9800 gx2 and cooling the damn thing

[mirandamarquez]

First post so bear with me.

Can anyone suggest a way to get the temperature down on an overclocked 9800gx2 without resorting to water?

I'd really appreciate even the most basic input.

Thank you in advance

MM

 

[boomhower]

At this point your limited to improving you case temps. You have a nice flowing case so just make sure your wires are out of the way as much as possible. You could mount an 120mm fan to blow directly in the area of the card.

 

[mirandamarquez]

Thank you for your help, boomhower.

Can someone tell me how hot this thing ought to be running?

Even at the stock speeds it seems to run very hot indeed.

MM

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: boomhower
At this point your limited to improving you case temps. You have a nice flowing case so just make sure your wires are out of the way as much as possible. You could mount an 120mm fan to blow directly in the area of the card.

While that might help, I opted to run an exhaust fan instead of intake fan next to card. The way the card is designed, it blows hot air out the side of the card (side facing away from the motherboard). So, if you had a side mounted intake fan on your case you are essentially blowing the hot air back into the card. By mounting an exhaust fan next the card, you are helping to direct the hot air from the card to the outside of your case.

My setup:

One front mounted 120mm intake fan, with a minimum of obstructions between it and the GX2.
One side mounted 120mm exhaust fan right next to the GX2 with a duct to bridge the gap between the fan and side grille.

My temps (core0/1 graphed with RivaTuner):

67/65C idle
81/79C load

...yeah, it still runs pretty hot, but the exhaust fan is pumping gobs of heat out of the case. The grille where the fan is gets much warmer than the area surrounding it, not to mention all the hot air coming out of the case.

 

[sgrinavi]

Mine cooled down from 70 degrees to 62 just by running the fan at 70%.. the difference in noise over the stock 51% is negligable.

 

[angry hampster]

80C load isn't terrible, though 65C idle is pretty hot. How long have you had it? My experience has shown that temperatures will go down after 5-7 days of being hot.

 

[mhouck]

Nitromullets's temps are close to what mine are getting. I know this isn't your solution but if anybody else is interested, I think the best bet is to go to liquid cooling. Unfortunately from the info I got on the EVGA board there are two options and both are out of stock.

"ttp://www.dangerden.com/store/product.php?productid=336&cat=48&page=1

They are out of stock now, but they will have more. $209.95"

"koolance will have one very soon, anyday actually, price should be aroun 100-130 plus nozzles around 10.00 for the size you'll need.

http://www.koolance.com/water-...nfo.php?product_id=675"

I think I'm going to liquid cooling when these get back in stock IF there is significant overclock improvements.

 

[Continuity28]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
My temps (core0/1 graphed with RivaTuner):

67/65C idle
81/79C load

...yeah, it still runs pretty hot, but the exhaust fan is pumping gobs of heat out of the case. The grille where the fan is gets much warmer than the area surrounding it, not to mention all the hot air coming out of the case.

Honestly, for a card like that, I'd say that's not too bad.

Hell, I remember having 6800GT SLI where the cards would hit 100C. :thumbsdown:

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Continuity28

Originally posted by: nitromullet
My temps (core0/1 graphed with RivaTuner):

67/65C idle
81/79C load

...yeah, it still runs pretty hot, but the exhaust fan is pumping gobs of heat out of the case. The grille where the fan is gets much warmer than the area surrounding it, not to mention all the hot air coming out of the case.

Honestly, for a card like that, I'd say that's not too bad.

Hell, I remember having 6800GT SLI where the cards would hit 100C. :thumbsdown:

if your case flow isn't good or the VGA cooler is inadequate for the O/C, an old g80 GTX will shut down ~100C or artifact. The important thing with these GPUs is - cool air onto the GPU and and excellent exhaust of hot air out of the case .. or everything will fry
:sun:

that is a single advantage AMD has with their cooling. YOu may "lose" the "extra slot" [and for me it is very "extra"; both of them] - but your case temps may actually drop with 2900xt CrossFire even though they are mini-furnaces hotter than any GTX [barely ]

that said, how is the performance ?

 

[Continuity28]

Did you quote the wrong person, apoppin?

 

[panfist]

I think your best bet would be to create some kind of duct system to force cool air on the card's intakes. If that doesn't help, then find some way to duct and pull the hot air out faster.

Your temps are actually not too bad considering it's the fastest thing out now.

 

[imported_Shaq]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: boomhower
At this point your limited to improving you case temps. You have a nice flowing case so just make sure your wires are out of the way as much as possible. You could mount an 120mm fan to blow directly in the area of the card.

While that might help, I opted to run an exhaust fan instead of intake fan next to card. The way the card is designed, it blows hot air out the side of the card (side facing away from the motherboard). So, if you had a side mounted intake fan on your case you are essentially blowing the hot air back into the card. By mounting an exhaust fan next the card, you are helping to direct the hot air from the card to the outside of your case.

My setup:

One front mounted 120mm intake fan, with a minimum of obstructions between it and the GX2.
One side mounted 120mm exhaust fan right next to the GX2 with a duct to bridge the gap between the fan and side grille.

My temps (core0/1 graphed with RivaTuner):

67/65C idle
81/79C load

...yeah, it still runs pretty hot, but the exhaust fan is pumping gobs of heat out of the case. The grille where the fan is gets much warmer than the area surrounding it, not to mention all the hot air coming out of the case.

I have basically the same setup. I bought a new case with a 80mm fan right next to where the heat exits the 9800GX2. I turn the fan speed up to 80% when gaming and it stays under 80C. If you have Lost Planet:Extreme Condition try looping the benchmark. That is the most demanding thing I have run on it. 1600x900 4x/16x every setting as high as it will go and it can reach 85C with 80% fan speeds. It hit 90C in my old case with the fan on 100% and the side of the case off!

I need to see if I can use a duct or something to allow more heat out. The grills on the window are obstructing a good amount.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Continuity28
Did you quote the wrong person, apoppin?

why? .. i just gave a general comment about the different ways that AMD and NVIDIA set up their coolers and general ideas to keep a hot GPU cool in a case .. i have experience with both NVIDIA and AMD
- he mentioned *100C* and i remembered 100C
- not so cool

. . . did i screw up again?

 

[mirandamarquez]

Thank you fellas
I'll have a go at adding a fan right next to the card.
I'll see how that helps.
MM

 

[v8envy]

My current solution to high in-case component temperatures centers around http://www.walmart.com/catalog....do?product_id=1795820, some cardboard, duct tape, and a furnance filter. Stay tuned for amazing and dramatic GPU, chipset and CPU temperature reduction results.

It ain't quiet, pretty or portable, but it seems to be highly effective. Redneck engineering at its finest.

 

[mirandamarquez]

My case temperature stays around 34 degrees, pretty regardless of what else is going on.
It seems the tuniq takes care of keeping the CPU low enough to not cause any issue....
But the card...
Could someone advise me as to what is a sensible expectation of the heat generated, and how high it can go before it actually causes an issue that might break something?
I saved up a long time for this and I'd hate to break it.
I'm sorry to be so ignorant..which is why I came here to ask the guys who know.
Thank you for you help.
MM

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: mirandamarquez
My case temperature stays around 34 degrees, pretty regardless of what else is going on.
It seems the tuniq takes care of keeping the CPU low enough to not cause any issue....
But the card...
Could someone advise me as to what is a sensible expectation of the heat generated, and how high it can go before it actually causes an issue that might break something?
I saved up a long time for this and I'd hate to break it.
I'm sorry to be so ignorant..which is why I came here to ask the guys who know.
Thank you for you help.
MM

Well, you should notice artifacting .. probably 100C is unsafe and it will probably give you an "errror" or shut down before there is any permanent damage - there is thermal protection

Are you watching your temps closely? What is idle? My own 2900xt idles around 80C and i used to panic when i saw it get near 100C .. but there is at least a year warranty; mine is "lifetime"

Just from looking at what is average in this thread, it looks like middle upper 60s - maybe 10C higher than an old 8800-GTX - and low/mid-80s under load .. if you are outside this - you might start to think about more cooling .. but 34C is good case temp [i wish - mine is 40s - but then i also live in a desert]
:sun:

 

[scottb75]

Seems like watercooling is the only way to cool this thing further at the moment.

 

[ajaidevsingh]

I had bought a thermal compound just for the 9800 GX2 and with the stocked cooler this was all in vain... Thus, i had to sell my 9800 GX2 as i had no plans to buy a water block and the stupid thing raised my CPU's temp by 10-20% when i played games...!!!