HD 4870 X2 Temperature & Cooling Thread

[Hauk]

The previews reported these things loading to 90c which while within spec per ATI, is hot in my book. I'm not a fan of chipsets/gpu/cpu running so hot. Call me old school. I'm sure I'm not alone though; we're bound to see people bumping fan speeds in attempt to cool these things down. Some users reported graphic anomalies when their 4850's hit 85c or higher. I prefer to operate at the low end of the tolerance scale.

I've thought about a mod for some time involving a blower of some type mounted externally, pulling air out of a cooler. Here's the result. I've attached an Antec V Cool to the back of my P182. It will assist in moving air through the cooler. The card's fan alone has a heavy burden at load, resulting in high rpms and noise. This "push-pull" ventillation system will hopefully yield in lower temps, decreased workload on the card's fan, and will be quieter overall. Two mid-rpm fans are more tolerable to me that one high rpm fan.

I was planning on using aluminium tape to attach the V Cool; but it proved too heavy for the thin tape to secure it. I turned to my trusty JB Kwik, a two-part epoxy that's liquid magic. I applied it to the lip of the cooler then held it in place for about ten minutes. It formed a nice seal and strong bond. I may break the plastic cooler if removed, but residue will easily scrape off the case with a pocket knife or razor.

Project Pics:

I was pleased to see card carefully packaged

These pins intrigue me. They look tough!

A little JB Kwik to hold the V Cool on

I covered the slot underneath so 100% of the air is pulled from the cooler

One angle

Another angle with card installed

I love the industrial look of this card!

My ever changing rig, with patented "ghetto fan duct" visible

Added a 120mm fan to blow directly onto card

Here's how the V Cool sits complete


It appears the V Cool helped. I ran a a few games and Futuremark Vantage, which produced the highest GPU temp at 77c. As more people test their X2's, I expect to see my load temp >10c below average. Idle temps are nice too. GPU 1 idles around 65c, and GPU 2 idles around 52c. I expect these to be below average as well.


Performance Results:

I had issues trying to install both Catalyst 8.7 final and 8.8 beta. I ended up having to use the driver CD. CCC reports the driver verion as 8.52.6-080708a-058488C-ATI. Waiting impatiently on Catalyst 8.8 final. With plenty of benchmarks already out there, I'll just post Vantage results:

Futuremark Vantage Performance = 14404

Futuremark Vantage Xtreme = 7369

Graphics cards are running faster and hotter than ever. Stock coolers, even single slot coolers, can do a decent job in a system with good airflow. Keep em cool...



Vista 64-Bit Premium
Asus Rampage Formula X48
Intel Q9450 Quad @ 3.2
8GB Mushkin Redline DDR2 @ 1005 5-5-5-12
HD 4870 X2
Antec P 182 / Thermaltake Toughpower 850W

 

[Tempered81]

can't wait. I loved your ghetto mod pics. what monitor/res are you going to be running for gaming?

Could somebody with a 30" & X2 play the Assualt Harbor level in Crysis at 2560x1600 8xAA 16xAF Very High Settings? I'd be interested to see how this pans out.

 

[Hauk]

I'm running a 24" Dell 2408WFP. The X2 should provide nice overkill. I wanted to stop the upgrade madness and stick with one card for at least a year.

I'm hoping the X2 will be that card. Even if nV comes out with a GT200 sandwich, I'm going to resist! (crosses fingers)

 

[MarcVenice]

You mean you're going to try and resist

Btw, didn't the 4870X2's run pretty quiet, because of the massive heatsinks? I think if the fan spins up a little it should be allright and they should run cooler then let's say 80c ? 1 core did get hotter then the other one though ...

 

[Compddd]

How come all these reviews say the 4870 is loud? The fan on mine NEVER spins up unless I'm playing a game, and even then it speeds up a paltry amount and I still can't hear it, and my 4870 runs at 80C constant.

I don't get it heh

 

[Compddd]

Let us know Steelsix!

 

[Hauk]

bump

 

[Sylvanas]

Well come on how does it play games?

 

[jaded25]

I second that.

 

[40sTheme]

BENCHES BENCHES BENCHES
J/K take your time. Nice modding BTW.

 

[n7]

That's a sexy looking card.

 

[nanaki333]

i had the black screen of death problem too with a fresh vista install after installing the cat drivers. wouldn't even let me in to safe mode after that. it was getting too late so i gave up and went to bed. going to give it another try tonight.

 

[clarkey01]

To the OP

My GTS 640 was hitting 91C , I took the panel off and cleaned the GPU/Fan and got it down to 84C

But I was still getting some redlines a 3rd of the way down the screen durring games.

I hate high temps - and it looks my card is failing , but my vendor is sending me a gts 512 which is actually faster and cooler.

I do know this is a 4870 X2 thread but I thought id let you know.

 

[Hauk]

Thanks for the input. In my experience, temps on the high end of what they deem "within spec" often result in issues of some kind. The cooler the better IMO..

 

[Aikouka]

One of the best things I did for my 4870 was to invert my case's side fan. I assume Lian-Li designed it for non-slot-cooled fans as it pulled air out, but the design in itself is horrible. The only input fan is down at the bottom which is pretty well encased off as the airflow there should pass over the HDDs and through the PSU which leads it out the case. In this way, the video card is just getting whatever stagnant air is in the case. Turning it around lowered temperatures by about 6-8C or so (low to mid 70's to mid to high 60's).

 

[Tempered81]

love the airflow steelsix. You really need to get the 8.54 drivers on that card. crank up some 24" gameplay with 8xAA/16xAF & max details. You going to change that Q9458 in your sig for an E8600 @ 4.5G?

Great post, fast card, good pics! Your mods still look ghetto as hell , Love the work you've done.

 

[imported_Champ]

you should see how AS5 or another non-stock paste changes the temps...i know on my GTS it lowered the idle by 1C and load by 7C...that and we gotta see what aftermarket coolers come out for this beast if ATI says its ok to hit 90C then this thing could be a OC beast we aftermarket cooling

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
love the airflow steelsix. You really need to get the 8.54 drivers on that card. crank up some 24" gameplay with 8xAA/16xAF & max details. You going to change that Q9458 in your sig for an E8600 @ 4.5G?

Great post, fast card, good pics! Your mods still look ghetto as hell , Love the work you've done.

Thanks! Fixed the sig. Yep, I'll try again with latest drivers. I stepped back and thought about how many Antec parts I've used. I decided to submit pics and a link. They'll either laugh or applaud.

Champ: I used to change out thermal interface first thing. A little wiser I guess; I'm not so quick to void warranty or raise question. It's easy to determine if a cooler has been removed. A weak card component will usually fair sooner rather than later, so I'll wait a few months on removing the cooler. For now she's good!

 

[solofly]

Very nice system, enjoy.

PS.
I paid 1560 plus tax for two cards once and I lived through. You live only once so don't think about the money spent. You can't take it with you to your grave anyway.

 

[Hauk]

There's always that empty PCI 2.0 slot...