ATI 5870 idling at 55°C

thejunglegod

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Feb 12, 2012
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Ok, ive only recently started monitoring temps. My CPU and mobo are usually at around 31 and 35°C respectively (idle temps), but my 5870 is always at 55. I've cross checked with different monitoring software like speedfan and also with CCC. I donno how much it goes up at load, but idling at 55 is definitely a problem isnt it?
 

Lean L

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Apr 30, 2009
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Depends. It's kinda hot but certainly not gonna kill the card.

My 6870 idles at 46C. These cards are kinda hot. What's the load temp? I'm peaking at 80C. While that sounds hot, supposedly it's fine as long as you don't get past the 90's. Chances are you get a new card in less than 2 years anyway.
 

j&j

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Oct 10, 2011
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55C is perfectly fine, all that matters is it doesn't go above 95C at load, and that isn't going to kill the card. i have bitcoin miners that run 24/7 at mid/high 80's.

the heat is never good, but all that i've ever seen fail out of 15 GPU's is the fucking fans.
 

thejunglegod

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Feb 12, 2012
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hmm, then i guess its fine....how do i check load temps??? the max load i think i can put on my gpu is by playing skyrim...after a battle in whiterun with around `0 guards the temps went to 76 deg. so i don thtink thats too bad. what i donno though is how to stress my gpu to its max..
 

Lean L

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Apr 30, 2009
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download OCCT and run the psu test if you are confident in the psu. That's the most stressed your computer will ever be.
 

dust

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Oct 13, 2008
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I suppose the fan is at auto speed? I'd still try and clean it, at least blow the dust with some air can.
 

Termie

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Pretty sure that your card is not going to idle clocks. Can you run MSI Afterburner and tell us what it says about your clocks? Should be closer to 40-45 at idle. That would be even at the minimum fan speed (20%).
 

superjim

Senior member
Jan 3, 2012
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Even though 55C is a little high for the 5870 at idle with 1 monitor (dual monitors use higher-than-idle clocks) as others stated, as long as you never see a ~95C load temp on the core you'll be fine. My old 6970 would always hit 90-92 when gaming with the reference cooler. If you're not one to clean your computer often, take a can of compressed air to your GPU and all fans in the case. Many people report 2-5C cooler after doing this. GPU-Z reports other temps (VRMs, mem controller, etc) on some cards so make sure you'll not looking at idle VRM temps (they can hit 120C at load).
 

blackened23

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Jul 26, 2011
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Ok, ive only recently started monitoring temps. My CPU and mobo are usually at around 31 and 35°C respectively (idle temps), but my 5870 is always at 55. I've cross checked with different monitoring software like speedfan and also with CCC. I donno how much it goes up at load, but idling at 55 is definitely a problem isnt it?

Sounds about normal for auto fan, you could probably remove some dust from your system to lower it a bit. But you should be fine
 

thejunglegod

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Feb 12, 2012
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no no. There is no dust issue cos i recently cleaned up the card. I initially thought it might be the case too. but then realised something must be fishy cos the temps remained the same.
One very important thing i'd like to point out though:
When i was cleaning the card, i removed the fan cover on the card which means that the cooling pipe block and the GPU were seperated. And the thermal paste had completely dried out. I reconnected it on top of the same. Can that be a problem?
 

railven

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2010
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My HD 5870 would idle in the 30-35c range, single 1080p monitor. That's with fan speed <25%.

Also, my ambient temps would normally be a little cooler than most, since I don't have a heater installed in the office (yeah project I started last summer - "sure I'll install the new heaters before winter comes" haha, I trolled my GF :) ) so the PC's pretty much keep the office nice and cozy :D

Load temps with fan <50% would be in the 70s.
 

gladiatorua

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Nov 21, 2011
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And the thermal paste had completely dried out. I reconnected it on top of the same. Can that be a problem?
So... You took of the put the radiator back on dry thermal paste? Not a very smart thing to do. The cause of the problem is probably the dry thermal paste... Buy new thermal paste, remove dried one and apply new one.
Google some guide with pictures. It should be helpful.
 

lavaheadache

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2005
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no no. There is no dust issue cos i recently cleaned up the card. I initially thought it might be the case too. but then realised something must be fishy cos the temps remained the same.
One very important thing i'd like to point out though:
When i was cleaning the card, i removed the fan cover on the card which means that the cooling pipe block and the GPU were seperated. And the thermal paste had completely dried out. I reconnected it on top of the same. Can that be a problem?

lol...

Ofcourse thats a problem.
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
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no no. There is no dust issue cos i recently cleaned up the card. I initially thought it might be the case too. but then realised something must be fishy cos the temps remained the same.
One very important thing i'd like to point out though:
When i was cleaning the card, i removed the fan cover on the card which means that the cooling pipe block and the GPU were seperated. And the thermal paste had completely dried out. I reconnected it on top of the same. Can that be a problem?

Uh, yeah
 

superjim

Senior member
Jan 3, 2012
293
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When i was cleaning the card, i removed the fan cover on the card which means that the cooling pipe block and the GPU were seperated. And the thermal paste had completely dried out. I reconnected it on top of the same. Can that be a problem?

WTB facepalm emoticon
 

thejunglegod

Golden Member
Feb 12, 2012
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damn!!! im a little embarrased. Thanks for pointing it out guys. Lets see what i can do to clean the old one and put new paste in. Thanks guys.
 

dennilfloss

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It's 28.5C in my apartment and my 4870 idles at 55C. Fan speed manually set at 31% ( because I start hearing it at 32%).

Edit: After 3h of Skyrim, vidcard temp was 72C.
 
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thejunglegod

Golden Member
Feb 12, 2012
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so i can use thermal pastes that are usually used for CPUs right??? are there any special thermal pastes for GPUs??