9800pro w/ACvgaSilencer at 5v How hott is safe?

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 1:12 pm

I have my 9800pro w/acvgas installed, at 5v it is silent but the heatsink gets almost too hot to touch after gaming, and even when idle it gets fairly warm. How hot is too hot? And also for the people that have this setup, how hot is your video card getting (touch test)? Anyone know of a way to cool it down without increasing noise?

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 2:33 pm

Can you only set it to either 5v or 12v, or does it use a 3-pin connection, so you can plug it into a rheobus? I've been thinking of getting one of these as well.

Compddd · Post by **Compddd** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 3:40 pm

All of the silent solutions for vga cards get really hot. As long as theres no artifacts and the card isnt locking up, is there reason to worry?

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 3:46 pm

Well i just installed neverwinter nights, and i dont know if the card is overheating, but the screen is tearing. Even at 12v, the heatink on the videocard gets (amazingly hott), i played nvn for 30 minutes and my case was pooring out heat so I opened it up and the heatsink felt like it was gonna melt the skin off my hand, and the pcb or the card was extremely hott too.

engseng · Post by **engseng** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 8:04 pm

Have you taken the temperature of the card at that time? I've always felt as long as it's below 60C, it's okay.

FJC · Post by **FJC** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 4:48 am

GamingGod wrote:Well i just installed neverwinter nights, and i dont know if the card is overheating, but the screen is tearing. Even at 12v, the heatink on the videocard gets (amazingly hott), i played nvn for 30 minutes and my case was pooring out heat so I opened it up and the heatsink felt like it was gonna melt the skin off my hand, and the pcb or the card was extremely hott too.

If you're getting tearing or artifacts, it's definitely too hot. I have an AIW 9800 Pro in my system, with a VGA Silencer. I play Neverwinter Nights and do not experience any such tearing or artifacts. Also HALO, and other 3d-graphic intensive games. I have the VGA Silencer at the slowest setting. After extended gaming, the air blowing out the back of the card is very hot, and the heatsink is very hot to the touch, but not burn-my-fingers hot. I've even run 3DMark tests for extended times and not had any video indications that things were overheating.

My first thought when you said tearing is that the heat sink isn't making good contact with the GPU, but if it's getting that hot then it must be. How is the rest of your system for cooling? If your case temperatures are incredibly hot, then the VGA Silencer is probably having trouble keeping the card cool (i.e., it's sucking in super hot air, so can't cool the card). Also, are you sure your fan is running on the VGA Silencer? Do you have another card right next to it that is potentially blocking the air from getting into the Silencer?

Shawn O · Post by **Shawn O** » Tue Jan 06, 2004 8:12 am

FWIW,I had a lot of tearing when I first installed the acvs on my 9800pro,even when case temps were in the low 30's.I then realized,2 days later, that I had forgot to install the grounding plate.Now,w/ the plate installed,everything is fine.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Tue Jan 06, 2004 11:32 am

No I have the grounding plate. Im thinking of just putting a zalman bracket with an undervolted fan blowing over the heatsink. Shouldnt add to much noise but I bet it will be alot cooler, then I wont be as worried when playing nwn at 5v.

Vegita · Post by **Vegita** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 8:40 am

Is the VGA silencer still too loud for you on quiet mode?? I just installed mine... and my Fortron drowns it out.

But note that the 9800 pro with acvs on quiet is still cooler than it would be with the stock hsf.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 12:27 pm

no at 5v is silent, but at 12v its the loudest component by far. And im worried about how amazingly hott it gets at 5v after gaming. I mean too hott to touch. Especially with NVN. Think ill put a 5v fan blowing over the side and switch it back to 5v.

Vegita · Post by **Vegita** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 3:56 pm

Really? Maybe there's something messed up with my Fortron then... because it is still much louder than the acvs at 5v.

But anyway... Arctic Cooling says the acvs @ 5v still coolers better than the stock hsf. Some other sites confirmed that they were able to overclock better with the acvs @ 5v than with the stock hsf, which supports that.

Downside · Post by **Downside** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 8:31 am

You may want to run the same game/tests with your case cover off to see how it compares. If the card runs alot warmer with the case cover on, then you have airflow issues inside the case that are causing problems.

It may be as simple as the additional exhaust from the silencer is over taxing the air intake of the case with it's additional air flow compared to just the case fan and psu exhaust.

Taking the cover off and running for a while that way should help you at least rule this out, if not identify the problem.

Post by **Rusty075** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 12:54 pm

GG, did you ever run NWN with the stock cooler?

Take a cruise through their tech support forums, lots of people are having trouble even with perfectly stock high-end systems.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 2:19 pm

No i just got the game, my acvgas was already installed by then. And it runs the same without the case side. Its just a really freakin hot video card. I think its because I have the one based on the 9700pro pcb instead of the standard 9800pro. Ive been using it at 12v and its kind annoying but at least it works. Ill rig up a fan to the side of it later and drop it back down to 5v.

Gnerma · Post by **Gnerma** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 11:22 am

What kind of artifacts are we talking about in NWN? Do your other games play the same as before? Have you read this thread?

starsky · Post by **starsky** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 3:48 pm

I have the HIS ICEQ 9800Pro (which uses the Arctic Cooler) I can play 2 hours of Counter-strike, in my Sonata Config (see Sig) on 5v, and no artifacts. I can do some temp measurements with K type thermocouples if need be... from air exhaust and heatsing above core ?

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Tue Feb 03, 2004 11:23 pm

I don't think your card is getting to hot unless you have poor airflow to begin with. But to be sure the tearing isn't related to the tempurature, do as suggested and run some tests with the case-side off. Also, take Rusty's advice and peruse the NWN forums.

Now, what I think is happening might really sound odd because it has nothing to do with what has been mentioned thus far.

The only time I experienced "tearing" (horrible tearing) of the video was when I had my AGP aperature set too low. This happened while playing Half Life and it was horrible. I set the aperature from 64 to 256 and the problem was solved. Keep in mind that Half Life is an OpenGL game just like NWN. I had just gotten this rig from Gateway and I was using a GF2 Ultra (top dog in its short-lived day).

Another thing not suggested thus far: a lot of people complain of texture tearing in games. Sometimes this is cured by turning Vsync to "on" within the control panel of the video card or with an in-game command in the console of the game itself, which is what I do with Quake 3 Arena. In case you don't know, vsync will synchronize the frame rate of the game with the refresh rate of the monitor. So, if you enable vsync, the frame rate will be limited to the refresh rate of the monitor's current refresh setting, but if you have it at 75 or higher, the image quality is much easier on the eye, much smoother than with vsync off, and it eliminates what is often referred to as "texture tearing".

I have overclocked my current card too high before (R9800). It started creating the snow-like specs (white dots) on the screen, but there was no tearing.

I don't mean to discredit any that think GamingGod's card is overheating, but I simply do not think that is what is causing the "tearing" he is seeing.

GamingGod, please look into the things I have suggested.

Please report back on this. I don't think your idea of adding another fan will change anything. The problem lies elsewhere (but if I turn out to be wrong I have no problem in admitting that I am).

Ragnarok · Post by **Ragnarok** » Wed Feb 04, 2004 5:38 am

well the vga silencer @5v still does a better job than the standard ati cooler. if i remember rightly the gpu core on the 9800 pro runs at a toasty 80°C with ati's stock cooler and is probably at a rough guess safe running upto 90 andd 100°C. GPU's are generaly more heat tollerent than current cpu's .

i personaly see no problem with running the vga silencer on a radeon 9800pro @5v .