Sapphire x1950pro overheating @50c?

[EnginRob]

I built a new computer, athlon64 4000+, msi k9a crossire, 2gigs gskill ddr2 pc6700, raptor 10k, x1950pro. 550watt ps. 22" hannsg lcd.
I can and do oc cpu to 2.85g stable, I don't do anything to memory, but I would like to oc my video card up alittle. I can click on ccc and it tells me I can go higher in clock and core, but I raise it half that and play a game(bf2 2142) for 10 min I get artifacts, and I stop playing.
I can then open ati ccc and it has a temp of only 50c, normal is 40c.?
I've heard that some of these cards have been put together in a hurry and the heatsink fan is not set very good. Any ideas? I dont think its ps, and if its the heatsink why would ccc just read 50c at max. Its a good card and runs well, but I should be able to get more out of it. Just alittle higher will artifact in 10min.?
Thanks EnginRob
ps if I need to reset my fan- heatsink, how?

 

[LinkedKube]

Those temps arent out of the norm for that card. That card isnt great for overclocking either

 

[EnginRob]

sorry not what I've heard

50c is not hot for any card i've heard of. Could be wrong, anytime.

 

[LinkedKube]

50c is not hot for any card i've heard of. Could be wrong, anytime.

Maybe you're thinking that heat is the only factor in overclocking because its not. Firstly I wouldnt think that sapphire makes their parts of the highest quality material.

The only reason I overclocked my already "ultra" card was because its from xfx and they have a reputation to keep

Sapphire is kinda like a "meh" card creator, you get what you pay for, well at least when you compare to the rest of the market.

 

[EnginRob]

I agree

yes I agree that xfx is one of the best makers around, and sapphire is not. but I haven't had a card that can't go up 1 -2%. What I guess I was looking for someone else had ever heard of a card coming with a gap or not set right between the card and heatsink. I've been looking around and someone else has had that problem so bad the could daylight through the space!! I had orginially wanted to buy another one because my MB will run crossfire. But if I can't do anything better than stock I may have to rethink.
If anyone else has heard of why this card artifacts at 50c I'd would like to hear from.
So far I've never seen this run over 50c. Thanks Rob

 

[spl88ff]

Most cards when overheating will suffer from loss of frame rate.
The x1950 runs fine at 60c so your way off that.
Mine runs around 45-50c, try nice heatsinks on the memory.
Does this happen on all games?

 

[EnginRob]

Games

Most of games I play have been bf2 or bf 2142. I can run almost on all highest, but my router starts taking a hit with a low upload of 284kbs I get killed more because I'm not faster. I have been starting to not overclock at all, and have had no problems. I think my biggest problem is that my fan on the card is not going to a 100% speed till it hits 60 or 70c. And I never get that hot.
I've been using rivatuner and I can fix my fan at 100% all the time and try to overclock alittle. I'm going to try that tonight. If that goes longer before shutdown I'll know that its the temperture that is causeing this and I could try a better fan.?
Who knows? Thanks for the help

EnginRob

 

[spl88ff]

Saphire dont make cheap copys of Ati cards they are exactly the same as any other manufacturer because they have been supplied the board/chips from ati.
The only differences could be;
bios/ firmware (thats why 9700pro and other models could be unlocked to the daddy models)
Possibly the fan/cooling may be different.
And of course the thermal compound.

My suggestions are if you must overclock;
Replace the fan and heatsinks, or get one of the pci coolers and blow over the card.
Or watercool like me and run card on max oc and a little more
Testing your rig on the same game engine isnt a good idea.
Is your bios configured properly?
What ratio is your memory set at to the cpu?
Are you running OC config on your cpu as well?

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The fan isn't running at 100% most likely. Try setting it to run at maximum speed via RivaTuner or SpeedFan and you should be able to OC it with better results.

 

[EnginRob]

It Worked

:grinthumb , Well after trying several different things, and I thank you for your ideas. Last night I I did use rivatuner and set my fan at 100% speed all the time. Then OC my x1950pro from 574 processor to 580 and my mem to 702 from 688. Run BF2 2142 for about an hour and at highest settings with antilass to 4X. Very happy and will stay there for awhile. When I did stop playing, I opened up ati and read a temp. of only 48c. Since it has always started artifacts at 50c I'm going to leave it at this setting for a while. Later I may try a pci fan or reset my fan with an upgrade, but for the lack of funds right now I'll have to wait.
Again thanks for the help, and if anyone knows of a cheap pci fan thats not to loud, please leave me a note.

Thanks EnginRob :wave:

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

The temp will drop after you stop playing, so don't count on that. Use RivaTuner's monitoring graphs to log the temperatures during a gaming session. That'll give you a better idea of the temps the card is operating at under load. Just a pointer in case you have any future problems. Good luck and enjoy your gaming.

 

[NFSFAN]

The core could also be a dud. Usually the memory is, but temperature is not a problem on that card. Many factors such as PSU might be.

 

[aznn3rd]

50 degrees should not cause artifacts. My Visiontek 3850 runs 75 on load and it works perfectly fine. 50 is actually my idle temperature. For overclocking, you didn't raise it that high, so there should not be any issues. Could be an issue with a faulty card.