What's a safe max temperature for vid RAM modules?

[Assimilator1]

I've just recently bought a 2nd hand Asus X800XT PE AGP.

After I bought it P) I came across this article saying that the cards memory could overheat.
Though I have a midi tower case with front & rear case fans so I thought it'd be ok.

Is it common not to have heatsinks on the RAM on these cards? was it really a problem?.
What is the max safe temp for the RAM?
In ATI tool is the GPU enviroment temperature same as the RAM temperature? (I ask that because a screenshot of Asus smart doctor shows the 2nd temp as RAM temp). If not I have a laser thermometer I can measure the RAM chips with ,but again I'd need to know safe temps.

Forgot to mention that I was occasionally getting triangles flashing up in Guild Wars ,though I think that's GPU related?

TIA

 

[thilanliyan]

You mean your card doesn't have ramsinks? Doesn't the cooler cover the memory chips?

AFAIK there is no onboard temperature sensor for the memory so the GPU environment temp may just be the PCB.

 

[Assimilator1]

No their are no RAM sinks on the back & the GPU cooler isn't in contact with the RAM on the front ,check out the 3rd page of that review I've linked for a picture.

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: Assimilator1
No their are no RAM sinks on the back & the GPU cooler isn't in contact with the RAM on the front ,check out the 3rd page of that review I've linked for a picture.

Ah...I see. Hmmm...you might wanna try hooking up a fan to blow on the memory chips like they suggested in that article.

However, if you have good airflow and you don't overclock the ram it might be fine without it. If I remember though GDDR3 chips don't run that hot. Even some of the 7900GT cards didn't have ramsinks on them (I think).

 

[Matthias99]

If it's GDDR3, they probably don't need any extra cooling at stock (assuming you have some airflow through your case). It doesn't run at hot as regular DDR/DDR2.

 

[Assimilator1]

Ok thanks ,so that article is being somewhat over cautios then?

I've got decent air flow in my case ,front & rear case fans +PSU fan.

Btw I managed to overclock the RAM to 575MHz (from 560) & the GPU o/ced a whole 10MHz! ,I'll probably leave it at the default Asus speeds (526/560) .....well I might bump the RAM up

I'll report back on RAM chip temps when I get to measure it.

 

[evolucion8]

Hey you had the same issue like me, I wasn't unable to overclock the core past 10MHz or locks up will occur, I overclocked the RAM up to 590, but even though it wouldn't cause artifacts in game, would happen in videos, so i pulled it back to 580 and didn't have any problems. I want to ask you something, doesn't using AGP Fast Writes gives you any difference in stability and performance? Is because in some driver releases, leaving it on would cause the VPU to recover, having to turn it off, while in other nothing happens. And what are the idle and max temperatures on the core? Sorry to ask you a lot, is just for comparative reasons hehe, thanks.

 

[Sonikku]

I have the thing blowing into a cheap 4 buck intake fan. Seems to do the job.

 

[Assimilator1]

A? ,you have what blowing into an intake fan?

evolucion8
No probs
Though your grammar confused me somewhat ,I take it you meant this?:-

I want to ask you something, does using AGP Fast Writes make any difference in stability and performance? It's because in some driver releases, leaving it on would cause the VPU to crash(?) then recover,so it has to be turned off, while in others nothing happens. And what are the idle and max temperatures of the core

I've not messed about with fast writes so I've no idea if it's on or off lol ,I'll look now.
Power Strip tells me its on ,I've been having the occasional lock ups & blue screens (textless) which I had assumed (but yet to test properly) was down to my CPU or mbrd not liking its chosen clock speeds anymore (even though its been ok for nearly 2yrs now I think) ,so I dropped the FSB down 3MHz.So far so good but I haven't done a 24hr P95 test to confirm it.If its not the CPU/mbrd I'll try disabling fast writes.(I've also got to test the PSU though for other reasons)
Does 'fast writes' make much difference to performance?

Current GPU idle temp is 35C ,though its quite cold in my room atm ,add 4-5C for more normal temps.From past GPU overclocking tests using ATITool I know the GPU hits around 72-73C under load.

 

[Assimilator1]

Just done a load of temp testing after running ATITool for about 40mins.
Set it to 'Find max mem' (dropped down to 571MHz)

Temps via ATITool
GPU - 74C
GPU enviro(PCB?) - 56C

Temps via laser thermometer
RAM chips ,top,side edge - 67C
RAM chips ,top,back edge - 64C (2 of the chips GPU side were this temp too)

Some of the PCB near (10mm away) the top 2 side edge chips was hitting 80C!:Q

PC Temps via MBM
Case - 25C
CPU external - 37C
CPU internal (diode) - 55C (before you compare this to your CPU temps ,see where yours measures temp's 1st)

Those RAM chip temps may or maynot be within man's specs but to me they are just too hot!:frown:.I think I will be buying some RAM sinks.

What do you folks reckon?

 

[evolucion8]

Yeah sorry, my english is not perfect, but I'm looking forward for it hehe, quite low idle GPU temps, that's nice. My card has the stock cooler and idle is around the high 40's (45-49) and the highest are between 69C to 73C in DX9 games and up to 80C in DX8 games. Never had any artifacting or issues, but is quite high. But as far as I know, this ASIC is able to operate good until hits the 90C ceiling.

 

[TheRyuu]

If the cooler doesn't come with ram sinks then it's safe to say that the ram chips don't run hot enough to need a cooler.

Same goes for the ram chips on the 7900GT's too.

Now you can also say that if you cooled them you might gain a little bit in OCing but the increase would probably be negligible.

 

[Assimilator1]

Ok thanks, I guess I could also look at other X800/850 cards to see if they have RAM sinks.

evolucion8
np
What temps do you get running ATITools '3Dview' ?
This program seems to consistently load the GPU at full tilt ,judging by my mains power meter anyway.

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: Assimilator1

GPU enviro(PCB?) - 56C

That's a really high environment temperature. The GPU and GPU RAM temps can't get any lower than the temperature of the environment they're in. I'd get a side vent fan or something to blow right onto the video card. If nothing else, it will help your card live a little longer. It's likely that you'll notice some extreme drops in the temps of both your core and your memory with some fresh air getting brought in from outside the case and blown over that scorching card.

 

[Assimilator1]

Originally posted by: Modular

Originally posted by: Assimilator1

GPU enviro(PCB?) - 56C

That's a really high environment temperature. The GPU and GPU RAM temps can't get any lower than the temperature of the environment they're in. I'd get a side vent fan or something to blow right onto the video card. If nothing else, it will help your card live a little longer. It's likely that you'll notice some extreme drops in the temps of both your core and your memory with some fresh air getting brought in from outside the case and blown over that scorching card.

Even taking into account the card was at full load?

 

[evolucion8]

My card under full load like in Half Life 2, the core temps reaches up to 72C max, and the env temp around the 54C. I haven't tested ATi Tool, I will do it once I have the chance.