Author Topic: Video card overheating? (Read 356 times)

StarOfAfrica2 · « **on:** July 06, 2005, 01:53:38 AM »

Lately I have been experiencing lockups after a certain amount of time ingame. CPU temps are within spec, so I checked the video card. It says its hitting almost 60C after awhile with Aces High running. Right now, with nothing but the browser up, it says its running at 52C. I tried taking the heat sink off and replacing the thermal paste awhile back, so i took it back off again to make sure I have a good seal. There seems to be a low spot in the middle, so I cleaned it all off and redid it. Put the heatsink on, pulled it back off and made sure I had a good "footprint", so I didnt have any areas uncovered. The fan is working. I can put my hand in and touch the video card, it isnt that hot. Could the temp. sensor be broken? Would the card react like it was overheating if it only THOUGHT it was overheating? Ambient temp in the case is 31C-33C. CPU is running at 39C. No other cards are blocking the airflow for the video card.

Suggestions?

Roscoroo · « **Reply #1 on:** July 06, 2005, 02:05:39 AM »

video drivers or sound drivers ...

too high of resolution ...

DX perhaps a little corrupted ...?

another thing is do you have it oced ? either the cpu or the video card when oced may become unstable and cause lock ups too .

if you can touch the heatsink and its not too hot then it should be ok . but then never know . one of mine will freak out now and then and lock up, but thats after pushing it super hard for a long time .

Just idear's

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 06, 2005, 02:28:31 AM »

I've got 2 versions of XP on here, and different drivers on both. I've tried it with both OS's and the temps run the same. Or appear to. As I said, I can put my hand in and touch the heatsink. Its just warm. Not even like "been sitting in the sun" warm, just slightly warm. Temps are showing stable at around 51C. Sometimes it goes up to 52, but then comes back down to 51. On my gaming OS I do have the card OC'd, but on this one it isnt. It never used to run over 44C-46C.

So what do you think, if the temps are reading wrong, and the card only thinks it's overheating, would it still show the symptoms of it? Or would it only happen if the overheat were for real?

OOZ662 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 06, 2005, 02:37:48 AM »

REALLY newbie thought here, seeing as I've never even removed a VGA heatsink. When you've redone the heatsink, did you possibly jar the thermometer on the card? I'm guessing they're built into the chip, but hey...

Roscoroo · « **Reply #4 on:** July 06, 2005, 03:15:10 AM »

ive been moding my cards for quite a while now . and the only time they errored from heat they were so hot that i couldnt hold my finger on the gpu for very long at all (fry egg type temp ) id guess around 70+c at least

that unfaned 9200 was at 75+c while playing ah and it hadnt froze .. but i saw it start stuttering and the beginning of video annonomalies .. then i reset the hs and faned it ,, it leaped down to 54-56c gaming after that .(tested with my infra red )

i dont think your card is over heating if you can touch the hs and its not super hot
exspecially of its been artic silvered and all that . (you know whats overtemp by feel now id guess)

wonder if you may have hurt its ram ??
Ive wrecked a lot of mainboard ram while playing overclock god befor .
(Would ya like a stack of 2700-3200 256ddr ? ive got lots .. garrenteed to error out anyones pc )

one last thing ive thought of is your settings in the bios back to your known working baseline ? and are you on slow boot so your checking the main ram also ?

AKDogg · « **Reply #5 on:** July 06, 2005, 08:11:27 AM »

if Your video card doesn't have Video ram heatsinks, get them and stick them on the ram chips. If it does then first try having a fan on the video card with case open and see if it locks up. If lockups still happen then I suggest finding another video card for test and stick that in. If lockups still happen then its something else like your System ram, PS, CPU etc.. Powersupply could actually be the colpret with unstable voltage to either MB, CPU or even the Video card. Ex. the 3.3V bus shouldn't be less then 3.2 or higher then 3.4. 12v shouldn't be less then 11.8 and more then 12.2. 5V should be right on the money maybe 4.95- 5.05.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 06, 2005, 02:55:48 PM »

I have monitors going on the voltages, and of course the side of the case is off right now because I've been checking the readout temps by sticking my hand in the case and touching the video card. I even thought if the heat transfer isnt working, so I felt the backside of the card opposite the GPU, and it was barely warm. I really cant figure an overheating problem, but this card should NOT be idling at 51C. I never hit lockups until the video card approaches 60C. It looks like my CPU is overheating the way it acts, but the CPU never gets above 52C itself while I'm playing. I do have heatsinks on the video card RAM. I'm seriously considering that the temp. monitor is whacked, but I cant see that the computer would lockup or display symptoms of an overheat if the equipment isnt really hot. Or would it? Is there some sort of built in safety that locks up the card when it reads a certain temp? If that is the problem, how do I fix a broken temp. sensor?

AKDogg · « **Reply #7 on:** July 06, 2005, 04:40:38 PM »

well, yes it can ack like a temp problem especially if U have been overclocking as U stated earlier. What might have happened is U actually damaged either the GPU or the ram on it if U were overclocking the video card. U might not have damaged it by heat wise but buy just simply overclocking it to much for a long period of time. The only thing I over clock is the CPU. I don't bother with the video card anymore as most new video cards can play every game out there with ease. Most games require my CPU power the video games anymore like AH for instance. Right now my system is CPU limited in this game.

AMD 64 3200+ (2.2 ghz overclocked to 2.4 ghz)
Asus K8NE Deluxe MB
1 gig ram
2 100 gig SATA HD's not in raid
ATI XT800XL 256 meg video card
SB Audigy 2zs
etc..

I get about 30-100 fps in AH with res at 1280x1024 512 texture size.

To get back to your problem I suggest either borrow a video card from another system or from a friend and see if the lockups cont. If they do then we need to look elsewhere.

Roscoroo · « **Reply #8 on:** July 06, 2005, 11:30:30 PM »

whats your clock specs on the mainboard ?

also what is your agp set at 128/256.

basically lets look over the whole setup and specs

52c can be too hot for some of the amd cpu's (ive had them start the studder and freeze/crash at 54C befor)

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 07, 2005, 03:02:53 AM »

Mainboard is a Biostar M7NCD 400 FSB socket A

CPU is an Athlon XP2600+ OC'd to 2.3 Ghz (turn up the FSB from 166 to 200). Been running stable for some time. CPU temp idles between 40C and 42C usually, really pushing it during gaming I have seen it go as high as 55C, but thats pretty rare. 52C is my normal "peak".

Memory is standard Corsair at Optimal timings (a little on the slow side, but liveable).

Video Card is a FX 5900XT softmodded to 5900 Ultra and OC'd to Ultra specs. Been running that way for quite awhile. I do know the memory on the card isnt quite the same quality as Ultra memory, so I dont push it very much beyond stock. Standard speed was 700, I run it at 750. I've had it up to 800 before and it passed the stress testing, but I backed it off from that point. The actual Ultra card I tested not so long ago would go up past 900 before the memory became unstable. Thats close to 6600 memory specs.

Another note on the video card temps. I tried gaming for awhile tonight, even though the card idles at 51C. Never had any stutter or hesitation, and never locked up, even though the card temps read 58C. I did have some problems, but I dont think they were card related. One warp (while no one around this guy was warping), and once where the other guy just didnt show up. All I could see was tracers coming out of empty air. Even while reading 58C, while the card is noticeably warm, I can easily touch it and its not burning hot. Just warm.