So my 4870 is dying

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LOL_Wut_Axel

Diamond Member
Mar 26, 2011
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You should get the A70 instead as it's only $21 after rebate. It's still $16 more upfront and won't make any real difference in comparison to the A50 due to the fact you're doing a moderate OC, though.

FTFY. Rebate does not equal upfront price, and unless he's aiming for 4GHz or higher it's not necessary.
 
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dawp

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
11,347
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Just curious what case you're using. A poorly ventilated case will have heat issues even with the best heatsink available. Maybe see if taking the side panel off to see if your temps drop?

and how warm is your room?

My hd4870x2 was having artifacting too until I re-applied paste to it, that seems to have cleared that trouble. you may want to replace the grease on your card too.
 
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Kharohz

Member
Nov 17, 2007
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I have a CM690, so I doubt ventilation is an issue. Its about 76F in the house.

The 4870 was artifacting even at 'lowish' temps, to test it I would run the fan on 100% (Blow dryer noise), see that is pretty cool, fire up a game like Crysis and it would still fail in like a minute. I doubt reapplying paste would fix it.

Oh a different interesting note, catalyst for some weird reason saved my manual fan speed of 35% (Even though I removed all drivers/catalyst), which carried over to the 6870... Good thing I caught it. The 6870 has a MUCH better cooler than the 4870 did, quieter too. It can actually run on automatic fan speed and I never hear it. Hell even 100% is about half the noise of the old 4870.

Yes, I realize using it on manual at 35% is probably what killed my card prematurely. (Although I was sure it was within the range of normal heat during use) I just couldn't stand the noise on that thing. And besides, the automatic fan control was terrible at managing the temps, that card would've died long before if I used that... 80C at idle? Pff
 
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dawp

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
11,347
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my 4870x2 would artifact as soon as I launched lord of the rings online, it continued for a little while after I reapplied paste to my chips but cleared up after a short while.
 

blckgrffn

Diamond Member
May 1, 2003
9,687
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www.teamjuchems.com
I am rocking the rig below and the 5870 is a good comparison to your 6870, the Q6700 is just a couple steps behind your Quad. Been very happy with the performance so far, currently Deus Ex @ Max Candy @ 1080p runs great.

BUT.

The temps in my 690 are also horrible! With warmer weather Portal 2 or Dues Ex I am having to turn it down to stock clocks (I don't have to touch the voltage @ 3.0) in order to play for an extended period of time. The shutdown temp is set @ 70C and its kicking in. I have some huge tower cooler on there too... and the fan is set to just run 100%, no speed control... but my case fans are all down volted... I want quiet and fast.... installing two top fans on the 690 this weekend.

My current temps are similar (40C idle) I'll let you know if those top fans help.

Heatsink, I believe: http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0307055

Funny thing is that my wife was using my PC and she commented on what a heater it was. Frankly, I don't think that this guy (in my sig) should be that warm at idle.
 
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Killrose

Diamond Member
Oct 26, 1999
6,230
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remove heatsink/fan unit. Pre-heat oven to about 385deg F, place card on cookie sheet GPU/Mem side down, place a peice of folded tin foil under pci-e pwr conn plug to level card. Bake for 12-15min, remove and let cool to room temp. Enjoy

worked on a HD4850 I had.
 

kalrith

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2005
6,628
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remove heatsink/fan unit. Pre-heat oven to about 385deg F, place card on cookie sheet GPU/Mem side down, place a peice of folded tin foil under pci-e pwr conn plug to level card. Bake for 12-15min, remove and let cool to room temp. Enjoy

worked on a HD4850 I had.

Baking it's a good idea. Since he already ordered a replacement, he could sell the 4870 if baking works.
 

Kharohz

Member
Nov 17, 2007
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The temps in my 690 are also horrible!

Heh I'm a bastard to this computer then, from the beginning I disconnected the front fan (with the blue LED) and the side fan....

I only recently reattached the side fan. Don't know if I have it in me to have that stupid LED going again. Who knows maybe this is all the reasons for my woes. Me just wanting to have some peace and quiet.

But damn! I love this 6870... Quiet! I have to keep checking Overdrive to make sure the damn fan is on.

As for baking a video card... Sure what can it hurt? Although I doubt I would sell it if it works, I'm too damn honest.
 

dawp

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
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if the leds are that bright, why not replace the fan or remove the leds? I got a 690II for my son a couple of months ago and it has a switch on top that allows you to turn off the leds on the front fan. I assume you have an original 690 and that doesn't have the switch?

I know when we swapped cases with his 10 year old Enermax case he temps were drastically lower, even lower than mine before I started modding my case and adding fans.
 
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Kharohz

Member
Nov 17, 2007
75
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if the leds are that bright, why not replace the fan or remove the leds? I got a 690II for my son a couple of months ago and it has a switch on top that allows you to turn off the leds on the front fan. I assume you have an original 690 and that doesn't have the switch?

I know when we swapped cases with his 10 year old Enermax case he temps were drastically lower, even lower than mine before I started modding my case and adding fans.

Nah I don't have a switch, and I didn't replace it because I was cheap and lazy, and I was happy with the temps at the time.

Although I probably switch the side panel fan with the front fan, I would imagine drawing in air at the front would be pretty significant. (I'm assuming it is suppose to draw air in and not out, correct me if I am wrong, you guys have been amazing)

As for selling the 4870, after I bake the SOB and it works flawlessly I'll see if we can't work something out.
 

Spikesoldier

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 2001
6,766
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congrats, glad it worked out for you. always happy to see someone do the oven trick and have it work.
 

Madcatatlas

Golden Member
Feb 22, 2010
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Why are the 4870s dying btw? is this normal for such a...young card?

did you OC it by alot or something? not clean the fan etc?
 

God Mode

Platinum Member
Jul 2, 2005
2,903
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Why are the 4870s dying btw? is this normal for such a...young card?

did you OC it by alot or something? not clean the fan etc?

Its an issue with lead free solder. Garbage that will cause more broken electronics and pollution than ever before. I've seen 20+ year old industrial equipment with better looking solder joints than a fresh highend videocard or motherboard.
 

Kharohz

Member
Nov 17, 2007
75
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61
Ok now for the update on the CPU side of things, I ended up getting the CM 212+

I would say I only got about 5 degree drop at idle, but it seems to hold its own a little better on load...

Before I would hit 70C at stock while on load. Now I will not break 60.

So, onto the wonderful world of trying out different voltages starting off with a 3.2GHz attempt. To make a story short, on manual, even up to 1.325 voltage the computer would crash out on me.

The only way that I can achieve stability is set voltage on auto and I am fine. I primed for 12 hours, no problems. Max temp I hit was 70C, which seems to be acceptable to me.

Unless there is a setting I'm forgetting about, I don't see myself reaching a higher OC.
 

LOL_Wut_Axel

Diamond Member
Mar 26, 2011
4,310
8
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Ok now for the update on the CPU side of things, I ended up getting the CM 212+

I would say I only got about 5 degree drop at idle, but it seems to hold its own a little better on load...

Before I would hit 70C at stock while on load. Now I will not break 60.

So, onto the wonderful world of trying out different voltages starting off with a 3.2GHz attempt. To make a story short, on manual, even up to 1.325 voltage the computer would crash out on me.

The only way that I can achieve stability is set voltage on auto and I am fine. I primed for 12 hours, no problems. Max temp I hit was 70C, which seems to be acceptable to me.

Unless there is a setting I'm forgetting about, I don't see myself reaching a higher OC.

There's something wrong. You shouldn't see temps higher than 60-65C on 1.32V.
 

Kharohz

Member
Nov 17, 2007
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61
Only thing I can do at this point is reseat the new cooler again.

Its funny though, I thought maybe being how my front intake fan is disabled it would make a difference turning it on.

All it does it make noise, no change in temps what so ever.

Hell, even with the CM 212+ I don't see much a difference with the fan being at 1000rpms and 2000 rpm.
 

Kharohz

Member
Nov 17, 2007
75
0
61
And to see the awesomeness of my motherboard.

Set at 1.35V

CPU-Z shows 1.312v at IDLE and 1.28v at Load.
 

Kharohz

Member
Nov 17, 2007
75
0
61
hurray! Finally a wee bit better on the cooling after reseating.. I actually reached 37C which a HUGE improvement over prior 50C @ 3.2GHz at idle. (From the previous cooler)

On load it now won't touch 65C.

Apparently these HDT coolers need a little different approach on applying thermal paste.

Right now I am not overclocking my memory, I have it set at 400FSB and memory at 2.0. So to go higher it gets overclocked some?