TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

I'm using an ATI Radeon 9800 XT Video card and I am having constant heating problems with it.

It's peak tempature has been to 87degrees celcius.
I have tryed taking off the fan and putting and putting another heat sink on *wiping off the original heat sink then applying a new one* (artic silver) but still that didnt help it at all.

The case is air holes for air to come in and one fan to push air out. power supply is 450W and im running 512k memory, gigabyte motherboard, 1 dvd drive, and the case fan<--- (sometimes)

Another thing, my CPU tempature has climbed to almost 70 degrees celcuis. It's an AMD Athlon +2500 XP. I've also done the same thing with that but no change has occured. I've had the computer for about a year now, and it only get like this during the summer. During the winter im able to leave the window wide open and it would be nice and warm inside. lol. I'm interested in solving this problem before any mayjor issue pops up.

P.s. To keep the video card and processor at a cool temp. I run with the case open and put a bedroom size fan beside it. While doing this, the tamp. for the processor is (40degrees celcius) and video card is (65degrees celcius)

just how hot is the air in the room?

Same as outdoors. It can very from 24degrees celcius to about 32 degress celcius, the windows are normaly open to get some fresh air.

an athlon operating under normal clock speeds and voltage in your environment should not be getting that hot. are you using stock cooling? the fans could be running too slow (not likely) or there could have been a lack of thermal compounds (more likely).

40C and 65C is nominal for your equipment. I would suggest looking at the airflow design of your case. How many exhausts and intake fans do you have, what are their rotational speeds, and where are they placed inside the case? How tidy/untidy are the cables?

A picture of your case would be great.

Everything in the case is quite clean, all the wires out of the way and no dust what so ever. Air flow doesnt look to bad, i have built two others computers identical to mine and they have no problem what so ever. I did try replacing the thermal paste on the video card but that did not help, i have also JUST tryed reinstalling the driver but that didn't work either.

1. Is it possible there could be a sort of virus overclocking the video card? (I have checked the overdrive checkmark, Not Checked *Off*)

2. Am I am to reset the BIOS on the video card somehow? (flash BIOS) and if so, how?

3. Would completly reformating the computer solve the problem?

4. Should I call ATI tech support and ask them whats wrong, or what I could do?

5. Should I take a hammer to it?

Any suggestions would b appericated <--- poor grammer

You mentioned that your temperatures went to 40/65 when you removed the case cover. Those are good, normal temperatures. This tells me that the problem is either poor air circulation with the cover on or bad sensors. What does your CPU temperature look like in BIOS? Let it sit for about 20 minutes (In BIOS the cpu is under "full load" even though it is idling).

The problem is not with the CPU, it's with the video card. iv been running the computer all day and with the case off, the tempature of the cpu is at a max of 51degrees celcius. *with case off* with the case on, its above 60, maybe up to 70. But the problem is not there, its with the video card going above average temp. like 85..? thats not right.

DO NOT run your graphics card at said temp. it's likely to fry and/or crash your system. can you see the fan spinning? how much airflow is going through the gpu cooler with the fan in operation? there may very well be a loose heatsink or slow gpu fan causing your troubles.

85C is high for the GPU. Depending on what card you have, it may or may not trigger overheat protection and turn itself off.

As zephead said, check your gpu fan and gpu heatsink alignment; make sure you don't have too much thermal paste, make sure the heatsink is making even contact with good pressure, and make sure the fan is spinning normally.

I'll bet its the airflow. It is shown where the cover is removed and a bedside fan used the temp drops considerably.

Look at tidying cables (mainly don't let cables block fans, or use the cables to guide air to where you need it) and adding case fans. Stack them if you have to, that should help.

Its not recommended that you run the comp without the cover on. This creates bad airflow (fixed by that bedside fan), and there's presumably some radiation that the case is supposed to absorb. I know about the airflow, I ran the comp without the cover for 3 months, always wondering why its overheating. Not sure about the radiation, will get back to you when I get some weird growths.

With the case off, the video card seems to be fine. It's at a steady 65degrees celcius. The processor is at an average of 50degrees celcius. (Case Off)

I happened to phone ATI tech. support (905) - 882 - 2626 today *monday june/27th* and I had asked them the troubles I was having. They had told me that it is normal for a video card of this power (ATI Radeon 9800XT) to run at this tempature. They said since it is made out of *silicon* the video card is able to withstand very high tempatures, even up to 120degrees celcius.

I personnaly do not like this at all. I think it's ludicris that a video card, or any componet on any computer should ever heat up to this tempature. I'm going to solve this problem by either looking for a new fan to place on the video card, or just buy a new one. I am currently running with the case off and will do so till winter rolls along. I am also looking for another processor fan, i have heard that the Volcano fans are quite impressive. I thank you for help and advice given to me by other members and ill let you know if any strange growths appear as well. lol

Now I was woundering, how am I able to stack case fans? I just need some sort of picture so that I can get an ideas of how to do it. It would help alot, thank you

your concerns are justified. the ati rep you spoke with is apparently full of s***.no way is a gpu going to operate at that temperature.

now, about those ans you spoke of...they are. the all copper models have great cooling power, and thiey leave numerous control options to the user. and, as you'll see when you buy one, they don't cost a whole lot. the only negative thing is the niose they generate when running at higher speeds. a quieter but more expensive alternative is the zalman 7700/7000 series, a massive heavy unit from zalman. unless you need extra quietness, i reccomend the thermaltake volcano 11 or higher.

Personally i know that it is airflow problems (definitly) i used to run my amd athlon xp 2800+ with no fans at all and had the door on all year round. It ran at about 65degrees i got a new case, came with 5 fans and now its 33 degrees. cost me $100.

stacking case fans? Lol, I haven't had to do it (nor test its efficacy) but basically just install a fan on top of another . Use those huge screws, and you'll need a long neck screwdriver to do it.

Personally, I think you shoudl hold off the new heatsinks/fans for now. You've got a different problem here that needs to be addressed. The new HSF will not help much unless you've got the casing airflow all sorted out. Just think, the air thats going into those HSFs are from inside the casing, so if the air from inside the casing is already at 50C, how much lower can your CPU temp be?

do you have round IDE/floppy cables? Cables can be a major drain on airflow. You should SEROUSLY consider purchasing some if you don't. you can get them dirt cheap off of ebay with cool colors and glow in the dark and other options for like 10 bucks!, I found this link with some for around $10.
you could also try some other cooling optins like have been mentioned before. I use the Zalman (in signature) for one of my CPU's and it is real nice. You can find it for around $30 if you search Sharkalacomputers is where I got mine. If you are ready for extreme cooling get the XP-90 Aluminum or the ultimate XP-90C (more expensive and heavy - needs extra support on motherboard). I purchased the XP-90 retail for under $40 total from SVC.com with a fan included. It took my CPU from 33*C idle/50*C load with Zalman to 29*C/40*C. Sweet! and stable under loads while overclocking.

There are also very good VGA coolers for your video card that you can get cheap (like $30 bucks) that would help.

Check that you have all your fans blowing the correct way also. Cooling can get real crapped up if you have 5 fans all blowing in different directions creating dead zones in your case or low and high pressure zones. You should have all of the fans working to blow the air in 1 general direction that you choose.
(I prefer from bottom of the front out the top of the back - keeping the coll air comming in the front bloring past the CPU and out near the power suply - keeping the warm power supply air totally out of the cooling situation)

Good luck man. :knock:

I dont think new Heat sink/fan are really neccassary unless u live on the equator or you over-clock its more the air flow in the case whic hhas been mentioned 50 odd times . Im just waiting to see his reply to tell us if it worked :angel:

Have you changed anything about the layout of this case & the other two that you built? How many case fans do you use? If your case has a clear side panel does it have a fan in it's center? If so try reversing the direction of airflow of this wildcat fan. I agree that the airflow should be from the bottom of the front to the top of the back(power supply fan). How many fans does your ps have? consider switching to a two fan ps. The ps's heat could be a major part of your problem. A 450w ps generates a great deal of heat. The extra fan is almost a necessity with one of these. Also, you could try putting taller motherboard standoffs under your mobo. This will create a better air flow UNDER the mobo. You'd be surprised at the difference this can make with problem cases!

Hi all,

I too have an over-heating issue only when running Microsoft Flight Simulator X. I know this because after playing for about 10 minutes, I receive an error message indicating that my graphics card is over-heating and that the application will be shut down.

I have installed a 512MB Radeon X1900xtx card and an Antec SpotCool Motherboard Cooling Fan. After reading this thread, I decided to take the cover off of the case and also have directed the air from a nearby air conditioning vent into the case.

My question is from a newbie...How do I measure the operating temperature in the box?, (an answer better than "use a thermometer" would be appreciated ). Also, what is the recommended temperature in the box?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Thank you for reading,

Ray

hi ,

i see your problem. has what you have done fixed the overheating issue ?
Also the temperature you wish to find out is known as the ambient temperature inside the case. There are many applications avialable to download which will tell you your cpu/graphics card and i think the ambient temperature inside your computer case. the recommended temperature inside your case al depends on what cpu you are using becuase different cpu's produce and can withstand different temperatures most anything below 50 degrees Cel is fine but once you get over that you may find the computer will crash more often ie will be unstable. but as i said before it all depends on your cpu.

Here is a list of programs which will tell you various temperatures.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=311
http://www.oldversion.com/download.p...688b67229e3da2

good luck,