RAMDAC cooling problem

Ethain

Junior Member
Sep 7, 2005
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I have recently added watercooling to my system, and am really happy to see my CPU and GPU temperatures both remain (most of the time) under 40 degrees C.

However, my system locks up fairly frequently... so I decided to try the burn test (poke my finger around until I touch something that makes me go ouch).

The RAMDAC on both graphics cards are Extremely hot. Previously the GPU fan would blow over the RAMDAC heatsink, but now it doesn't I wondered if anyone else has had the same problem.

I might be able to rig up a fan, but that would somewhat negate the point of installing watercooling.

If it helps, the GPUs are 7800GTXs (in SLi mode), with the Zalman Reserator One+ system (with an extra GPU block).
 

monster64

Banned
Jan 18, 2005
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Welcome to the forums. Watercooling isn't all too quiet, so putting a fan on wouldn't defeat the purpose of installing water. Heat is rarely a cause of crashes in modern PCs. Did the crash happen before you installed watercooling?
Heres a way to check if it really is your video card crashing. Play some music while playing a game and if the music is still playing while the game is frozen it means it's your video card. If the music freezes too, it definately isnt your video card.
 

Ethain

Junior Member
Sep 7, 2005
4
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Thanks for the welcome.

The watercooling itself is deadly silent, but adding a fan still seems like a good idea (where it would be would also pull air over the HDDs). The computer is a new build, but for the relatively short time prior to installing watercooling it did not crash.

What you say about heat is interesting. I have yet to get as far as playing a game, the computer crashes within the first 20 mins of running. Whether or not a game is running shouldn't make a difference to the RAMDAC itself though, as it will do it's job as long as the computer is on.

I see your point about starting some music off and it sounds a great idea. Also, what you say about heat less likely to make a computer crash makes me wonder if there is something else going on. I have already swapped out the RAM in case that was it, but to no avail.
 

monster64

Banned
Jan 18, 2005
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Well I can give you an example of what was happening to me.
My cpu was oced to 2730 MHz and it ram prime 95 stable for 24, not a single error. However, my games still crashed. I looked far and wide for an answer. I thought my ram was overheating, as I was giving it 2.9v, yet evem after I put a small fan over it, it still crashed. So one day, I lowered my speed to 2700 MHz, and the crashes stopped.
But before jumping to conclusions, try the music first. Report your results.
 

Ethain

Junior Member
Sep 7, 2005
4
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Well, music continued playing, so I jury rigged a fan bracket off the back of the hard drive bay of the case and got the fan blowing across both RAMDACs. System has been stable ever since.

Now to figure out how to get Windows x64 to install onto an nvraid array.