GTX 580 Phantom 3GB temperature issues

[blaznee]

So my brother and I both have Gainward 580 Phantom 3GB cards, but his card is running noticably cooler than mine.

His is on an i7-920 platform in an Antec 1200 case

Mine is on a i5-2500k platform in a Corsair Graphite 600T White case.

When I play games I reach about 85 degress and the fans are running 80%

When he does it he hardly reaches 70 degress and fans only running around 50-60%, so it's much quiter than mine.

Running Furmark in screen native res his reaches 66 degrees, while mine gets to 90!..

Is my airflow really that much worse? Explaining over 20 degrees in difference? Or have I ended up with a bad card?.. Anyone else with the same card ( or the 1,5gb version) willing to share their temps ..

I'm using MSI Afterburner to check temps and fan speed.. If I run my fans at 100% I seem to peak at 83 degrees in furmark - and my pc sounds like a jet about to take off :O.

 

[LordJummy]

People can say things like "the 1200 has better air flow, etc etc" but in the end we can't tell you the true answer. It is likely a combination of variables such as luck. The chip he got may just run cooler than yours, or his card was put together differently. It could be the massive air flow in the antec 1200 (which I own so I know), or it could be ambient temps.

Are these in the same room, same house? What are the other specs?

Any overclocks on the cards or both stock?

Oh and stop running furmark unless you want to kill your card. Some cards are hotter than others, but if I were you I would go water or get an aftermarket cooler!

 

[BraveSoul]

that is a big difference,,,what are the ambient temperatures,closer to the front intake fan but not too close,,, i got an idea,, try disconnecting ur top 200mm exhaust fan,,,see if things change at all, then try putting a bag over the top exhaust grill covering it completely,food wraping plastic sounds good.

 

[LordJummy]

that is a big difference,,,what are the ambient temperatures,closer to the front intake fan but not too close,,, i got an idea,, try disconnecting ur top 200mm exhaust fan,,,see if things change at all, then try putting a bag over the top exhaust grill covering it completely,food wraping plastic sounds good.

You think that the exhaust fan is somehow starving the card for air?

I am curious to know the air flow coming from the front fans, and the ambient room temps.

I wouldn't turn off the exhaust fan honestly, but if you do turn it off you will see the difference it makes. Is that the only exhaust fan or is there a 120/140 on the back of the case too?

 

[BraveSoul]

top fan is starving the video card of air, think about it,, the front fan is the only intake fan,, top 200mm fan is exhausting together with rear 120mm and the power supply, and with all that exhausting the 580 is left with leftovers, this is all crap but im curious,,do it already

 

[LordJummy]

I'm not sure if I agree. I think he could use more intake cfm, however I would not recommend shutting off the top exhaust. It's still exhausting hot air from other components.

I own a 1200 and I know that it is giving your brother a HUGE advantage, as it produces enormous amounts of air with all of the front 120's. It has 3x120 fans on the front cages, two 120mm exhaust in the rear and the big fan up top.

 

[BraveSoul]

I own a 1200 and I know that it is giving your brother a HUGE advantage, as it produces enormous amounts of air with all of the front 120's

yeah its a beast with all those fans, got one myself

however I would not recommend shutting off the top exhaust

let him try it,, just for fun
also maybe he should try flipping it so it will work as an intake

 

[blaznee]

Well, I have actually disconnected my top fan - mostly for noise issues. And I noticed no drop in temps inside. I tried connecting it again during this investigation and run at max fan speed.. My temps on the card were unaffected - or at least the effect was negible.. Like it took slightly longer to reach a certain temp.

I will try to go to my brothers apartment today with my card and put it into his Antec 1200.. To see a 100% exact comparison.

What I am wondering is really what if I then see the same temps as back home.. Is the card RMA worthy? It's working fine for now, but how long exactly if the GPU is running very hot?.. I could put on an aftermarket cooler and hope it's simply caused by a bad connection between cooler and gpu, but that will void my warrenty..

 

[blaznee]

Well, it's definately my card.. Tested in my brothers case at his place, and same deal.. Stopped benchmark when my card hit 88 degrees..

Then when we took it out we noticed that there were some differences on the cards.. They had the exact same model nr. but mine had a brownish pcb and a sort of backplate'ish coolermount. My brothers card had a black pcb and just screws on the back to hold the cooler.

We then looked at the cooler itself, and my brothers cooler was almost perfectly flush with the pcb, where mine had a 1mm gap.. So I'm quite sure I just have a funky cooler that's not mounted properly..

Off to rma

 

[LordJummy]

I don't know Gainward's warranty rules about aftermarket coolers, but you do not have an RMA on your hands. The card is functioning fine, it just runs hot. I have a feeling the cooler is not seated very well. I really recommend spending the $60-70 and getting a nice aftermarket cooler. You won't have to worry about this problem anymore. Oh and if something ever happens just put the stock cooler back on...

 

[blaznee]

Yeah, I was thinking that as well, but it has a big 'ol nasty sticker across the cooler with a "Warranty void if removed" remark.. Usually cards that have that don't support changing to an aftermarket one..

 

[LordJummy]

If you bought it in a store just return it and get a replacement. RMA is going to be impossible. The card functions, and they won't give you a replacement.

 

[Frizz]

Hmm this model shouldn't get that hot.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1170&products_id=17016

If it's not doing what it's supposed to do which is to provide you with a cooler running GPU altogether as stated in product description then you'd do fine to just return it to the retailer and get a refund or something, no need to RMA as LordJummy stated.

 

[Spoonie]

How did you go with your card? I have 2 of these cards and I think they run too hot. I have to run the fans pretty much at 100% to keep them 85 - 95. I was playing deus Ex: HR triple monitor and the card got up to 98, I have Afterburner on.

I emailed gainward and they reckon that it shouldn't be running that hot, so I should return it. Just pisses me off that I have to go through that drama. And both of them are the same. I read a few other people finding these cards running hot. I consider my case to have pretty good airflow. I wonder if I can swap them for another card.

 

[blaznee]

I requested an RMA with my retailer (an online shop only), and they agreed to take it in.. So now we will see..

Check to see if your cards coolermount on the back of the card uses just 3 screws directly into the coolerplate at the gpu, or if it has 4 and this mounting "plate"..

The cool one my brother has has the first solution.. You can clearly see the cooler running flush with the pcb on his.. Mine has the 2nd solution, and there's a clear 1mm gap on mine..

On the cards they have the same partnr.

 

[Spoonie]

I requested an RMA with my retailer (an online shop only), and they agreed to take it in.. So now we will see..

Check to see if your cards coolermount on the back of the card uses just 3 screws directly into the coolerplate at the gpu, or if it has 4 and this mounting "plate"..

The cool one my brother has has the first solution.. You can clearly see the cooler running flush with the pcb on his.. Mine has the 2nd solution, and there's a clear 1mm gap on mine..

On the cards they have the same partnr.

I just looked at my card, and I'm not exactly sure what you are talking about. on the back/bottom of the card where if installed you can see the pcb, I have what appears to be a mounting plate with 4 screws attached, I can only assume that is what you are talking about. Both cards are setup like this.

 

[blaznee]

I just looked at my card, and I'm not exactly sure what you are talking about. on the back/bottom of the card where if installed you can see the pcb, I have what appears to be a mounting plate with 4 screws attached, I can only assume that is what you are talking about. Both cards are setup like this.

Okay, well then you have the same card as mine.. My brothers cool card doesn't have the mounting plate and only uses 3 screws..

That probably means that I will recieve a similar card that runs equally hot.. We will see..

 

[Spoonie]

Okay, well then you have the same card as mine.. My brothers cool card doesn't have the mounting plate and only uses 3 screws..

That probably means that I will recieve a similar card that runs equally hot.. We will see..

Hmmm thats interesting that it would have a difference like that. I think I'll talk to my vendor and get something worked out, because the cooler on it should be pretty smick, much like how it performs for your brother. I saw a semi review on you tube with a guy running 2 or 3 I think in they reached the same temps as ours, but then he water cooled them. He was saying oh its not that bad because of ambient room temps etc, but thats still crap. I'm not dropping that much money on two cards in an attempt to be lucky enough to score a "good" one.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Switch your cards. If his card gets high temps in your case, airflow problem. If your card has same temps when installed in his rig, reapply tim.

 

[blaznee]

Reapply tim

We would, if it didn't remove the warranty sticker

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

We would, if it didn't remove the warranty sticker

yeah.. I hate it when Palit / Gainward blocks that screw with their warranty sticker. Just blow dry the thing, and lift it off slowly so that it wont get broken. Thats what I did on Palit stock 580. Warranty sticker still intact after I changed tim.

 

[Spoonie]

http://www.povidi.com/YourTube/vid.py?id=87tISYQtnus has the PCB 3 screw solution you were talking about, I'm gonna see what temps he gets, just watching it now.

 

[blaznee]

That's exactly the mounting method I saw on my brothers card.. Weird right?

 

[Spoonie]

That's exactly the mounting method I saw on my brothers card.. Weird right?

Well I dont know if I saw it somewhere else, but I'm sure I even read it somewhere saying that there wasn't proper contact between the heatsink and gpu, or there was too much/too little thermal paste...or something like that.

 

[blaznee]

Just wondering,whats your room temperature like compared to your brothers??

Probably slightly higher.. But the argument is null and void, since I went to his place and tested my card in his Antec 1200 case.. And still got the extreme temperatures..