day or so of folding it got up to 84 degrees or so (according to speedfan). I just got the Thermalright hr-03 gtx put together and put the card in, been folding for about half an hour, and so far, its at 53 degrees. My cpu is running hotter than this thing. Now sure, I'm going to have to cut a big hole in the side of the case, the 120mm fan is currently sticking out 3/4", but I was goint to have to do something to open it up, so I'm cool with it. As long as the card stays just as cool. And damn, this card can fold. I think my ppd rating has more than doubled since I started using it. Well, aside from the installation lull. So I have to say, if you can fit it in your case, it works. Let me know if you want to see any pics.

KansaKilla
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Post by KansaKilla » Wed Jun 03, 2009 2:07 pm

pics, please!

cordis
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ok, pics

Post by cordis » Thu Jun 04, 2009 12:03 am

Alright, so keep in mind, it's a Silverstone SG01, so it's pretty small, but there is one great thing about it, there's a bracket over the video card area with a couple of fans in it. So the way I see it, I can blow air with the big 120mm fan into the case, and set the top fans over the card area to blow the hot air up and out. That way the air should be blowing along the paths it would naturally follow via convection. I'll have to test with the case cover back on after I cut a hole in it. Oh, and I did get a higher temperature reading after coming home from work and the ac was off, it got up to 55 degrees. I'm going to have to look into overclocking this thing. But anyway, here's a shot of what it looks like with the top fan bracket installed, and I've done a little wiring simplification:

Image

With the bracket off, looking directly down on top, it looks like this:

Image

So that's how it looks now, still working on the hole in the side, but I don't think it'll be a big problem, I've got the tin snips handy. I still have to velcro down the lower drive cage a little, I had two drives in it with a fan, but to slide it over enough to allow the card in I had to pull out the fan, cut the top off the drive cage, and move one of the drives to the free 5.25 slot. But it's all good now, and the 65W cpu I swapped in is running plenty cool, so it's been a great upgrade all around, really. And now I have an old quad core I can swap into a different machine for a core 2 duo, and the upgrade cycle continues. :D

AZBrandon
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Post by AZBrandon » Thu Jun 04, 2009 4:31 am

Congratulations on getting it installed and working! The GTX 285 is one heck of a powerful card for folding. Especially if you overclock the shaders as I imagine you should be able to with it running such a low temperature now. That card should be good for 8500 ppd or so.

That cooling solution looks pretty big though. What exactly is the width from the PCB to the bottom of the fan? It appears to be about 4 slots worth of width, or maybe even 5 if you count the space needed to deliver sufficient airflow to the fan. By the way, what RPM is the fan?

cordis
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details

Post by cordis » Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:46 pm

The fan doesn't get a lot of clearance, it's wider than the heat sink so it only has about 2.5cm clearance over the board, and it sticks out about 8cm from the card. Luckily I don't have any other cards in the case, and cutting a hole in the side to let the fan stick out is a possibility. The fan is a scythe s-flex, the 1200rpm version, and I currently have it full speed.

And it is folding really pretty well. Take a look at this http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/ ... =&u=452724 and see if you can tell when I got the card installed. :)

KansaKilla
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Post by KansaKilla » Fri Jun 05, 2009 6:33 am

wowser. good for you!

i am officially in lust with your card's heatsink. if only microcenter had it.

cordis
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no shipping?

Post by cordis » Fri Jun 05, 2009 3:58 pm

You can't order it over the net from someplace? I was fairly lucky because I can order it from this place www.svc.com, they have a good selection of quiet stuff and I can pick up directly from their office, they're pretty close to where I live. But I work(ed) with a guy from Burnsville, MN, and one thing he always had on his agenda when he came out to visit was to hit Fry's, I guess you don't have the best selection of stuff out there. Oh well.

KansaKilla
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Post by KansaKilla » Fri Jun 05, 2009 9:46 pm

Fry's rocks! Visited one once in 2003 when I was in Phoenix. That place is like a department store for nerds.

I could order it online, but the boss isn't too happy about my newegg expenditures at the moment. I'll get it if it comes to microcenter.

KansaKilla
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Post by KansaKilla » Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:22 am

'Cause I like to revive dead threads, I just saw this over at Fudzilla.
setsugen review
The 33 Euro aftermarket cooler keeps up with the stock cooler, but with less noise. Not the best review, but at least it's something. Looks like it will fit a 260.

cordis
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yep

Post by cordis » Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:11 pm

Yeah, I've seen a couple preliminary reports on the setsugen, but I still haven't seen it for sale anyplace. But it is intriguing, it looks pretty small, so it might be reasonable to use these in a multicard system. I'm also a little worried about compatibility, I haven't seen an official list yet, but it seems like the only for sure card is the gtx 260. The fact that they've been putting it on amd cards is pretty intriguing, if the card can be use for lots of cards then it will be very useful.

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