Re: Video card problem

Whoops - forgot to provide the link.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=16841&vpn=AVC-NV5-R3&manufacture=Arctic%20Cooling

On 10/22/06, Keith Snape <lukano@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/22/06, Keith Brown <brownk@usask.ca> wrote:
> >
> > Hi folks. This isn't really a linux problem but rather a hardware
> > problem ... at least, I think it is.
> >
> > My son bought the components for a gaming machine this past summer and
> > we assembled it and he started using it. The problem is that when he plays
> > graphics-intensive games the machine freezes ... not immediately but
> > usually after some seemingly random time. If he doesn't play games and
> > uses his machine for browsing etc. it behaves normally. During one of his
> > gaming sessions when it froze I touched the graphics card and it was HOT!!
> > So hot that I involuntarily pulled my hand away. The card is an ATI
> > Sapphire X800.
> >
> > We took the card back and had the vendor test it ... no problems. We
> > took the whole system back and had them test it ... no problems. Bring it
> > home ... problems. We loaded a program called ATI Tools and measured the
> > graphics chip temperature at 70 degrees C.
> >
> > I took the card back yesterday and was told that this temperature is
> > normal for the card operating under load. I was also told that the heat
> > sink can be hotter than the chip. Now, I don't know what the normal
> > operating temperature for the graphics chip is but I do know that if the
> > chip is emitting heat and the heat sink is getting rid of it, the
> > temperature of the heat sink cannot possibly be higher than the chip.
> > Otherwise the heat flow would be in the other direction. This is basic
> > physics of which I am more than a little aware.
> >
> > Do any of you think that there is, in fact, a problem on the graphics
> > card, given what I have said? I have no gaming experience and don't know
> > what to expect as far as performance of the higer end cards goes. I feel
> > like we're getting the runaround from the 'technicians' ala the old place
> > on Quebec Ave. (whose name escapes me at the moment) where Cbits is
> > (was?).
> >
> >
> > Dr. Keith Brown
> > Department of Chemistry/
> > Saskatchewan Structural Sciences Center
> > University of Saskatchewan
> > Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
> >
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Life would be so much easier if we could just look at the source code.
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > --
> > "Well, there's SPAM, egg, sausage, and SPAM. That's not got MUCH SPAM in it."
> >
> > To unsubscribe, send a message with the word "unsubscribe" (without the
> > quotes) in the body to linux-request@slg.org
> > Archives are at http://list.slg.org/
> >
>
> If it helps, I can confirm that 70C is absolutely normal for a video
> card. I just ran a few games on both machines that I have reasonable
> cards in (ATI 9800pro AGP and Nvidia 7800GT PCIE) and both ranged 70C
> up to about 110C.
>
> I've seen them both push as high as 110-120C over the years and never
> had any issues with them - and have had it confirmed through various
> other online discussions that that's an absolutely normal load temp
> for a GPU. I've also accidentally touched my hard heatsink while it
> was still hot - and I can relate to it being too hot to touch (nearly
> hot enough to burn me) while still operating fine and without issue.
>
> Infact my 7800GT as an example, runs about 51C idle and the
> 'temperature threshold' setting defaults to 115C at factory settings -
> where it won't clock down or throttle the card until it gets to be
> that hot. So that seems to confirm 70C being reasonable.
>
> As for the heatsink being hotter than the chip - I'll also call BS on
> a technician who simply doesn't know what he's doing - or how heat
> transfer works.
>
> Also I think the old quebec ave store was Techtronics, wasn't it?
>
> One thing you can do to see if it is a heat related issue is rig up an
> 80-120mm fan (zip ties, twist ties, string and chewing gum) so that it
> hangs beside the card and will be blowing directly on the
> card/heatsink/fan. Leave the side off the case, and put it under load
> to see if the jury-rigged cooling is preventing it from misbehaving.
> If it does - then I'd point my finger at airflow, or a misreporting
> temp sensor on the card (meaning it's actually hotter than ATI Tools
> is showing).
>
> I've done the above to provide active cooling to the PWM IC on my DFI
> motherboard - which tends to react poorly to the overclocking I have
> done to my Opteron 165. I just used zip ties to secure an 80mm fan in
> such a way that it wouldn't rattle or hit anything else, but would be
> able to provide active airflow over the PWM IC - dropping it from as
> high as 70-80C under extreme 'tweaking' down to the 40-50C mark. You
> wouldn't likely see the same results on a GPU/Heatsink - but it could
> help if it truly is a heating issue with the GPU or even the video
> card's ram.
>
> Another option, albeit one that requires you to spend a bit more,
> would be to try an after-market cooler on the card. I use the cooler
> linked below - as it's significantly quieter than the stock cooler -
> but it's also very specific to the model of card you use. The one
> linked is for example purposes, but is specific to nvidia 6800/7800GT
> models - and may even be PCIE specific. That being said - there's
> likely one that will work on an X800 AGP or X800 PCIE.
>
Received on Sun Oct 22 17:32:25 2006