Radeon HD 4850 idle temps creeping up

[flizesh]

Hello,

I built a new PC around September of last year and got the VGA SAPPHIRE 100242L HD4850 512M RT from Newegg. I know the card runs hot, but here 6 months later I find the idle temp on my card going higher and higher.

First it started idling at 80C, which I was fine with, I know the card runs hot. But progressively the idle temp kept going up, 81, 82, 83, etc and now the card is idling at 85-86C after 6 months; while I am just in Windows, not even playing any games.

I opened the case and checked for dust on the fan etc, and found almost no dust or anything like this so I don't think that is the problem.

Is my card defective, and if not why does my idle temp keep going up over time?

Thanks for any help and advice.

 

[FerrelGeek]

Wow! 80C seems pretty high for idle temp. Stupid question, but did you check the intake filters on you case? What's the idle temp of your CPU? How are you controlling the fan on your card? Are you overclocking the card and setting it to run overclocked all of the time? What temp does the card run at under load?

 

[francisA]

Have you tried opening up the stock cooler? When I took the cooler off of my Sapphire 4850, there are dust inside the heatsink, where the fins are. You would need to pop the plastic cover though to clean it out. The fan will not show much dust but it may be inside. And when dust collects on those fins, there won't be enough air flowing over your GPU. Just an idea.

Then once you get that taken cared of, take the fan off of auto control and set it to a comfortable level, 35-40% is ok and watch your temps come donw.

 

[dakels]

Oh wow I am having the exact same problem and you were writing your post as I was writing mine. Anyways mine was around 80C at 80% fan speed (too loud) under load. Now its about 100C at 80% fan speed and 90C at 100% fan speed. I'm also starting to get random shutoffs too which makes me want to try RMAing this card. I have no noticeable dust on my card either and my case is clean due to dust filters on my case intake fans. I am thinking that it's possible that the thermal adhesives are starting to wear down? It might be necessary for me to reapply thermal grease but I really don't want to. With that effort I'd rather be putting in a third party cooler. I shouldn't have to do this for normal operation of this product so therefore I think I can RMA it. Hopefully get one with a better cooler too, non reference like mine.

 

[FerrelGeek]

Originally posted by: francisA
Have you tried opening up the stock cooler? When I took the cooler off of my Sapphire 4850, there are dust inside the heatsink, where the fins are. You would need to pop the plastic cover though to clean it out. The fan will not show much dust but it may be inside. And when dust collects on those fins, there won't be enough air flowing over your GPU. Just an idea.

Then once you get that taken cared of, take the fan off of auto control and set it to a comfortable level, 35-40% is ok and watch your temps come donw.

Additionally, you might consider downloading ATI Tray Tools and set up a custom fan profile in the Hardware -> Overclocking option.

 

[shangshang]

My card idles at 77C at 22% fan speed. Room temperature is 70F. My case is open case (side completely open).

Now if your room temp is colder than mine, and you run an open case like me, and your fan speed is higher than 22%, and you're still getting above 80C at idle, then something is not right. Most likely is dust between the heatsink fins. If I bump my fan up to 50% at idle, then my temp drops dramatically to around 60-61C. Use my settings as reference.

 

[PCTC2]

Sapphire was having some tough QC problems, IIRC, with their HD 4870s requiring a BIOS or firmware flash. And a lot of cards were bent and DOA. I don't know if this carried over into their 4850 line.

 

[neomoco]

holy cow guys you just saved my life , i was crusing around anand and then i saw this topic and imediatly shutdown my computer and open my hd 4850 and surprise :
the area were the small cooper tunels begin was completly covered with dust i dont realy know hot the card was cooled , probably no air passed throw those tunells , i purchased the card aprox 6 months ago as well , silly me i forgot about what dust cand do to hardware

the hard thing was opening the card i had to unscrew everything but then i noticed i could have cleaned it without opening it , you cand see the tunnels near the fan , and clean it with a ear tissue or some tool
the temps were to weird considering when i buyed the card i had no such problems and my case is a sunbeam acrylic with 3x120 mm intakes and 1x120 mm+80mm and the power sources evacs
i survived games putting the fan manual at 100% but i still god crashes sometimes
at one point i was considering exchanhing my card thanks god for this thread
thanks again guys my temp dropped idle with about 20 degrees and even more at load , no more crashes and i`m gona o/c the card again in some games

 

[novasatori]

I just RMA'd 2 Sapphire 4850 512s with the reference cooler to newegg for a refund, it got so bad since I got em in July that the cards were peaking at 103C and throttling at 100% load with the default fan profile, and even switching to 100% fan speed they'd creep up to 103C after long enough time.


Both cards were in diff computers, same specs(Cases are Antec 900 with all fans on max, CPUs idling at 18C (Q6600@3.6ghz)), and there was no visible dust, so yeah, the reference cooler has issues imo.

edit:
Sapphire cards RMA to retailer, like I went to newegg cause newegg gives em a 1yr warranty, if you go to sapphire they will charge you a $15 admin fee

Worked out ok for me as I got the retail price I pay refunded since the card was discontinued heh.

 

[FerrelGeek]

Originally posted by: novasatori
I just RMA'd 2 Sapphire 4850 512s with the reference cooler to newegg for a refund, it got so bad since I got em in July that the cards were peaking at 103C and throttling at 100% load with the default fan profile, and even switching to 100% fan speed they'd creep up to 103C after long enough time.


Both cards were in diff computers, same specs(Cases are Antec 900 with all fans on max, CPUs idling at 18C (Q6600@3.6ghz)), and there was no visible dust, so yeah, the reference cooler has issues imo.

edit:
Sapphire cards RMA to retailer, like I went to newegg cause newegg gives em a 1yr warranty, if you go to sapphire they will charge you a $15 admin fee

Worked out ok for me as I got the retail price I pay refunded since the card was discontinued heh.

So, what are you getting to replace them?

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: novasatori
I just RMA'd 2 Sapphire 4850 512s with the reference cooler to newegg for a refund, it got so bad since I got em in July that the cards were peaking at 103C and throttling at 100% load with the default fan profile, and even switching to 100% fan speed they'd creep up to 103C after long enough time.


Both cards were in diff computers, same specs(Cases are Antec 900 with all fans on max, CPUs idling at 18C (Q6600@3.6ghz)), and there was no visible dust, so yeah, the reference cooler has issues imo.

edit:
Sapphire cards RMA to retailer, like I went to newegg cause newegg gives em a 1yr warranty, if you go to sapphire they will charge you a $15 admin fee

Worked out ok for me as I got the retail price I pay refunded since the card was discontinued heh.

I was having the same problem...until I got the Accelero S1 Rev2. Now I'm at 37C at idle and load up under 50C the majority of the time. I do not have a fan on the cooler or I'm sure the numbers would be even better...but what's the point. This is in an Ultra Wizard case that I got during the Free After Rebate bitzes that they used to do on cases and PSU's. It currently only has a 120mm at the back and the 80mm on the Earthwatts PSU I'm using. I'm going to be cutting the front of the case to fit another 120mm there as it's only built for an 80mm (and those are just too annoying for me).

 

[novasatori]

Originally posted by: FerrelGeek

So, what are you getting to replace them?

Since prices have dropped I can now get two 4870 1gb or 260 core 216 for just a bit more, so its between those.

I really like the 4870 but the 260 has PhysX so, no clue really.

I do know it'll be from Newegg though!

Oh, and it will definitely have a dual slot cooler, so far my single slot experiences on recent GPUs has been horrible.

Originally posted by: Modular

I was having the same problem...until I got the Accelero S1 Rev2. Now I'm at 37C at idle and load up under 50C the majority of the time. I do not have a fan on the cooler or I'm sure the numbers would be even better...but what's the point. This is in an Ultra Wizard case that I got during the Free After Rebate bitzes that they used to do on cases and PSU's. It currently only has a 120mm at the back and the 80mm on the Earthwatts PSU I'm using. I'm going to be cutting the front of the case to fit another 120mm there as it's only built for an 80mm (and those are just too annoying for me).

Yeah I considered that, but it voids the warranty, so I decided to just RMA them than spend another $50-80 on two after market coolers.

 

[FerrelGeek]

At stock 750/900, my 4870 idles around 52c with fan at 30%. Overclocked, (curretnltly ~790/970) the card runs full load at ~70C with fan at 44%.

Originally posted by: novasatori

Originally posted by: FerrelGeek

So, what are you getting to replace them?

Since prices have dropped I can now get two 4870 1gb or 260 core 216 for just a bit more, so its between those.

I really like the 4870 but the 260 has PhysX so, no clue really.

I do know it'll be from Newegg though!

Oh, and it will definitely have a dual slot cooler, so far my single slot experiences on recent GPUs has been horrible.

Originally posted by: Modular

I was having the same problem...until I got the Accelero S1 Rev2. Now I'm at 37C at idle and load up under 50C the majority of the time. I do not have a fan on the cooler or I'm sure the numbers would be even better...but what's the point. This is in an Ultra Wizard case that I got during the Free After Rebate bitzes that they used to do on cases and PSU's. It currently only has a 120mm at the back and the 80mm on the Earthwatts PSU I'm using. I'm going to be cutting the front of the case to fit another 120mm there as it's only built for an 80mm (and those are just too annoying for me).

Yeah I considered that, but it voids the warranty, so I decided to just RMA them than spend another $50-80 on two after market coolers.

 

[Butterbean]

I have same prob - my 4850 (Visiontek) idle temps (@ default) went from 80 - 82 to 86 - 88. I guess I'll have to finally get the Accelero on ( thats been in my drawer for 3 months)

 

[Butterbean]

Just to add a final note on this episode. I opened card to install Accelero and it was indeed full of dust, lint etc. (after 4 months use). Now with Accelero installed I have 42 C at idle with no fan. I should add I have used the Accelero S1 Rev 1 ( not the Rev 2 currently for sale; I had Rev 1 left over from a GT8800 I RMA'ed before I could install it). For the VRM's I just cut off the part of the stock cooler that covered them and screwed it back on. I can hear myself think again it's so quiet.

 

[techboie]

Although I live in north India, m card idles below 40C at stock fan settings.