Over Heating MSI GTX 980 Ti

[jordan1794]

Hello all!
MY friend recently made a somewhat ill advised decision of buying a PC from Cyber-Power.
(COMPLETELY MY OPINION, they may very well sell nice things, but every friend I've seen buy from them got junk compared to what they could have done themselves, or even got elsewhere)

Anyways. So in the PC came an AMD FX 9590, with an EVGA power supply, gigabyte MOBO, and MSI GTX 980 Ti.

We ran Heaven on his PC and his card was hitting 82C! Running GPU-Z he was being throttled pretty much instantly by power limits. Extracted his BIOS to take a look, and his card won't thermal throttle until 84C.

However, his card can also hit much higher frequencies, at max he is only running 1000 MHz because of power limit throttling. This could be fixed, but it's all for nothing as increasing the power limit with precision (Or a BIOS mod) will just cause him to hit the thermal limit.

Looking at his case pissed me off...he spent $1,000 on this PC and the entire case has ONE spot for a fan. No lie, LITERALLY one single spot for a fan, and its taken up by the 120mm radiator/fan for the AIO watercooling on the CPU.

He doesn't quite want to buy a new case though. We actually tried taking his panel off and setting up a big fan blowing air into the case, but it didn't even drop the temperatures so I doubt a new case will be night and day difference. It would certainly help, but he would like to try and overclock so the main limiting factor is going to be the actual cooling on the card itself.

I was wondering if there are any AIO watercoolers for the 980 Ti that will fit his card? I'm not sure what specific MSI card he has, but I can find out. The plan would be to cut a hole in the side window and mount the radiator and fan there.


Interestingly enough, the stock BIOS for his 980 Ti will allow him up to 1.312v (Although I'm guessing there is probably a limiter on the PCB that will keep it less than that) Doesn't matter though, between power and thermal throttling he never goes above 1.1v/1000 MHz.

His score isn't terrible on heaven, around 2200 but it could be FAR better, I feel bad for him and want to try and help.

 

[trog100]

your experiment with the case side off and fan proves it isnt the case.. you could try taking the card apart and re-applying the paste.. making sure its all as it should be..

my overclocked 980 ti core 1250 and memory 1900 with the core boosting to 1442 only manages about 2350 in heaven fully maxed out.. i think the voltage is around 1.97..

my card has a three slot cooler so it runs cool but the voltage and power usage limits still limits the boost.. running furmark it throttles down to around 1000 boost.. or less than stock with no boost at all depending how you look at it..

i do have to say the price paid for a pc with a 980ti card was on the cheap side and mis should make reasonable cards..

trog

 

[jordan1794]

your experiment with the case side off and fan proves it isnt the case.. you could try taking the card apart and re-applying the paste.. making sure its all as it should be..

my overclocked 980 ti core 1250 and memory 1900 with the core boosting to 1442 only manages about 2350 in heaven fully maxed out.. i think the voltage is around 1.97..

my card has a three slot cooler so it runs cool but the voltage and power usage limits still limits the boost.. running furmark it throttles down to around 1000 boost.. or less than stock with no boost at all depending how you look at it..

i do have to say the price paid for a pc with a 980ti card was on the cheap side and mis should make reasonable cards..

trog

Guess I'm spoiled by EVGA.
My friends 980 Ti overclocked does nearly 2500 while keeping temperatures under 65 C w/ EVGA's ACX 2.0 cooling. Fan speed around 60%-70%.


I guess I'm not really DISSAPOINTED with MSI. The Tis run super hot, it's just a shame because his card should be able to overclock VERY well, but he can't because of temperature. For what it's worth, his ASIC quality is 72%.
My 980's ASIC is 70%, and I run almost 1600 MHz without artifacts.

 

[trog100]

has he tried upping the fan speeds.. you can also set the throttle limits at around 90 C..

most of these cards come set up for low fan speeds and silent running by default.. cranking up the fan speeds and the throttle point should enable a reasonable overclock..

whilst its nice to run around 65 C the cards can stand being much hotter.. i can set mine to go up to 91 C before it throttles.. mine is also a three slot cooler so keeping it around 65 to 70 isnt hard but it wont do that on the default fan profile.. mine is set to run flat out at 70 C..

with a normal two slot cooler i think 85 C is normal at default.. cranking up the fan speeds should enable higher clocks at roughly the same temps..

1500 boost is about where most of these cards will go with a bit of luck.. maybe 1300 on the clock.. mine is set at 1250 for every day stable use.. it boosts to around 1450..

trog

 

[jordan1794]

His card boosts to around 1100-1200 momentarily, but hits the power throttle pretty quickly.
At least for my 980, temperature plays a part in stability. Running my fans conservatively and allowing temperatures to get to 75 or higher I can only manage around 1500 boost clock. Running them aggressively and keeping under 65 I can hit 1580 or so without artifacts (Over 1600 without crashing, but there are some specks here and there in heaven so I don't count it as stable)

His fan speed would hit around 80%, I'm sure setting it to run at 100% could probably get him to run his full boost clock of 1200, but even then I still think it will overheat, and not leave any room for overclocking.
However I will definitely give it a shot next time I head over there, i'll post back to see how it went.

Btw, its surely a typo in your first post where you said you are running 1.97 volts, right?
What voltage are you running though? Just curious.

 

[eidairaman1]

run at stock.

 

[jordan1794]

run at stock.

Well right now he isn't even getting the performance of the card at "stock"
(Depending on what you mean as stock, as most manufacturers send the cards out with a pre-applied mild OC)

If he is willing to pay for better cooling to overclock the card and get more performance, why not?

 

[trog100]

two pics.. card set at 105 % power usage and 87 C max temp.. voltage left alone.. .. these cards with a default bios will throttle for three reasons i think.. the temp the power usage and the voltage..

the pic running heaven isnt throttling at all.. the boosted core speed is 1442.. and power usage and temps are not at the max i have set them at.. the default voltage reads 1.93..

the pic running furmark tells a different story.. the card is hitting the power usage limit and massively throttling down.. the boosted core clock speed is only 1088 which is less than the base clock.. the default core voltage is a relatively low 1.030..

quite why furmark does this and heaven or valley dosnt i havnt a clue.. but whatever limit the card hits first will cause it to not go any faster..

the cards seem pretty idiot proof so messing with the setting wont do any harm.. the max power usage i can set are 110% the max temp is 91 C.. the two settings are linked..

trog

ps.. there is more to this throttling thing than simple temps.. its also possible to set the temps up around 90 C before temp throttling takes place.. 90 C may seem hot but the cards will stand it..

 

[scevism]

That thunder master software aint much cop. Try msi afterburner

 

[Toothless]

MSI and please don't use Furmark. That's known to kill GPUs.

 

[trog100]

That thunder master software aint much cop. Try msi afterburner

i have tried most of them.. they all do pretty much the same thing.. with Win 1O at least the palet software is the only one that will load at start up.. win 10 seems overly fussy about what it lets load at start up.. afterburner.. precision.. real temp... all seem to be on its ignore and dont load at start up list..

mother being overly protective is the main thing i dont like about Windows 10..

as for not using furmark.. one could say the same thing about any stress tester that pushes hardware to its limit.. use with caution.. he he..

i posted the furmark pic simply to show how different things can have produce different results.. and to point out more things than the gpu temps can cause gpu throttling..

personally i think with a stock bios and all its built in safety features it will take some pretty extreme actions to damage a modern graphics card.. the same applies to a cpu.. both are pretty much idiot proof.. with simple overclocking software being the norm they have to be..

furmark does seem the best tool for really heat testing a card.. the temps in furmark are way higher than real world temps will ever get but they will never exceed the set limits.. people that have suffered furmark damage have been using a modded bios.. it wont hurt a card with a stock bios..

trog

 

[OneMoar]

80c on the stock cooler is normal .... especially running furmark
and the cards are intended to throttle its why the power limit/boost clock system exists
you can of course raise those limits if you want

 

[rtwjunkie]

Check your startup and firewall settings, because Afterburner should start at startup. Every program I give auto start to, W10 lets happen.

 

[trog100]

Check your startup and firewall settings, because Afterburner should start at startup. Every program I give auto start to, W10 lets happen.

true but in my case i cant get certain things to start up with windows 10 no matter what i do.. i like real temp running in the task bar all the time.. the only way i can get it to do this is to manually fire it up after windows has loaded.. i have even bunged a shortcut in the old fashioned start up folder.. win 10 just ignores it..

the same applies to afterburner or evga precision they will not not start up in win 10.. most things obey the rules and if set to start up will do but some things wont..

win 10 has it own start up or not start up thing in its settings but again some things simply do not show up in its listing and there is no option to add them.. so in that sense its neat but f-cking useless.. he he

i also have the same problem with dimmdrive.. a steam linked ramdrive.. win 10 has buggered it up with not letting it launch at start up.. it still works when manually fired up and set every time but wont remember settings and auto start up..

i recon its a deliberate feature built into win 10.. i cant see any other reason for such happenings.. mother just dosnt like certain things running..

off topic but folks often comment when i post pics of the palit thunder master tweaking tool.. i use it for the reasons stated and it does its job very well.. he he..

i recon mother aint keen on ram drives because they may get in the way of her data gathering nature.. i do a lot of browsing and have tried running my browser from a ram drive to avoid all the targeted spam i get.. dimmdrive should do all this kind of stuff automatically create the drive and load stuff into it at windows start up.. tis a shame win 10 has f-cked it up..

i dont dislike win 10 but the way MS is going for total control over what i do and dont do with my own PC does bother me a bit.. he he..

trog

 

[EarthDog]

i think the voltage is around 1.97..

You wouldn't own a functional 980Ti if you pumped 1.97v through it. I would imagine it to be around 1.2v give or take.

Furmark should NOT be used to test GPUs. Both NVIDIA and AMD considers them "Power Virus" and can kill your GPU.

 

[eidairaman1]

The cards throttle under furmark at stock anyway. Pointless app. FYI if youre so worried about this rma the card... or for that matter take the machine back. Get money back and build a true Gaming machine. "Real gamers select their parts and build the rig themselves or if they are just starting out have a hand guiding them." I had to read books and I even took an A+ Cert course before the youtube days. PS my sig rig is a good starting point for a build.

 

[trog100]

You wouldn't own a functional 980Ti if you pumped 1.97v through it. I would imagine it to be around 1.2v give or take.

Furmark should NOT be used to test GPUs. Both NVIDIA and AMD considers them "Power Virus" and can kill your GPU.

we do need to be right here.. its not me pumping 1.93 volts through anything.. its simple what the voltage reads running heaven.. i have not unlocked or altered the voltage setting which to my simple thinking means its stock..

oddly enough running the big bad furmark i see a much lower voltage reading.. 1.030 volts..

i offer no explanation but i see what i see.. i was a tad out with my 1.97 from memory quote its actually 1.93 in the pic but i am pretty sure i have seen 1.97..

card clocked at 1253 core and 1900 memory.. voltage left alone and at stock.. take note the card is running nice and cool..

if you care to offer an explanation as to why i see what i see i would be happy to have it..

they do say a picture is worth a thousand words.. i offer two of them..

trog

ps.. the max power setting is at 105 percent and max temp is set at 87.. heaven dosnt dosnt go anywhere near the max settings furmark hits the max power setting and throttles down big time.. if i run furmark in sli mode the cards do not throttle anywhere near as much.. they both run at around 1150..

if i do crank the voltage up furmark (or the cards bios) throttles even more i have seen as low as 800 with one card running the last time i tried upping the stock voltage.. but as a general rule i leave the cards voltage alone.. the pics are at stable every day gaming settings.. not benching settings..

 

[EarthDog]

i offer no explanation but i see what i see.. i was a tad out with my 1.97 from memory quote its actually 1.93 ..

Again, 1.93v through that GPU would KILL IT. It is more than clear that is NOT the correct voltage. You screenshot shows 1.193v. You, missed a "1" there.

 

[rtwjunkie]

true but in my case i cant get certain things to start up with windows 10 no matter what i do.. i like real temp running in the task bar all the time.. the only way i can get it to do this is to manually fire it up after windows has loaded.. i have even bunged a shortcut in the old fashioned start up folder.. win 10 just ignores it..

the same applies to afterburner or evga precision they will not not start up in win 10.. most things obey the rules and if set to start up will do but some things wont..

win 10 has it own start up or not start up thing in its settings but again some things simply do not show up in its listing and there is no option to add them.. so in that sense its neat but f-cking useless.. he he

I simply don't understand. My Windows 10 let's me install anything and it behaves exactly as each program always did in previous Windows version, including autostart programs if I set them that way.

I believe half the problem is you can't auto start what needs to, so the cooling and fan profile doesn't get implemented.

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

we do need to be right here.. its not me pumping 1.93 volts through anything.. its simple what the voltage reads running heaven.. i have not unlocked or altered the voltage setting which to my simple thinking means its stock..

I see your card is running at a stable 119.3 volts or wait is it 1193 Volts...

Also FYI - EK has released the Full Coverage Block for the MSI 980TI. http://www.ekwb.com/configurator/

 

[trog100]

Again, 1.93v through that GPU would KILL IT. It is more than clear that is NOT the correct voltage. You screenshot shows 1.193v. You, missed a "1" there.

i did.. you are right call it a brain fade typo.. but i did post the bloody screen shots as a true reference.. he he

to add just a bit the errr "1.197" occurs within the first couple of minutes of running.. after that the voltage drops off to 1.174 and the boost drops from 1442 down to 1429 the max settings are never hit so why this occurs i havnt a clue.. but something cuts the boost down a little.. if its not temps or power usage i am guessing the bios dosnt like being up at plus 1.19-ish levels.. maybe at stock 1.2 or close is the upper limit at which point the card throttles down or stops boosting as much..

as for the win 10 start up thing.. i havnt a clue for definite but think its win 10 just dosnt like some things running.. i have tried pretty hard to get those things running..

the recent win 10 re-fresh (update) also un-installed cpu-z for example.. no reason i can think of except that windows 10 dosnt like such things..

everything i have found it wont start up seems to be connected with tweaking tools of some kind or other..

i hate f-cking numbers always have done.. never could remember them.. it gets worse with age.. he he he

trog

 

[boolean]

The cards throttle under furmark at stock anyway. Pointless app. FYI if youre so worried about this rma the card... or for that matter take the machine back. Get money back and build a true Gaming machine. "Real gamers select their parts and build the rig themselves or if they are just starting out have a hand guiding them." I had to read books and I even took an A+ Cert course before the youtube days. PS my sig rig is a good starting point for a build.

I haven't seen it throttling when set to 1478 MHz. This is on an Asus 970 Mini with only one 8pins power connector to deliver the juice. You would expect this to run much hotter, as its cooling solution has been tailored for HTPC usage. I could push it even further without any artifacts showing, but it doesn't give that much of a benefit due to my aging CPU not being able to keep up anyway.

 

[jordan1794]

The cards throttle under furmark at stock anyway. Pointless app. FYI if youre so worried about this rma the card... or for that matter take the machine back. Get money back and build a true Gaming machine. "Real gamers select their parts and build the rig themselves or if they are just starting out have a hand guiding them." I had to read books and I even took an A+ Cert course before the youtube days. PS my sig rig is a good starting point for a build.

Unfortunately he didn't tell me before he bought it.
Literally just called me and was like "Hey, my new computer came in today! Come check it out"

Check out my build in my sig, that was / is my first computer ever built(Typing on it right now). Spent lots of time looking up stuff and figuring things out prior to building it.
And this is what I built for a friend who DID consult me prior to building one (When I say consult, I mean he threw money at me and said do the best you can with this hahaha.)
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/t4yrQ7

 

[EarthDog]

No SSD and 2015????? Otherwise, nice build!

 

[jordan1794]

No SSD and 2015????? Otherwise, nice build!

My hard drive is a Hybrid, so I get the fast boots and snappy windows operations.
(Auto-hybrid though, the one where it automatically determines what files to store on the SSD part)
However I do wish to have one when loading games with big files (GTA 5 I'm looking at you)

I've seen that a lot of games, at least multiplayer ones, it's use is limited.
Yay, I loaded into the lobby before everyone else...now to wait another minute while everyone else gets here.

Guess if I played more single player games, it'd be more useful to me. I do plan on getting one though! Just waiting until after the cruise I'm going on in January, then I'm gonna up my build a bit...probably put an 980 Ti in mine as well (Which will definitely be watercooled haha).