My new 8800gt, a few questions

[SneakyStuff]

Well after a month of debate, being a forum vulture, and price watching I finally bit the bullet and scored an 8800GT. Truly I have never owned a card this powerful and capable and I was wondering:

A: Safe operating temperatures (initial testing showed mine hit 79'C after intense gaming)
B: Overclocking range (I have never oc'd a card that gets this hot before)
C: System bottlenecking (my specs are in my sig, is my processor frequency holding me back?)

Just curious to hear your personal stories and experiences with this card, I am very pleased with it and I want to get the most out of it! Thanks!

 

[angry hampster]

Download rivatuner from guru3d.com. Use it to set a custom fan profile according to temperature. You also use this program to overclock the card.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/...peed--overclock-guide/

Bottlenecking won't be an issue as long as you're gaming at 1440x900 or higher.


79*C is getting pretty hot, though the GT is known for operating in 90*C+ temps. I personally never want mine above 75*C, and it usually never goes above 60. This is using a Zalman VF900.

 

[DSF]

A) 79C is nothing to worry about. Personally I wouldn't want it crossing 85 or 90, but the fact is that the card should be able to tolerate up to 100C or so from everything I've read. GPUs tolerate higher operating temperatures than CPUs.

B) Some vendors sell cards running as high as 670 Core and 950 (1900) Memory on the stock cooling. If you want to really push it, you may want to look at upgraded cooling. (The card is fast enough that I wouldn't worry about it too much.)

C) Bottlenecks always depend on the game and even the specific settings you have. For a simple test, load up the game that you're worried about and fiddle with the graphics settings. If you don't notice a performance difference you may be CPU-limited.

 

[SneakyStuff]

edit: answered my own question in regard to the fan adjustments

 

[Enig101]

Originally posted by: angry hampster
Download rivatuner from guru3d.com. Use it to set a custom fan profile according to temperature. You also use this program to overclock the card.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/...peed--overclock-guide/

Bottlenecking won't be an issue as long as you're gaming at 1440x900 or higher.


79*C is getting pretty hot, though the GT is known for operating in 90*C+ temps. I personally never want mine above 75*C, and it usually never goes above 60. This is using a Zalman VF900.

There are some problems with using the guru3d guide with the new version of Rivatuner (I discovered this recently as a noob to the program). There's an updated guide here, though: http://www.vaguetech.com/index.php?pageid=rt207

 

[Chosonman]

I own this card. It get's hot as doo doo.

 

[BassBomb]

Mine used to hit high 80's on load with stock cooler locked at 30%.

Make sure you check if your card has an updated bios released. The original batch of cards could only run at 30% fan speed unless adjusted by RivaTuner, hampering their cooling ability.

 

[Raider1284]

Originally posted by: Chosonman
I own this card. It get's hot as doo doo.

If your crap is 80C then you need to go to the doctor immediately!

When i first got my evga 8800gt it would hit 100C+ temps when playing crysis, it never crashed, but was too hot for my comfort.

Replaced with a duOrb and temps are now 60C load...much better!

 

[pmv]

My 8800gt never seems to go above 55C, even after hours of intensive use. That's assuming the nvidia monitor reported temp is actually the core temp of course (is it?). The Palit non-stock cooler is supposed to be very effective according to review sites and maybe the low temps are only fair compensation for the horrendous noise my machine makes with its excessive number of fans (last 2 machines blew up/died, so I resolved to (a) never ever use psu's that come with cases, and (b) add lots of fans). Curious to see if it stays as cool when I put a case fan controller in.

Only over-clocking to a feeble 615/915 though. Trying to get anywhere near the 650/950 'preoverclocked' models produced horrible artifacting, so I stopped trying, though the temps stayed low. Can overclocking cause damage other than via heat?

Is Rivatuner worth trying? Card came with something called 'vdo', which seemed to have the basic tweaking options. Bit wary of Rivatuner after reading the post from the guy who found it clashed with another tweaker with the result that it basically turned his card's fan off at full load. To be fair seemed to be an incompatibility rather than a bug.

 

[arnav]

Originally posted by: pmvdp
My 8800gt never seems to go above 55C, even after hours of intensive use.

My 8800 GT doesn't go above 55C either. Even while playing Crysis at High setting with anti-aliasing on.

Rivatuner is a good program, but it gets a little complicated and its interface is not too user friendly. Personally, I use eVGA Precision, now this software is the beast. Really nice user interface and very easy to use. It can be used to tweak everything.

Only problem is that only evga members are allowed to download it. I could share it, but that might be illegal.