Overclocking & vid card temp

[715]

I just replaced Crossfired Juniper XT's (5770's) with an XFX 7850.   Running all games at Max Settings pegged at 60hz, with a Stock clocked E8400.

Really?  I have a stock E8400 with a MSI 7870 and there is no way I can run AH max settings and keep 60 fps.  I have to keep Environment and Water reflections off and even then it drops to 30 fps on some terrains in some situations.  I must be unlucky or something.

[guncrasher]

Earlier last year when I was having problems with the video cards that were put into my machine against my wishes, I spent a fair amount of time talking to XFX about their video cards and the effects that heat had on them, their (the techs) experiences with overclocking them, and a hoist of scenarios.

The biggest key that I was told was airflow, airflow, and more airflow.  If your case can not get airflow into that card, then if it does hit higher tempo ranges under load, it will not be able to cool down.  This leads to the obvious, thermal shutdown. 

My computer setup had a further issue as it had 2 6970's in crossfire set up.  The set up of the machine, while very clean, simply did not allow for enough air to enter into the case to cool everything inside.  There was a self contained liquid cooling set up for the CPU, and between that and the rest of the normal set up, they simply could not stay cool after continued load.

This is where I finally got into a "frank" discussion with one of the techs, and while he said he could not recommend it, he mentioned that his cards in his gaming case were all liquid cooled, and the performance was night and day.  Since that discussion, I went a bit over the top and really liquid cooled the hell out of my machine.  Now, it has the correct XFX cards, they are liquid cooled, and it runs very well.  I have never had a performance issue from heat since the day I set it all up and got it running properly. 

Keep in mind, that liquid cooling can be expensive, and usually voids your warranty.  Do not buy "gently used" parts, it is a waste of money and time as they will have some issue, sooner or later.  Lastly, get a good monitoring system to set up with it and monitor temperatures, I use a Koolance CTR CD-12 that montitors everything and will shut down the system if a problem arises (like a gently used pump failing or a "like new" radiator springs a leak) it audibly warns you and shuts the system down.

liquid cooling on video card is more for show than anything.  the "frank" discussion was made just to move away from a different issue on your video cards.  I have older evga 465 video cards on a tempest case with not even 1/2 the mods yours had and mine never get hot.  they go around mid 70's while in heavy use and considering that the max is about 100 degrees is not even close to running "hot".  I could install a water cooled system but that would be a waste of money as the I am not even close to crossing the "safe range".

as for cpus, some of the water cooled systems cost less than the heat sink I installed on my cpu and while running hotter than water cooled systems it still doesnt go above 60 degrees.  my decision for air cooled as opposite to water cooled was just based on I dont really care for water cooled.



midway

[Drano]

I'm of the same thinking as far as water cooling goes--and hell I'm a plumber! I don't see a reason for it on my end. A lot of extra neato stuff that could go wrong and trash all your other actually useful and more expensive neato stuff. So I passed. All about the flowing water tho in RL  .

I have good airflow in my CM-690 II Advanced case (a 100% kikkazz case for the money btw). My MSI R6950 2GB PE/OC Edition card has a Twin Frozr III cooler on it that is just awesome. I have several OC profiles set up on afterburner for it, the highest (that I never run) is 935/1430. Max'd out I don't think I've broken 70c on it either. I haven't run P95 on my i7 2600-K in a while but I want to say it never broke 65 at any point and I'm overclocked there to 4.4. I have a Zalman 9900 Maxx cooler on that. So air is fine as long as you're not in the desert or something. Lot cheaper too.

[Bodhi]

liquid cooling on video card is more for show than anything.  the "frank" discussion was made just to move away from a different issue on your video cards.  I have older evga 465 video cards on a tempest case with not even 1/2 the mods yours had and mine never get hot.  they go around mid 70's while in heavy use and considering that the max is about 100 degrees is not even close to running "hot".  I could install a water cooled system but that would be a waste of money as the I am not even close to crossing the "safe range".

as for cpus, some of the water cooled systems cost less than the heat sink I installed on my cpu and while running hotter than water cooled systems it still doesnt go above 60 degrees.  my decision for air cooled as opposite to water cooled was just based on I dont really care for water cooled.

LOL, you know... I am just going to laugh at you.  Liquid cooling is a much better alternative to air cooling in PC video cards, especially those with tight constraints of airflow and limited options like the case I have (again, not what I ordered).  As for my computer set up, you would not know anything about it, unless you talked to the one who built it initially, and I would say he is filling you full of nonsense. 

As for the rest, ignore Guncrasher's nonsense and focus on the fact that if you have airflow issues, proper liquid cooling is the way to go.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Really?  I have a stock E8400 with a MSI 7870 and there is no way I can run AH max settings and keep 60 fps.  I have to keep Environment and Water reflections off and even then it drops to 30 fps on some terrains in some situations.  I must be unlucky or something.

Maybe he plays at 1024x768 resolution.

[Masherbrum]

Maybe he plays at 1024x768 resolution.

Far from it.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Far from it.

I happen to have an XFX 7850 and E8400 on my current AH rig (my secondary gaming computer) at the moment and I have overclocked the 8400 to 3,4Ghz. Still it's not able to run at more than 20fps or less on max graphics settings at 1680x1050. So I have some doubts.

[Masherbrum]

I happen to have an XFX 7850 and E8400 on my current AH rig (my secondary gaming computer) at the moment and I have overclocked the 8400 to 3,4Ghz. Still it's not able to run at more than 20fps or less on max graphics settings at 1680x1050. So I have some doubts.

Doubt all you want.   

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Doubt all you want.   

AFAIK the 7850 doesn't even have enough video ram to handle the max textures and shadows.