New EVGA 7900GT KO-Way too hot temps

[ChiSoxFan]

I got my new 7900GT KO Superclocked (580/1580) last friday and started monitoring my temps while playing HL2 Episode 1. After only a couple of minutes the temps got up to 101C after idling in the upper 40's. I have the recently released one that was supposed to get rid of the memory problems of the original ones. My part number is 256-P2-N567-AX and I got it from Newegg.

I'm going to RMA it after going through tech support but wanted to make you all aware of this issue if anyone else has this new model. Keep track of your temps because this puppy was about to melt.

 

[Running]

that is pretty hot, but i thought vid cards could handle temps up to 120C?

 

[ChiSoxFan]

Yeah the core slowdown threshold is either 120 or 130, but if it's running at 100+ during all my gaming it's going to have a VERY short lifespan. Even the EVGA guys I talked to were very concerned and said it should be more like mid-upper 70's at load.

 

[Captante]

6800GT/Ultra's maxed out at 120c, but thats the older & larger chip... 101c does sound pretty hot for a 7900 & even though I seriously doubt it would have actually melted or burned up, I bet it's life would have been shortened if you kept it.

 

[Pens1566]

They handle up to 130C. And the cards they've been sending out to "fix" the memory problem are just Signature Series cards that have a BIOS that matches whatever SKU # you originally had. They also have 1.45V going to the core for 3D mode. That's why the temps are so high.

 

[Captante]

Wow ... I would have thought the 7900s ran cooler then 6800's did ... never looked into the actual maximum though.

What I do know is my current X1900XTX doesn't hit 101c even when overclocked... max's out around 90c which is still pretty toasty!

 

[WT]

From one extreme to another with these cards !! Too low voltage ... now too high. I'd think that 1.3 would be a happy medium, but its warrantied by EVGA so I'm not sweating it (pun not intended).

 

[Blur2u]

you probably are not getting very good contact between your GPU and heatsink. The other thing i've noticed w/ these cards is if you don't have good air circulation on you case hot air just gets trapped around the video card area and it the temps slowly creep up.

 

[ChiSoxFan]

Originally posted by: Blur2u
you probably are not getting very good contact between your GPU and heatsink. The other thing i've noticed w/ these cards is if you don't have good air circulation on you case hot air just gets trapped around the video card area and it the temps slowly creep up.

I actually took the heatsink off to check that and put thermal paste back on and got the same temps. My circulation is great and I even have a 2 slot blower right below the card that blows cool air from outside the case directly on the card so airflow isn't a problem. BTW I just did an auto overclock with Coolbits and it overclocked to 630 Core and 1780 memory and was stable in gaming. Temps actually went down a bit. Very strange. Is that a good overclock for this card? Still running too hot though.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: ChiSoxFan

Originally posted by: Blur2u
you probably are not getting very good contact between your GPU and heatsink. The other thing i've noticed w/ these cards is if you don't have good air circulation on you case hot air just gets trapped around the video card area and it the temps slowly creep up.

I actually took the heatsink off to check that and put thermal paste back on and got the same temps. My circulation is great and I even have a 2 slot blower right below the card that blows cool air from outside the case directly on the card so airflow isn't a problem. BTW I just did an auto overclock with Coolbits and it overclocked to 630 Core and 1780 memory and was stable in gaming. Temps actually went down a bit. Very strange. Is that a good overclock for this card? Still running too hot though.

Maybe the Zalman vf900cu or thermalright V-1 ultra will solve this problem?

 

[Nextman916]

Originally posted by: Captante
6800GT/Ultra's maxed out at 120c, but thats the older & larger chip... 101c does sound pretty hot for a 7900 & even though I seriously doubt it would have actually melted or burned up, I bet it's life would have been shortened if you kept it.

What the hell? Are you sure? Ive never heard of temp that high on anything with the exception of defective cards. My old 6800ultra hit about 63-70c when gaming. Ive heard 6800gt's around 80c under stress, what old chip are you talking about? i wasnt aware nvidia ever changed chips in the 6800 line.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: Nextman916

Originally posted by: Captante
6800GT/Ultra's maxed out at 120c, but thats the older & larger chip... 101c does sound pretty hot for a 7900 & even though I seriously doubt it would have actually melted or burned up, I bet it's life would have been shortened if you kept it.

What the hell? Are you sure? Ive never heard of temp that high on anything with the exception of defective cards. My old 6800ultra hit about 63-70c when gaming. Ive heard 6800gt's around 80c under stress, what old chip are you talking about? i wasnt aware nvidia ever changed chips in the 6800 line.

Mine maxed out around 75c clocked @ Ultra speeds with the factory heatsink, but yeah the limit for that chip was def 120c... I wouldn't want to run it that high for too long though!

 

[acegazda]

even though evga slaps on a heftier heatsink and calls it its "supercooled" version, the KO was frequently shown that it is not any better than the normal 7900gt. I would replace the heatsink with a zf900 from zalman which cools with great results. Its $40 which is a decent buy.

 

[buzzsaw13]

Originally posted by: ChiSoxFan

Originally posted by: Blur2u
you probably are not getting very good contact between your GPU and heatsink. The other thing i've noticed w/ these cards is if you don't have good air circulation on you case hot air just gets trapped around the video card area and it the temps slowly creep up.

I actually took the heatsink off to check that and put thermal paste back on and got the same temps. My circulation is great and I even have a 2 slot blower right below the card that blows cool air from outside the case directly on the card so airflow isn't a problem. BTW I just did an auto overclock with Coolbits and it overclocked to 630 Core and 1780 memory and was stable in gaming. Temps actually went down a bit. Very strange. Is that a good overclock for this card? Still running too hot though.

Very weird, you're card should not be hitting anywhere near 100C. My voltmodded 7900GT at 1.5V idles 45-50C and hits low 80s on load

 

[Fallengod]

Definitely rma. The newer batch of cards have issues fixed anyways.

 

[videopho]

Originally posted by: modempower
Definitely rma. The newer batch of cards have issues fixed anyways.

I second the rma's idea. Running any card at that temp is totally absurd. Even in the 90cs in load is still way too high. My eVGA 7900gtx with stock cooling runs extremely cool at low 40c idle and the highest I've seen is high 58c in load running the game of Oblivion.

 

[Pens1566]

Originally posted by: modempower
Definitely rma. The newer batch of cards have issues fixed anyways.

I agree about the RMA. I disagree about the newer batch being fixed. Check out the EVGA 7-Series forum if you doubt it. Linky

 

[ChiSoxFan]

Yeah I'm doing the RMA with cross ship. The EVGA folks there are great to work with though. I spoke with multiple tech support people and managers and they were all VERY concerned that the card was running so hot. They all said even with the stock overclock of 580/1580 it shouldn't be near that high. I was happy with how high I was able to OC it but hopefully the new one does the same but at lower temps. I'd get aftermarket cooling, but I paid a bit more for the OC one and don't think I should be FORCED into it because this one runs too hot. It should be usable from the get go and even better with aftermarket cooling to allow for greater OCing. 101 from the start is unacceptable.

 

[dawza]

Just out of curiosity, was the card actually extremely hot (by feel) when the temp sensor reported 101+ degrees C? Even with the less than spectacular stock cooler, temps should not be getting anywhere close to that high.

 

[ChiSoxFan]

Yes, it was extremely hot to the touch and the board itself was even radiating a ton of heat. I didn't want to even try touching it because I would have burnt myself.

 

[aatf510]

Do you know what voltage does the KO superclocked run on the core??