should i rma my 8800GTS?

[Fayd]

it's idling at 77 degrees C, load at 90 degrees C.

factory overclocked to 560 mhz.


most people's temps i read online, they're just fine compared. mine...are unreal.

i wouldnt even have bothered looking at it other than i was playing nwn2, and i noticed a graphic glitch similar to why i sent my previous card in for RMA.


xfx 8800GTS, btw.

EDIT: i should note that when i first built the rig, the card idled at 65C, and loaded at 83C. when i bumped the fan to full speed with rivatuner, it started having a groaning sound i hadnt heard before...

 

[MarcVenice]

Maybe the fan is messed up or something. How about your ambient temps and casecooling? Your temps are unreal, mine idles at 60c or 55c depending on ambient temps, and will hit 75c in STALKER. With the fan on 60%, rivatuner apparently isn't worried by the temps and doesn't bump up the fan speed.

 

[joejccva]

I have a EVGA 8800GTS 640MB and I think I remember seeing that it was idling at 51deg celsius...that's pretty normal right? I haven't overclocked it yet.

Btw, what's a good overall program to use to monitor these cards, and to of course overclock with?

 

[MarcVenice]

rivatuner

 

[Fayd]

this is kinda odd.

i still think the card is running a little hot, but i now know my case was to blame for what was happening.

i'm using an antec solo, with all fan holes filled. the front 2 fans are yate loon 92mm (here's the bad part) medium ball bearing fans, running at 7ish volts. (here's the really bad part) one of those fans, doesnt run at 5 volt, and i didnt test to make sure it ran at 7volt before i put the machine back together when i did this whole "silencing" mod.

so, here's how i solved it.

i now have a 120mm antec tricool, (here's the ghetto part) duct-taped into 3 of the 4 front 5.25" bays. on low, it's inaudible compared to the rest of the system, but i'm thinking that for gaming i might have to keep it on medium.

(here's the really ghetto part)

i was lazy when i put together the system last, and left out the rear I/O panel, not thinking about the fact that air would travel through the void space, making a cooling loop.

SOOOOOO... i decided to duct tape over the unused portions of that IO panel, to limit the amount of airflow that can go through. i dont know if it'll have any effect... probably not. but it makes me feel better.


temps on the video card dropped to 65 idle, 82 load.

 

[Fayd]

here's some pics of it if anyone's interested

http://www.manwhoring.com/lineage/fayd/pics/fanmod1.jpg
http://www.manwhoring.com/lineage/fayd/pics/fanmod2.jpg
http://www.manwhoring.com/lineage/fayd/pics/fanmod3.jpg
http://www.manwhoring.com/lineage/fayd/pics/fanmod4.jpg

they're all 1600x1200, so consider yourself warned.

it's only temporary... i'm gonna rig up something more permanent at the same time i figure out how to more effectively exhaust the video card, as well as buying some higher quality fans for the 92mm fan bays.

 

[Fayd]

well, i guess i can hold off on RMAing it now 65 idle, 80 load.

along with that front fan, i went out and bought one of those antec PCI slot fans, and stuck it right underneath the 8800GTS.

set it to 5v, and solved the exhaust air reuse problem.

now i still have to figure out why my comp is so loud... i'm guessing it's those ball bearing yate loons.. even at 7v they're loud.. i was at frys, thinking about buying some 92mm antec tricools. gotta find something better. but next mod is to permanently mount that 120mm fan... gonna make something similar to a scythe kama with sheet aluminum. (and give me a slot to put a filter, while i'm at it.)