should i be worried about my x800xl temps?

ICERx911 · Post by **ICERx911** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 11:35 pm

I recently replaced my stock heatsink to the VF700-CU. I ATI Tray tools measuring the temp and right now the idle temp seems to be around high 40's, low 50s. I ran Farcry for 30 mins and i saw that my temp jumped up to 75C while my cpu and case temps were around 45C. I have the fan running at 5V because the 12V was too noisy for me.

Is that temp ok for my graphics card?

One more question, should i have used artic silver 5 for the thermal paste or should i just stick with the one zalman provide? Also, when u apply the thermal paste, should i just put a small amount in the center of the core and have the heatsink spread it around? or should i just spread it around evenly?

thanks

Pjotor · Post by **Pjotor** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 5:12 am

Without stability problems, don't worry -- most VPUs run happily at those temps and above. What you should think about is the case airflow; 45C is pretty high. (Browse the forums to find tips on what to do about it.)

A high-quality thermal paste will save perhaps three or four degrees at the most; a good mounting procedure is much more important for temperatures.

Zalman recommends a dab of paste on the VPU and the heatsink. First, spread it evenly on both surfaces. Using an old credit card or a plastic object of similar shape (one flat edge), scrape once over the surfaces to get excess paste on. Now you should have two surfaces evenly covered with a thin film of paste. Mount the heatsink and you're set.

ilh · Post by **ilh** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 5:44 am

Those temps are not too different than what I see with my 6800GT at Ultra speeds. It idles at ~55C and at load (RTHDRIBL) will go up to ~72C. It usually stays under 70C though. My VF700 is just a bit above minimum FanMate speed when hooked up to 12V.

How are you measuring case temperature? 45C sounds pretty high.

My 6800GT measures "ambient" temperature too, but that seems to be a sensor on the board that is influence by VF700 outflow and reads about 42C at idle when I know my case is about 33C according to an old-fashioned standalone thermometer. My motherboard also measures "PWM area" temperatures, which are also in the 45C range at load, but again, that is influenced by the nearby CPU power circuitry.

--Lee

ICERx911 · Post by **ICERx911** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 8:16 am

I think the main reason why i my case temp is so high is because the summer heat is beginning to take in effect. My room itself gets pretty stuffy so that's probably contributes to the case and the rest of the componets getting hot. I'm using Speedfan to measure my case temp however i do have temp probes but i don't know where to place them at.

Well i reapplied the thermal paste using my arctic sillver 5 and my idle temp is now 46 and the max temp is 65.

When applying the thermal paste, how do u know if u have a thin layer or not?

I just put a small dab of arctic silver in the middle of the gpu and the spread it around evenly with my finger, which was covered in saran wrap.

ilh · Post by **ilh** » Sat Apr 16, 2005 11:08 am

The fact that your temperatures are better probably means you got a thinner (better) layer. That sounds like AS5's preferred spreading technique for a GPU.

Derek Baker · Post by **Derek Baker** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 8:08 am

A few days ago I left ATITool running with its 3D View open: after an hour the temp was 90C. Card's still running fine.

rei · Post by **rei** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 10:48 pm

moved pc down to basement where it's 5 degrees cooler

i get 48-50 idle with exhaust 92mm case fan and 120mm fan pointed right at underbelly of x800xl silent pipe

120mm fan on max = 1300rpm
92mm fan on max = 1000rpm, both attached to zalman fanmates

i get 92c idle max

upstairs in my room where air circulation in a small space ain't so great i can't get lower than 55-60 idle.

with fans on lowest (6v) on the fanmates, temps go to 55 idle downstairs, 60+ idle upstairs, 105+ load upstairs, <100 downstairs, about 95 average

all degrees in celsius

i believe the card temp (doubling) is an anamoly since my case has good temps/airflow otherwise. 30 degress hd, and 40 degrees CPU upstairs idle, 45 degrees hard drive, 45-50 load cPU

in basement, 23 degrees (!) hard drive, and 33 degrees idle, and 30 max load hard drive, 40-43 max load CPU

i still find it quite strange load temp is DOUBLE idle.
temps measured using atitool 0.24.

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:55 pm

My X800XL idles at ~50C with the stock cooler and the fan at 8% speed (set with ATiTool). I've set up the fan control in ATiTool to start spinning up faster at 60C and reach maximum fan speed at 90C. So far, even with a mild OC temps have only gone up to about 75C, at which temp the fan was spinning at 50%.

Lucky for me, the stock cooler is audible but very bearable at such low fan speeds. That it becomes audible during gaming bothers me less, I'm usually immersed in 7.1 explosions anyway

all I had to do was disable the 3D screensavers to keep it from spinning up. Ambient around 20C, case temperature varying from 30C (bottom of the case) to 36C at the top.

rei · Post by **rei** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:44 pm

gee...so my temps are normal?

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 2:00 pm

Well... at 100+ I'd get nervous too. I know the heatpipe models have been known to reach that high, but anything over the boiling temp of water would worry me.

Which part of the heatsink get hottest (please check carefully!)? That might give you a hint as to what part of the card you need to cool with spot cooling. Do you have a "gpu vicinity" temperature reading as well in ATiTool? On my card that stays within ~7C of the gpu temp, what's it like on your card? 1300rpm fans cannot possibly be quiet any more, so that would kind of defeat the purpose of a fanless card. Perhaps there are other people here with heatpipe-equipped cards and temps they'd like to share, if for nothing else than your peace of mind.

rei · Post by **rei** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 3:03 pm

the nexus (yate-loon) fans are indeed still near whisper-quiet

the 'near-gpu' area temps are a few degrees cooler--why?

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 10:13 pm

rei wrote:the 'near-gpu' area temps are a few degrees cooler--why?

Well, I was thinking that a large difference in temperature between the 2 might indicate a malfunction of the "main" sensor... apparantly not.

rei · Post by **rei** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:32 pm

hmm 102 max recorded, even with fans on full blast, pc in basement...it'd be 110 upstairs i imagine...at least...

crays · Post by **crays** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:09 pm

rei wrote:hmm 102 max recorded, even with fans on full blast, pc in basement...it'd be 110 upstairs i imagine...at least...

I don't have the heatpipe version (just a normal ATI), but that seems rather high to me. With stock hsf, mine would clime up to somewhere between 70-80c, but I believe that was with the max fan speed throttled back somewhat via ati-tray. With the vf700 hsf set at 5v(silent setting, i assume) I never go above 60c...normally at 56c.....and that's with room temperature at 79-81.

I would think that a heatpipe sink with a fan blowing full blast should run cooler than mine, but I'm new to the aftermarket coolers.

rei · Post by **rei** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:36 pm

The Gigabyte SilentPipe is stock

crays · Post by **crays** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 8:38 am

rei wrote:The Gigabyte SilentPipe is stock

True...but mine isn't