6800GT Questions

[georgel12]

I just bought a BFG 6800GT OC PCI-E from a user online and got it today. Installing it was fine. Nothing wrong and such. But, i checked the temp for the card and it was in the high 80's or 90c after playing Fable for an hour. So, i tried adding a fan below it, blowing straight up. That didnt help. I called BFG and asked them about it. They said it was faulty card and to RMA it. But, as i checked the default speeds for it, they were 395/1070. Did the card come with modded bios? I went to check the bios number printed on a whote sticker on the card and it was a EVGA 6800GT bios number... I am confused as of now. So here are a few questions:

1. 90c for PCI-E card is high, right?

2. Is default speed is 395/1070?

3. Is 5.40.02.36.08 a EVGA bios number?

4. Is there a way to fix high temp? i tightened heatsink, added a fan below it, and reseated it a few times. Nothings helped.

5. If i do RMA it, is it safe to assume this card is a BFG 6800GT OC? Also, if the bios is modded, can i still send it back?

Sry for the long post. Hope someone can help me out.

 

[xtknight]

1. very high for any graphics card. you sure that's celcius? maybe you have the buggy NVIDIA drivers where the temp was high by mistake? uninstall current drivers, reboot, then install latest NVIDIA ForceWare release drivers.
2. default is: 370/1000 for BFG OC
3. googling that BIOS makes it seem like it's also an XFX BIOS. it's a general/universal BIOS num. or card ID I guess.
4. any dust in the fan?
5. don't think you can RMA it with a modded BIOS. try to underclock it with Coolbits.

 

[georgel12]

thx for replying. im sure its celcius. used nvidia and rivatuner. i cleaned out all the dust in the fan. Still realy high temps. you know where i can download the 5.40.02.36.08 bios? thx again

 

[xtknight]

maybe you have the buggy NVIDIA drivers where the temp was high by mistake? uninstall current drivers, reboot, then install latest NVIDIA ForceWare release drivers.

5.40.02.36.08 BIOS: http://www.mvktech.net/index.php?option...=fileinfo&parent=folder&filecatid=1004

Pretty sure it's an EVGA BIOS now.

Use this to flash:
http://www.mvktech.net/index.php?option...emository&func=fileinfo&filecatid=1287

Be warned this CAN kill your card. I tend to think if that's the BIOS # on your sticker it should be fairly safe. That makes it about as safe as flashing a motherboard BIOS.

 

[elcamino74ss]

NM someone posted the place I was going to for bios rom

 

[georgel12]

i tried 3 different drivers so far. Xg 77.62, DNA 77.77, Forceware 78.03. All of them reporting the same. Thx for the link to bios. Is there a program that i can use to check what bios on have on now?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: xtknight
maybe you have the buggy NVIDIA drivers where the temp was high by mistake? uninstall current drivers, reboot, then install latest NVIDIA ForceWare release drivers.

Yep, that's definitely possible (I had the issue on my own 6800GT with those drivers a while back). In any case, 90C is way too high for a 6800GT, even a (slightly) overclocked one, unless you have your PC outside and live in south Texas or something. I'd say 80C is probably pushing it too, I wouldn't want to go any higher than that at all. Mine idles at just below 60C and rises to around 75C at load, which seems to be normal. Unless your ambient room temperature is really high, that's way too high...

 

[xtknight]

Go in RivaTuner, Target adapter frame, the little customize button-->Graphics subsystem diagnostic report. Then look under this section just a little bit down in the textbox:

$ffffffffff NVIDIA VGA BIOS information

 

[georgel12]

Used nBitor on the EVGA Bios and clock speed was 350/1000. Should i change to 370/1000 or leave as it is before RMA'ing. Guess ill look around the BFG bios for a little bit

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: georgel12
Used nBitor on the EVGA Bios and clock speed was 350/1000. Should i change to 370/1000 or leave as it is before RMA'ing. Guess ill look around the BFG bios for a little bit

So the seller claimed this was a BFG card? Can you describe the picture on the heatsink?

I think all BFG cards say BFG right on their heatsink. And all EVGA ones look like the reference NVIDIA Mermaid. If you do decide to flash, flash that 5.40.02.36.08 BIOS and leave it as is, don't change the clocks.

 

[georgel12]

hmmm. weird.

$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$ffffffffff NVIDIA VGA BIOS information
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$1100000000 Title : nv45 p211 sku4 VGA BIOS
$1100000002 Version : 5.40.02.36.10
$1100000100 BIT version : 1.00
$1100000200 Core clock : 200MHz
$1100000201 Memory clock : 600MHz
$1100010000 Perf. level 0 : 370MHz/500MHz/1.30V/53%
$1100020000 VID bitmask : 00000011b
$1100020100 Voltage level 0 : 1.10V, VID 00000000b
$1100020101 Voltage level 1 : 1.30V, VID 00000010b
$1100020102 Voltage level 2 : 1.40V, VID 00000001b
$1100000003 SW masked units : none


I guess my driver must be messed up or something. Reading it 395/1070... Maybe the temp is wrong too then. Gonna try driver cleaner.

 

[georgel12]

also, yea, it has a mermaid on the metal plate over heatsink and fan.

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

Before you touch the BIOS, try using Coolbits to "underclock" this card to its default 370/1000. Otherwise, you could get an NV5 silencer, which has allowed me to take mine up to 430/1150 with a load temp of 72-75C.

 

[xtknight]

It's an EVGA card flashed with a BFG OC BIOS to overclock it, that's my guess.

Here's that BFG 5.40.02.36.10 BIOS that you have on currently: http://www.mvktech.net/index.php?option...remository&func=fileinfo&filecatid=803

 

[georgel12]

i just saw the fan option in rivatuner. it was all at 30%. Is that right? Well, i put it all up to 100%. hope that helps. doing shouldnt harm anything should it?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: georgel12
hmmm. weird.

$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$ffffffffff NVIDIA VGA BIOS information
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$1100000000 Title : nv45 p211 sku4 VGA BIOS
$1100000002 Version : 5.40.02.36.10
$1100000100 BIT version : 1.00
$1100000200 Core clock : 200MHz
$1100000201 Memory clock : 600MHz
$1100010000 Perf. level 0 : 370MHz/500MHz/1.30V/53%
$1100020000 VID bitmask : 00000011b
$1100020100 Voltage level 0 : 1.10V, VID 00000000b
$1100020101 Voltage level 1 : 1.30V, VID 00000010b
$1100020102 Voltage level 2 : 1.40V, VID 00000001b
$1100000003 SW masked units : none


I guess my driver must be messed up or something. Reading it 395/1070... Maybe the temp is wrong too then. Gonna try driver cleaner.

A 6800GT with 200 MHz core clock does sound odd. I don't know what's going on with that thing.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: georgel12
i just saw the fan option in rivatuner. it was all at 30%. Is that right? Well, i put it all up to 100%. hope that helps. doing shouldnt harm anything should it?

I don't think so. That's a good idea.

 

[xtknight]

Where is that fan option?

 

[georgel12]

back. just uninstalled driver, boot in safe mode, driver cleaned, rebooted, and installed 78.82 forcewares. The speed is not 370/1000. thats good. Temp is still damn high. the fan option is in rivatuner. click on the little tab thing. then system settings, then FAN tab. hope that helps. im too sleepy now. guess ill resume this task tommorow. thx all that helped till now

 

[georgel12]

awake, ran atiltool artifact test for 15 min and only got up to 84c. does atiltool just keep stressing ur video card? or does it stop at one point. got RMA number, if i dont get this fixed by tonight, ill send it away

 

[monster64]

Ok look. 6800 GTs wont artifact till you get to about 100C. Their maximum safe temperature is over 120C, depending on the vendor. My XFX 6800 GT used to get to 94C while OCed during full screen rthdribl. About 85C during games. It didn't throttle, as I got the same 3dmark 05 score before and after my comp being on for a while with that test running. As long as it doesn't reach 100C, you should be fine. If you are really worried, get an aftermarket cooler. I would worry about it though.

 

[georgel12]

How hot is 80c suppose to feel? I think there is something wrong with my temp monitor. i removed that metal plate with the mermaid on it. Placed a 3 inch fan right under it blowing straight up on max right at the heatsink, and it was still the same high temps. i felt the card afterwards and it only felt "warm" is there another way to get temp?

 

[xtknight]

80C is 176F, a little below boiling point. It should feel very hot, enough to activate your withdrawal reflex certainly...

 

[georgel12]

yea, it wasnt hot at all. i touched it without any problems. but then again, thats just heatsink, gpu could probably be much hotter...

 

[monster64]

Touching it "after" wont do anytyhing, cuz at very high temps it cools down very quickly. That would explain alot though. Your GPU is very hot, your heatsink is surprisingly cool for that temp, means bad contact between the GPU and the heatsink.