So I have a EVGA 512-P3-N975-AR GeForce 9800 In the computer I built about a year ago.

Well before I added a new hdd to it (1TB ) it ran at about 30c - 35c idle and running WoW with the settings on max would only get up to 65c tops. I was pretty happy with that. But apparently when I added that hdd I changed the airflow in my case and now its idle at about 60c, even after just booting up the computer when it was off for a few hours. Get playing games and it was getting up to about 85c, which was worrying me. So with some creative use zip ties, I mounted a spare fan to try and blow air right on it and of course I have cleaned out all the dust in my case several times. Now it runs about 5c-10c cooler when under load for a while, so about 75c.

Several reviews I have read for it did state the card runs a little hot, but I wasn't able to find specific numbers for what 'a little hot' is.

Should I be concerned about those temperatures, and or is it ok to run it like that? I have noticed games and other graphic intensive processes don't run quite as nicely any more.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT:

This is the case I have it in. Well the green version of it :P

i had the same problem, the downfall with the 9800GT, they get dirty QUICK. you have to unscrew the side panel (little ity bity screws) and clean out the dust so it gets good air flow again

and is it a double slot or single slot (fan blowing back into case or blowing out)

umm the fan on the bottom pulls air onto the card, it does not blow away from it. Is that what u asked?

And when I get home I will try taking the panel off the card and cleaning it again

kinda.. umm what you gotta do is take the covering off to be able to access the heatsink, i was thinking of my XFX one at the time didnt notice u had posted your model, but ya the screws on the back take the ones on the out side of the card out leave the center ones ill make a jpg for you and ill circle them one sec

Cool thanks!

there ya go, i think those are all of them, i believe the center 4 are to hold the heatsink on """addition""" Pipe cleaners from when u were in school work the best xD also i know im a pro @ Windows Paint xD

Attached Images

512-P3-N975-AR.jpg (110.5 KB, 47 views)

keep me updated, ive had lots of practice tearing these things apart xD

oh and remember, to unplug the fan, and be gentel taking it off (bad spelling i know ) xD

Ok I will pull the card and take a look at it when I get home

Looks like its going to be a while got a flat on my truck

atleast its not raining xD

Well I took the card out and clean it out. Also d/l'd and installed EVGA Percision. The temp on the GPU was about 80c while playing WoW, and only had the fan running at 40% with it set to auto......So I adjusted it up to 90% and dropped it the temp 10c under load.

Still seems a bit hot to me, but it is better now

is the card overclocked at all?

and what is your room temp, that also may have an effect... also try playing with the case side panel off, that way your case isnt holding the heat

Well the 9800GT seems to be a hot card. At ambient temps of 25c it idles at about 50-52c (fan speed set to 100%). Gaming gets it past the 75c mark. At times above 80c. However, that's because my fan speed automatically falls back to 40% after a short period of gaming. RivaTuner can't seem to keep it spinning at 100%.

Nope not overclocked. Thought about it, but I haven't b/c of the temp its running at.

room temp usually isn't above 70f. And i don't really want to take off the side, b/c my tower is sitting on the floor, with the side that would be open out. Don't want to kick it accidentally or something

But using EVGA Precision and setting the fan to 90%, keeps the temp around 52c idle, and even playing WoW for a couple of hours it only got up to 65c. Stupid 'auto' keeps bumping it back down to 40% even when the card is up to 80c. So Ritwik7 try EVGA Precision. Just make sure and turn on 'Apply at Windows Startup'

I am thinking of looking for a case with some more room in it though, everything is kinda packed into this case. That 9800GT is a really long card. Think that might help.

@ TorturedChaos : Which version of EVGA Precision are you using? Thanks.

Tried using EVGA Precision v1.7.1. The problem still occurs. My fan speed just spins down to 40% after a short while of gaming. (Happens only during games.)

However, I've assigned a hotkey to my profile, so every time I hear the fan spin down I press it and it goes back to 100%.

Any clues?

Looks like I'm using 1.8.0. It should be the most recent one from there website, I just downloaded it the other day.

I think if a graphics card works properly (ie. no lockups / distortion in display), it's not too hot. I've seen my cards (some of them passively cooled) go past 100C without any trouble.