HELP: My 6800 GT runs too hot, Idle at 65C, goes to 85 under load

[UzairH]

Just got an eVGA 6800 GT PCIe. I use Nvidia Monitor that comes with ntune for monitoring the temps. From the get-go when Windows boots the 6800 GT is at 65C. After a while of playing games like Doom 3 it goes to about 85C. Aren't these temps too high? Ambient temp is about 32C to 35C for the case.

At first I though the 71.84 driver might be the culprit as it has been reported to give 20% higher temps than actual. So I went to 71.89, no difference. Tried 66.93, again no difference.

One thing I don't like about the ATX case specification is that there seems to be no way to pass air over the GPU fan; there are only PCI slots below it, and no matter how many fans you have in the case I don't see how air can be made to circulate in front of the face of the card. One solution I am going to try tomorrow is to remove one of the PCI slot metal covers in the case and install a small fan blowing air out there.

Is it possible to get high temps if the 6 pin PCIe power connector is not plugged in? I had some trouble in getting it to fit in the connector on the card and maybe it is not supplying the juice right now.

And I plan to stick with the stock HSF on the card for now; I had to go to a lot of trouble to import the other parts from US to here (Pakistan) as it is.

EDIT: Regulator07 suggested I look at the evga copper heatsonk, can someone who's used it tell me how good it is?

All your help and comments are appreciated

 

[ryanv12]

I got those temps too with my 6800GT. Apparently it's safe. I, however, didn't exactly feel comfortable with that, and not to mention I don't like the nvidia reference heatsink so I installed an NV5-silencer. Not only is it much quieter, my card never goes above 70C under load.

 

[UzairH]

Yo thanks ryan. Bumpin' this to get some more advice comin'.

 

[UzairH]

Also I remember reading here somewhere that by overclocking the 6800 GT to (?) 400 MHz the temp bug was removed and temps were actually reduced. Is that true?

 

[UzairH]

bump

 

[imported_Kensai]

I'd get some better cooling for that card if I were you.

 

[ddogg]

get the Zalman VF700-AlCu...superb fan!! i have a 6800U idling at around ~45 to 50 and ~70 under load and i still havent set it to full speed!

Get it from here

 

[ddogg]

EDITops posted twice!

 

[ddogg]

Originally posted by: UzairH
Also I remember reading here somewhere that by overclocking the 6800 GT to (?) 400 MHz the temp bug was removed and temps were actually reduced. Is that true?

no thats not true

 

[Gstanfor]

I know a lot of the temperature variation was caused by drivers, but I have a feeling that it isn't the only cause, especially when you see people who purchase aftermarket coolers and only experience comparatively small temperature drops.

For instance my 6800GT idles at 46 Celcius, load 65 Celcius.

Perhaps it comes down to steppings of the nV40 GPU. Thinks like the number of metal layers in a chip and the routing of those layers can have a pretty big impact on temperature. NVidia has revised the NV40 since initial release, they created a dedicated PCI-E nV41, there would be nothing stopping them from also reworking the original NV40 at the same time.

This is what rivatuner says about my core:

$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$ffffffffff NVIDIA specific display adapter information
$ffffffffff ---------------------------------------------------
$0100000000 Graphics core : NV40 revision A1 (16x1,6vp)
$0100000001 Hardwired ID : 0045 (ROM strapped to 0045)
$0100000002 Memory bus : 256-bit
$0100000003 Memory type : DDR (RAM configuration 07)
$0100000004 Memory amount : 262144KB
$0100000005 Core clock : 351.000MHz
$0100000006 Memory clock : 552.000MHz (1104.000MHz effecti...
$0100000007 Reference clock : 27.000MHz
$010000000b HW masked units : none

I have a 6800GT, the Leadtek model.

 

[Regulator07]

those temps are slightly high but i too have heard that it is ok. i have the same card and under load i get 78-80 C at most. and my ambient goes to upwards of 50 C. i have heard that people replacing the stock cooling with the NV5 has not lowered the temps, but same say it has. i am not sure i want to spend the time and money to then not have it lower temps. you could look into the copper heatsink from evga, that is pobably the route i am going to go (cheap and it doesnt void warrenty).

 

[UzairH]

Thanks for the reassurance Gstanfor and Regulator07. Gstanfor I checked in Rivatuner and it gave the exact same info for my card as you have stated for yours (except the mem clock of course). So I dunno what is causing it to run so hot. Maybe the heatsink is not mounted properly?