High Temperatures

[Reisooh]

I have a XFX 7800GT which I bought about 2 and a half years ago. I recently started SpeedFan after my computer had been on, idling, for a while and I noticed that I had a few "Fire" icons. My 7800GT was idling at about 60C. Also, my harddrive is idling at over 51C. However, I think that the harddrive is normal since there is a fan under the cage, but there really isn't any airflow on it. It is a three slot cage and all slots are filled. I don't think that a 60C idle is normal for a graphics card, am i right? I have a X-FI Xtremegamer card two slots under the graphics card - there is a one slot gap for air intake. The exhaust end of the heatsink is free of obstruction, the cables are decently organized. I installed RivaTuner and set the fan speed to 100% and it dropped the temperatures to 57C, but that's still just idling. (These temperature readings were the same on Speedfan and RivaTuner) My non-expert opinion is that the heatsink has come loose and isn't making good contact with the GPU. Is this what I need..This.? In addition, I have a MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum which has active cooling on the ... southbridge (I think) Here is a picture. The fan on the ?southbridge? has stopped spinning. The heatsink surrounding it gets pretty hot since it isnt actively cooled anymore. If you spin the fan with your finger while the power is on it will continue spinning (but slowly - not normal speed). How do i replace that? Do I need to replace it? The replacement has to be really thin since the 7800GT goes over it, just a millimeter or two away.

Here is a screenshot of my Speedfan readings...Picture

What should I do?

Thanks for your help!

 

[DSF]

My 8800GT idles around 60C, and my 7600GS was in the same neighborhood. It varies from card to card, but generally speaking video cards can and do tolerate higher temperatures than CPUs. The fire icons are based on Speedfan's default settings without any knowledge of your components, and can't really be trusted until you set them yourself.

I would recommend that you do some research on how hot 7800GTs typically run, because I don't know. I would also run something to stress the card and see how high the load temps get.

 

[Reisooh]

Ok - I've read that some people get about 45C idle and 65C load.

I just ran the Video Card Stability Test and watched as every time Speedfan refreshed the temperature went up a degree or two. After a one 1 minute 30 seconds it had reached 90C and I decided I was pushing my luck so I stopped the test.

Should I get a new fan?

What about the Southbridge?

 

[myocardia]

That fan on your motherboard is your northbridge fan. It's obviously working like it should, because Temp 2 in Speedfan is your northbridge temp, and it's only 43C @ 100% CPU load. That's cold for a northbridge. As far as your GPU temps, it sounds as if you need to buy a can of compressed air, and blow 2½ years of dust out of your 7800GT's fan and heatsink. Heatsinks don't magically unattach themselves from video cards, so unless you've been using it as a hockey puck or Frisbee, it's still attached as well today, as it was the day you bought it; it's just dusty now.

 

[Reisooh]

Wow. I should have thought of that. I took it out and looked through its window and the heatsink was just filled with dust. I blew out the dust and now its much lower. 10 minutes of Stress testing got it to 77C (GPU) and ~73C (7800GT).

Thanks!