GTS250 is too hot and loud

[rogue1979]

The card runs fine clocked at the speed in my sig. But it sure is loud and runs kinda toasty.

61C idle, about 80C during gaming. I tried using nibitor to adjust the fan speeds in the bios, but it doesn't work. 20% fan speed at idle, not sure if it gets to 100% or not under full load.

So I dusted off a VF900, and while the idle speeds dropped 10C, to my surprise it maxed out at 86C. Hooked up a fan controller, and nothing really changed.

Went back to the stock cooler with the fan controller. I guess the noise is somewhat under control, I turn it all the way down for browsing and it isn't too bad. Turn it to 100% for gaming and it makes some serious noise, but that doesn't bother me much during all the fragging and explosions.

The temps are still the same, no change. Problem is I have a Ultra Microfly and any aftermarket cooler has to be the same width as the video card. It sits right underneath the power supply, so no heatpipes are extra big fans/sinks can stick out. It can use 2 slots, but the third slot is taken.

According to GPUz, the card is 65nm, I thought all GTS250's were 55nm? I guess not:frown:

Does anyone have any suggestions for a gpu cooler that will fit?

 

[OCGuy]

Why do you feel 80c is too hot? It isnt a CPU.

 

[rogue1979]

I know it is within specs, and it isn't going to break it. But I still feel 80C or more is definitely wearing the card out prematurely.

In the past I had two X1900GT's and one 8800GTX that ran 80-85C consistently when gaming.

Both X1900GT's failed at about a year, and the 8800GTX after 18 mos. Maybe a coincidence, I don't know? But at of all the video cards I have owned, those were the only ones that ran in the 80C territory, and all three failed...

 

[hectorsm]

Originally posted by: rogue1979

According to GPUz, the card is 65nm, I thought all GTS250's were 55nm? I guess not:frown:

GPUz may not detect correctly your card. The only way to be sure would be to check the code on your GPU. G92 rev A for 65mn and G92 rev B for 55mn. Also, the revision B PCBs will only have one power connector instead of two.

I also agree your temperatures are somewhat higher than what I would expect from the GTS 250. I don't think 80C will damage that card but you can call the manufacturer to see if those temperatures are an indication of a problem with the card. If so, you should be able to return it.

 

[Qbah]

Then I would suggest you don't manually OC your card, if it's running too hot for your taste Leave it at stock settings. Temps should go down and the fan shouldn't be ramping so high. You can't eat the pie and keep it at the same time (or something like that ). It's either faster, hot and loud or normal, warm and quiet

As for 65nm, all 1GB models are 55nm, some of the 512MB versions are still 65nm (blame nVidia for renaming the same GPU a second time... 8800GTS512->9800GTX->GTS250). I'm guessing you have the 512MB version?

No idea about 3rd party coolers. Though I'm pretty sure nothing on air can compete with an Accelero S2 with a nice 120mm fan on it in terms of noise and temps. It just takes some space.

 

[Shmee]

use something like evga precision to adjust the fan. Works for me. Should allow for OCing as well.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: rogue1979
The card runs fine clocked at the speed in my sig. But it sure is loud and runs kinda toasty.

Set your clock speeds back to default and be happy.

Originally posted by: rogue1979
According to GPUz, the card is 65nm, I thought all GTS250's were 55nm? I guess not:frown:

GPU-Z has absolutely no way whatsoever to determine if the GPU is 65nm or 55nm.

Originally posted by: rogue1979
Does anyone have any suggestions for a gpu cooler that will fit?

Funny that I was just reading this review earlier today. It is the Scythe Musashi and while they don't mention it and don't have any pictures at just the right angle, looks to me as if it doesn't extend above the card so it will fit in the MicroFly case. You will lose all your expansion slots though, and it does not rear-exhaust so your PSU will be sucking in more hot air.

 

[alcoholbob]

The stock cooling profile on those G92s were always really, really low which is why the card always sounded pretty quiet. Whereas GT200 would really start sounding like a tornado when the temps went up.

 

[nicnas]

Sry for being a bit offtopic but here it goes:

I'm thinking of upgrading my old HD2600XT with a GTS250. My monitor res is 1920x1080. What performance you get from your GTS250? Please mention your moitor res and games you play.

Regarding heat: is your GTS250 using the stock rear exhaust cooler or a custom one?
I'm wondering if the stock cooler is more efficient and/or quieter than the custom cards sold by ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, Powercolor, etc. XFX sells only stock cooled GTS250 I think.

 

[thilanliyan]

Getting a GTS250 for 1920x1080 could be a bit of a stretch...something like a 48701Gb/GTX260-216 would better serve you there. I was running an OCed 8800GT (basically a GTS250 I think) and it started to struggle at 1920 with newer games hence I moved to a 4870. However, even that is struggling in some newer games (ie. NFS: Shift).

 

[rogue1979]

I play at 1280 x 1024. I would not recommend the GTS250 for 1920 x 1080.

I just picked up two open box HD 4870 1GB cards from newegg for $106 each.
That would work much better for higher resolutions. Both cards arrived today and both ran like champions. I was really impressed with the cooler (Sapphire). It was a heatpipe design, big quiet fan, rear exhaust. Temps are running about 67C full load on both, still quiet, absolutely silent at idle.

Back to the GTS250, it is a revision A with two power connectors. No joy on the
http://waycoolmodz.com/scythe-musashi/

From this angle you can see it does extend over the edge of the video card.

The noise is mostly under control utilizing the fan control, I'll live with the temps for now and keep the overclock.

I am sure that I will find something.

I tried some old school Thermaltake ND1's for overclocked 8800/9800GT's a few months ago. They were very quiet and cooled a couple of degrees better than a VF900. Maybe I can run the same 80C or so under full load, but much quieter. You can run that sucker at 100% with almost no noise at idle, so I am sure that will at least drop idle temps 10 or 15C.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: rogue1979
Back to the GTS250, it is a revision A with two power connectors. No joy on the
http://waycoolmodz.com/scythe-musashi/

Is that as good as an Arctic Cooling S1/S2?

 

[rogue1979]

I'm not sure, from what I read it looks pretty good.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: nicnas
I'm thinking of upgrading my old HD2600XT with a GTS250. My monitor res is 1920x1080. What performance you get from your GTS250? Please mention your moitor res and games you play.

It will be a huge upgrade from a 2600 XT, but a GTX 260 would be even better.

I have 2600 Pro in my HTPC and that thing can barely play WoW at 1920x1080 resolution. I have a 2600 XT in one of my notebook computers and it can play COD4 fine at lowered settings at 1280x800 and WoW medium settings.

On my LAN party rig, I temporarily went DOWN from a GTX 285 to a GTS 250. I typically play with everything turned up at 1680x1050, and I definately noticed some choppiness with the downgrade.

 

[GZNails]

I play older games like COH at 16x12 with all settings on high. Never had an issue with my GTS250.. in fact I love the priceerformance ratio on this card.