FurMark - 6850 overheating

[Davste]

I don't know if my graphics card is faulty. It's 3 days old, brand new, so it definitely does not need cleaning. It's a PowerColor 6850 PCS+, and one of the main reasons I bought this card was because it was meant to run "cool and quiet".

It runs quiet allright, but today I ran FurMark 1.8.2 to test my card's temperatures. After 10 minutes, it reached 100 degrees. I got worried and turned the program off at that point. I have read on several other forums, people saying that their 6850 reached 60 degrees after 45 minutes of FurMark.

Here is a screenshot:

If I open up my case completely, leaving nearly all the components exposed, and put the fan speed of the card to "manual" and "100%", it still reaches 80 degrees, but never goes higher than 85. I'm very worried. Does this card need an RMA?

The ambient temperature is 32 degrees. The idle temperature of this card is 45 degrees - I remember it was also 45 the day I plugged it in.

I never overclocked this card, but my CPU FSB is set from the default 200Mhz to 224 Mhz, don't know if that's a problem. I'm going to try setting it to default and see what happens.
Look here: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1543/12/

 

[Ghiedo27]

What temperature is the room that the computer is in? Is the case well ventilated?

Keep in mind that 100c is (barely) within spec and furmark is making that card hotter than normal use will. That said, putting the fan on manual and selecting a good balance between cooling and limiting the noise may not be a bad idea.

 

[deimos3428]

I don't think there's anything wrong with your card. 85C is about right given your ambient of 32 C. (Guru3D tested this card and got a load temp of 74C...but their ambient was way down at 21C; it's hitting +53C either way.) http://www.guru3d.com/article/powercolor-radeon-6850-pcs-review/9

It looks like you're seeing a significant difference (15C) between case open and closed, which points to insufficient case airflow. It'd be helpful if you posted your case specifications -- make/model, number of fans for intake/exhaust, and their locations.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Like the others have said, it sounds to me that you have insufficient case cooling/airflow. At 32C ambient it should be 80-85C at full load.

 

[Davste]

Thank you for your help.

This is my case:
http://www.pcloft.com/comawamataca.html

I have now run my FSB at stock speeds, 200Mhz.

No changes in temperature. This is with the normal fan speeds though. It stays at 93 degrees if I force it to 100%. (With both sides of the case closed).

The thing is, where I live there is a very big problem with dust. You leave a computer vent uncleaned for 3 months, and you find a whole half inch of dust blocking it.
It may not be such a good idea if I leave both sides of the case open.

 

[deimos3428]

Yep. You need a case with much better airflow. One 80mm fan at the back and another in the front just isn't gonna exhaust enough heat. (You could run without the side panels until you get a new case, but that's a temporary fix in your environment.)

 

[Davste]

Oh well. Won't be getting a new case for some time
Looks like I don't have any options left, going to have to leave it running as it is.
At least I got a 2 year warranty. Going to leave the fans at 100% while playing though.

 

[deimos3428]

If you're not up for a new case, another thing to consider is using the PSU fan as an exhaust for the whole case. Obviously not ideal because all that heat is passing through your PSU, but if it gets the heat out of the case it's an option. Here's an example, but you'll have to figure out what wattage you need:

http://www.corsair.com/builder-series-cx430.html

 

[Davste]

If you're not up for a new case, another thing to consider is using the PSU fan as an exhaust for the whole case. Obviously not ideal because all that heat is passing through your PSU, but if it gets the heat out of the case it's an option. Here's an example, but you'll have to figure out what wattage you need:

http://www.corsair.com/builder-series-cx430.html

I already have that exact same PSU. What do you mean?

 

[3DVagabond]

Try mounting a 120mm fan inside the case (maybe on the back of the HDD case if there's room) blowing directly onto the card.

 

[deimos3428]

I already have that exact same PSU. What do you mean?

Oh. In that case I don't think there's much more you can do, short of modding the case.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

6850s shouldnt even run that hot. Do you have a card directly under it blocking it? My 6850 runs significantly cooler than my 5830 when bitcoin mining, but with the 5830 in the 2nd slot, the 6850 runs closer to 85C. I slapped some MX-3 on to cool it better.

 

[Awkward]

I'll never understand why people STILL stress test with furmark

 

[Rifter]

take a dremel to the case and cut out some 120mm fan holes and mount some cheap 120mm fans. This has worked for me in the past while i was saving up for a new case.

 

[Arkadrel]

If I open up my case completely, leaving nearly all the components exposed, and put the fan speed of the card to "manual" and "100%", it still reaches 80 degrees, but never goes higher than 85. I'm very worried. Does this card need an RMA?

sooooooo your card reaches 98 degree's celcius - 100c with your case closed and only 80 degree's celcius with it open?

why is your card so hot? because your case is small, and has very bad airflow!

what happends if you buy another card? THE SAME BLOODY THING... why? because its your cases fault not the cards.

 

[Jacky60]

I'd forget about furmark if I were you. Its not a game just a utility designed to overheat cards -a power virus. If your card doesn't overheat when gaming then carry on as usual. If you're hoping to bitcoin mine then maybe but otherwise forget it. Also that case seems very expensive for the pispoor airflow it provides.

 

[Davste]

6850s shouldnt even run that hot. Do you have a card directly under it blocking it? My 6850 runs significantly cooler than my 5830 when bitcoin mining, but with the 5830 in the 2nd slot, the 6850 runs closer to 85C. I slapped some MX-3 on to cool it better.

Nothing at all blocking it.

Here's a photo of the card in the case:

The day I was about to put the card in, I was shocked. The IDE slot of my motherboard (used by my DVD drive and one of my hard drives), was RIGHT under the graphics card. I was lucky though, it fit but it's very tight.

I don't know if you can spot something that's heating up the card, but it's got quite a lot of space. The card under it is a PCI WiFi card. I use my integrated sound card, so nothing else there.

Hmm, I have two intake fans and one for exhaust, I noticed one of the intake fans wasn't connected. I'm going to connect it and see. Seriously though, if you completely forget about the case and open up both sides, it still goes up to 80 degrees, and that's with forcing the fan to 100%. This card is the PCS+ version from powercolor, it's meant to run much cooler than the reference 6850 versions. I have seen a lot of people on forums say that their 6850 never went higher than 60 degrees after 45 minutes of furmark. They could have been bluffing, I don't know. And to think I was planning to overclock this card. I can't imagine doing it now. What would I get, 130 degrees?

What I DO know is that I tried FurMark on my bro's pc. He has a GTX 260. After 10 seconds, it crashed lol. I think I'm going to leave FurMark to burn in hell.

Don't know if I should worry about furmark anyway, this card doesn't overheat that much in-game. Still, I was expecting it to run a LOT (20-30C) cooler.

EDIT: What's bitcoin mining?

 

[Davste]

sooooooo your card reaches 98 degree's celcius - 100c with your case closed and only 80 degree's celcius with it open?

why is your card so hot? because your case is small, and has very bad airflow!

what happends if you buy another card? THE SAME BLOODY THING... why? because its your cases fault not the cards.

Your comment made me laugh
Thanks

 

[peonyu]

I don't know if my graphics card is faulty. It's 3 days old, brand new, so it definitely does not need cleaning. It's a PowerColor 6850 PCS+, and one of the main reasons I bought this card was because it was meant to run "cool and quiet".

It runs quiet allright, but today I ran FurMark 1.8.2 to test my card's temperatures. After 10 minutes, it reached 100 degrees. I got worried and turned the program off at that point. I have read on several other forums, people saying that their 6850 reached 60 degrees after 45 minutes of FurMark.

Here is a screenshot:

If I open up my case completely, leaving nearly all the components exposed, and put the fan speed of the card to "manual" and "100%", it still reaches 80 degrees, but never goes higher than 85. I'm very worried. Does this card need an RMA?

The ambient temperature is 32 degrees. The idle temperature of this card is 45 degrees - I remember it was also 45 the day I plugged it in.

I never overclocked this card, but my CPU FSB is set from the default 200Mhz to 224 Mhz, don't know if that's a problem. I'm going to try setting it to default and see what happens.
Look here: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1543/12/

I test with Furmark to just to see what my max temp can be and if it wont crash under the max heat output...But in real games your gpu will never hit the temps Furmark forces. My card has hit 103c in Furmark but real games it is usually at 85c in the most demanding game.

And your card didn't crash under the heat either, so its stable even when under 100%+ stress that furmark pushes..

 

[MangoX]

The thing is your case has 80mm fans ... that tells me right away that it's very old, and probably released at least 5-6 years ago. You have a 2010 card so you need a modern chassis with better cooling. Everything on the market these days have 120mm fans and larger (up to 200mm). Also I see your wiring job does not look clean and tidy thus the cables are restricting much airflow from your already small 80mm fans.

Just calling it as i see it.

 

[Davste]

I test with Furmark to just to see what my max temp can be and if it wont crash under the max heat output...But in real games your gpu will never hit the temps Furmark forces. My card has hit 103c in Furmark but real games it is usually at 85c in the most demanding game.

And your card didn't crash under the heat either, so its stable even when under 100%+ stress that furmark pushes..

But your card isn't a 6850 right? Especially not a PCS+ 6850.

Yes my case is old. Some wires are stretched too tight, and some are too long so you don't know what to do with the extra wire (like the SATA ones for example). I really don't know how I can make it tidier. I used cable ties wherever I can, but they are not visible because they are tucked at the top.
I arranged all the wires to try to keep them as close to the sides as possible now. Without buying all the cables again at the right sizes, don't know what are the options heh. I like to have my case tidy, it's not only because of the airflow issue.

Anyway after I connected my second fan it looks like it went down by 4C.

 

[Zap]

Don't know if I should worry about furmark anyway

You shouldn't.

 

[killster1]

They make 80mm to 120mm adapters.. also you could cut teh side out of your case and put 2 more 120mm fans.. i use antec 1200 with 3 in front and 2 in back with a giant fan on top im lil obsessed tho.

 

[dust]

I suppose the two intake fans you're referring to are in the front? You may want to arrange those anacondas blocking all the airflow then. Also one exhaust fan seems too less. I'd change the case asap.

 

[Borealis7]

One thing in this thread got me thinking...

Why should ambient/room temperature affect LOAD temperature? for idle temp, sure, but for load temperature? the only thing that matters is the heatsink's dissipation ability and the heatsink+case airflow to prevent buildup.

I mean, the load temp is far far above ambient temp (relatively). logically, it shuoldn't matter as the chip is producing X amount of heat (in watts) under load regardless of where its operating. amiright?
so the difference in MAX LOAD temp between a 20C room and a 30C room shouldn't be that big.

obviously i'm not talking about running the chip inside a deep-cool freezer.