4850, biting the dust?

[TridenT]

So, I can only assume it is my 4850 in my system. Sometimes when I run StarCraft 2 the screen goes black and the system shuts down. The 4850 idles at about 83C, 31% fan speed, 0% activity. (CCC)

It's a bit dusty, but I don't think the fan is clogged or anything that drastic. It goes into 100% whirring insanity when SC2 is up. I don't have it OC'd.

Or is it something else in the system? I check my CPU temps right after this happens in the BIOS and they're pretty cool. (So is NB, SB, etc.)

I don't expect the CPU to be overheating either. It's not OC'd and it has a huge ass heatsink on it that keeps it at 30C idle.

 

[Spikesoldier]

do take the card out and clean the h/s with the shroud off and the fan, preferably with an old toothbrush or air.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

So, I can only assume it is my 4850 in my system. Sometimes when I run StarCraft 2 the screen goes black and the system shuts down. The 4850 idles at about 83C, 31% fan speed, 0% activity. (CCC)

It's a bit dusty, but I don't think the fan is clogged or anything that drastic. It goes into 100% whirring insanity when SC2 is up. I don't have it OC'd.

Or is it something else in the system? I check my CPU temps right after this happens in the BIOS and they're pretty cool. (So is NB, SB, etc.)

I don't expect the CPU to be overheating either. It's not OC'd and it has a huge ass heatsink on it that keeps it at 30C idle.

D:

Dude, that is WAY too high for any graphics card idling. You should do something about it ASAP. Make sure your case has decent airflow and remove the graphics card's cooler and replace the old thermal paste for something better. If you don't have some, you can get something like Arctic Cooling MX-2 and Tuniq TX-2 for cheap ($5-7 dollars). Make sure you get the stock fan cleaned for any dust, too. After you do that, install it again and make sure to download GPU-Z and FurMark. Open GPU-Z and go to the Sensors tab and monitor info there on GPU load and temps when idle. After that, open FurMark and set it to run on 4xAA at 800x600 or 1024x768 and enable temp monitoring. Run it and, after leaving it running for some minutes, see if there's any abnormal behavior. If the card continues to run, record temps 15 mins after it's been running. If you get the problems you were having before, the card is either done for or you need to bake it.

Let me know of the results.

 

[frostedflakes]

4850 was always a hot card IIRC.

Temps still seem pretty high, though, probably couldn't hurt to blow dust out of the cooler and install new thermal paste. Unless you're looking for an excuse to upgrade.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

The 4850 was only hot with the overly conservative default fan profile.
Setting it to a higher manual value (IIRC, I set mine to ~58%) didn't increase noise much but drastically lowered temps.

 

[dust]

do take the card out and clean the h/s with the shroud off and the fan, preferably with an old toothbrush or air.

+1, but I'd recommend a shovel rather than a toothbrush, 83C idle means he's got some serious digging to do!

 

[TridenT]

+1, but I'd recommend a shovel rather than a toothbrush, 83C idle means he's got some serious digging to do!

It's been that hot for a long time... I've never seen it even go below 70C. Pretty much from day 1.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

It's been that hot for a long time... I've never seen it even go below 70C. Pretty much from day 1.

Do what I said, then. Yes, it's a PITA, but it's pretty much the only choice you have short of just replacing it.

 

[TridenT]

Do what I said, then. Yes, it's a PITA, but it's pretty much the only choice you have short of just replacing it.

It was like that with two cards... I used to have two of them and they both ran like that. :/ I'm skeptical that it's the paste. Not like I have any thermal paste left anyway...

EDIT: And I don't feel like upgrading right now. I rather wait for the next generation to come along. (HD 7XXX series, nvidia 6XX)

 

[OCGuy]

Bad case airflow, bad HSF contact, dust.

What does the card hit when loaded?

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

It was like that with two cards... I used to have two of them and they both ran like that. :/ I'm skeptical that it's the paste. Not like I have any thermal paste left anyway...

EDIT: And I don't feel like upgrading right now. I rather wait for the next generation to come along. (HD 7XXX series, nvidia 6XX)

Alright, do this then:

Remove the card, clean out all the dust, install it again, force the GPU fan at 100% in CC, download FurMark, and run it. Let me know the results.

 

[Spikesoldier]

force the fan to 100% in CCC and get used to it if its still hot after cleaning.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

So... any news?

 

[PG]

If it's a single slot 4850, then they all run really hot.
Reviews when it came out showed high temps too:
http://www.techspot.com/review/103-asus-radeon-4850/page10.html

The single slot heatsinks do get really dusty over time too and then don't work that well. You might need to take it apart to clean it properly.

Here are some more little known tricks.

MSI released a 4850 bios with a much lower core and memory speed at idle than other manufacturers. Idle is just 160 Mhz core and 500 Mhz for the memory vs 500/750 which pretty much everyone else used. The MSI bios I am talking about is here: http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/16357/MSI.HD4850.512.080605.html

Next, get Radeon BIOS editor here: http://www.techpowerup.com/rbe/

Now load up RBE...Radeon BIOS Editor... and load the MSI bios. Now go to the Fan Settings tab and hit the button for Set All Fan Values to Recommended Settings.
That will change the fan response which you can see in the graph. It works well and then you don't have to play around with fan speeds in Windows manually, it's all automatic.
Anyway, then flash the card. It's easy and I have done this many times with no problems.
The card will be louder, but not insanely loud. It should run at least 10 to 20 C cooler at idle.

Case airflow is very important when you have a 4850. Make sure to have an intake fan, and a case with a 120mm intake really helps. You need to get more cool air to run past that card.


edit: only do the bios flash if your card is a single slot reference type card as in the review I linked above.

 

[StarvinMarvin22]

The reference heatsink on those old single slot 4850s is terrible. I would try removing it, cleaning out all the dust and apply new tim.

About a year ago I got sick of the poor temps and loud noise and replace the heatsink with an Accelero S1 and zip tied a 120mm fan - Its now silent and loads up during Furmark at about 45c. I had been getting temps near 90c with the stock heatsink.

 

[TridenT]

Getting this with SC2 in the menu: http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/9263/hoooollycrappants.jpg

 

[bryanW1995]

The 4850 was only hot with the overly conservative default fan profile.
Setting it to a higher manual value (IIRC, I set mine to ~58%) didn't increase noise much but drastically lowered temps.

Is that with a custom fan or the original single slot? I bought a 4850 at launch, and that thing was clearly audible to me over ~ 40% fan. That was the biggest reason I got rid of the card, that single slot cooler design just didn't cut it for me.

 

[TridenT]

Is that with a custom fan or the original single slot? I bought a 4850 at launch, and that thing was clearly audible to me over ~ 40% fan. That was the biggest reason I got rid of the card, that single slot cooler design just didn't cut it for me.

Yep. It's pretty audible over %40. At %50+ it just sounds like a turbine engine.

 

[chihlidog]

Power supply or yes, a bad card.

My 4850 used to run hot as balls, too. Time for a replacement, IMO. You can pick up a 6850 (HUGE upgrade!) for $150.

 

[Red Hawk]

IIRC when Starcraft 2 first came out it had an issue where the main menu would put a extreme amount of load on the graphics card, and quite a few cards met their end at the hands of Starcraft 2's menu because they would overheat. Is the game fully patched?

Edit: They never patched the issue, but they did describe how to fix the issue manually.

http://www.tgdaily.com/hardware-features/50908-blizzard-codes-starcraft-2-overheating-fix

"Certain screens make your hardware work pretty hard. [For example], screens that are light on detail may make your system overheat if cooling is overall insufficient," Blizzard rep "Martyt" wrote in an official Starcraft 2 forum post.
"This is because the game has nothing to do so it is primarily just working on drawing the screen very quickly. A temporary workaround is to go to your Documents\StarCraft II\variables.txt file and add these lines:

frameratecapglue=30
frameratecap=60
You may replace these numbers if you want to."

 

[TridenT]

Added those lines. I think it's not spinning up super fast now because of that.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

4850 might be hot with the stock cooler but I have an Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo on it and I run at 30% fan idling in the 40s... load in the 70s I believe. Crank up to 50% and it keeps below 70 easily.

Yep. It's pretty audible over %40. At %50+ it just sounds like a turbine engine.

like any other card. I've put 4850, 5830, 6850, 6950 in my comp, and the 4850 is the only one on a custom cooler. Any other one with stock coolers is a jet engine. Even idling you can hear the whine of the cooler. Let's not get started about load sounds.

My AC Twin Turbo never goes above my Noctua D14 in noise which is already on the quiet side.

 

[finglobes]

I put an Accelero on a 4850 as well. It was running in the 80s when I bought it and now it stays in 40's even when its 90F ambient. I don't even use a fan on the Accelero so it doesn't make a peep. I hope to mod a 6870 with an Accelero (love those things). Haven't researched that one yet

 

[slayernine]

Interesting my 4850 just starting giving me issues a couple weeks ago. It would artifact during Starcraft 2 games and when I plugged in a second monitor the screens would both turn white and the system would be stuck like that until I did a hard reset. Card under load was also hitting the 80 something degree range.

Card still has warranty so hopefully I get a new one of some sort.

 

[slayernine]

Interesting my 4850 just starting giving me issues a couple weeks ago. It would artifact during Starcraft 2 games and when I plugged in a second monitor the screens would both turn white and the system would be stuck like that until I did a hard reset. Card under load was also hitting the 80 something degree range.

Card still has warranty so hopefully I get a new one of some sort.

They gave me a new card but in the end it was actually my motherboard causing the problem :S