4870X2 huge temp differences between cores

[2DividedbyZero]

just for reference, here is a screenshot after 2 runs of furmark (same as kombustor)



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[fusionblu]

Not need to worry with the temperature differences, I have the same thing with my Gigabyte GTX 460 Cards in 2-way SLI. My temps average around 50 - 60 with the first card and the second card usually stays at a steady 30.

It's probably due to the fact that the power of both cards are focused into the first card and that when you play a game or do any graphics related task the first card is the card that does all the work too.

 

[2DividedbyZero]

gpu's on the same board don't tend to have that much difference in my experience, i think a thermal compound change will help with those temps. stacking cards in sli or xfire would probably yield those results if subject to poor air flow

 

[Ev1LrYu]

First as they stopped making the hd4870x2 around 18 months ago i doubt his card is still under warranty.

& yeah what newtekie said is true but i have to agree with Melvis 34 degrees difference just carnt be right.

My Sapphire HD4870x2 only ever has one core around 8 or 10 degrees hotter than the other.

My previeus gpu a HD3870x2 also only had a difference in temps of around 8 or 10 degrees

If the card was bought new (9months ago? even though it's been sitting on the shelf for a while), I would assume it is still under warranty (I've seen nothing less than at least a year warranty on new cards, usually 2 or more for high-end gpus starting on date of purchase). And correct me if I'm wrong, but in the event the card is no longer being made, manufacturers would typically RMA you a comparable GPU (5870 perhaps?)

 

[Wile E]

If the card was bought new (9months ago? even though it's been sitting on the shelf for a while), I would assume it is still under warranty (I've seen nothing less than at least a year warranty on new cards, usually 2 or more for high-end gpus starting on date of purchase). And correct me if I'm wrong, but in the event the card is no longer being made, manufacturers would typically RMA you a comparable GPU (5870 perhaps?)

Pretty much spot on.

 

[Cruc1al]

If the card was bought new (9months ago? even though it's been sitting on the shelf for a while), I would assume it is still under warranty (I've seen nothing less than at least a year warranty on new cards, usually 2 or more for high-end gpus starting on date of purchase). And correct me if I'm wrong, but in the event the card is no longer being made, manufacturers would typically RMA you a comparable GPU (5870 perhaps?)

No actually the card was bought used. It had been used for 3 months IIRC.

 

[Ev1LrYu]

I think it wouldn't hurt to contact the manufacturer, even here where I live (with crappy consumer protection - The Philippines) most cards come with 1-year Shop warranty (the actual store you bought it from) and 2 years Distro (distributor) warranty. And knowing that is a premium card, it is more than likely still covered.

Now if you are 100% sure its no longer covered, then (and only then, IMHO) you should consider re-seating the heatsink / applying better thermal compound.

I bought my GTX260 used, and it did run a bit hot, so I removed the cowl/hood and found a bit of dust buildup. I cleaned out the fins/fans and its been running a good 2-4c cooler (still has distro warranty so I dun want to remove the heatsink) - some people overlook this so might want to give it a shot.

 

[Cruc1al]

What if I don't have a warranty card for it? Plus it's actually not a brand card, i.e. Sapphire or anything. Just ATI.

 

[Cruc1al]

if you are confident that the card is clocking to 3D mode on both cores, then i would suggest the following:

1. check the fan/heatsink isn't home to a bunch of dustbunnies (if so then clean!) or
2. remove said heatsink, clean off old and apply new thermal compound (recommend MX-2)

I'm finally getting around to actually cleaning the graphics card. I know there's a bit of dust inside it, but I have a question first: if I wanted to open the casing and clean the dust from inside it, would that also remove the heatsink? Or can I separate the casing without removing the heatsink? I don't want to replace the thermal compound unless cleaning the dust doesn't do the trick, although I do have some AS Ceramique left from my CPU cooler installation a year back (is that stuff still usable?). Also I'm planning to get some compressed air for blowing off the dust. Anything else I should know about cleaning the card?

 

[Cruc1al]

^ Nevermind that, actually. I went ahead with it because I wanted to see what's inside ;D. Turns out I did have to reapply the thermal paste. I used the AS ceramique I had left. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to open the casing fully. The casing protecting the heatsinks and the fan after they'd been removed from the card itself was pretty much glued in. The screws holding it in place were impossibly tight, I managed to get 2 of the 8 or so screws off after almost half an hour of trying . I was using the correct size of a screwdriver too. They were just really small and ridiculously tight, I'm not even sure there are any right tools for this job.

So I didn't get to clean the dust off of the heatsinks. I suspect what's going on with my GPU is what is being discussed in here. The picture posted there says everything.

Temperatures after reapplying the thermal paste are like they were before, maybe just a few degrees lower for the higher temp core, hard to say. I guess I'm just going to have to make do with the uber loud fan until I decide to buy a 6870 or some similarly quiet and cool card. With such a cool card I could even go dual when I need the extra bang.

 

[Wile E]

The screws shouldn't be that tight. If the screwdriver was slipping, you didn't have the right size. Try jeweler's screwdrivers. That's what I used, iirc.

 

[Cruc1al]

The screws shouldn't be that tight. If the screwdriver was slipping, you didn't have the right size. Try jeweler's screwdrivers. That's what I used, iirc.

Well they did slip a bit. Maybe they weren't exactly the right size.

I don't think I'm going to go through the trouble of finding the right size and reapplying the thermal paste again. I managed to lower the temps a bit by putting the computer on the floor from the desk, and repositioning my HDD so that it doesn't block the airflow so much. I also adjusted the fan profile in MSI afterburner, now after 5 min of MSI kombustor @ fullscreen 4xAA I can get the temps stay at just a bit over 80 for the hotter core with fan speed at about 45%. It could be that the newly applied thermal paste also contributes to this.

 

[Cruc1al]

Another update... In case anyone's still reading this.

I figured I'd take a look at the other component temperatures in GPU-Z after running Kombustor for 5min.

While GPU2 (which is the primary GPU) stayed at an acceptable 86 with my fan profile, not all other components were so lucky.

DISPIO: idle 52, max 86
MEMIO: idle 53, max 101
SHADERCORE: idle 53, max 94.5
VDDC phase 1: idle 51, max 113
VDDC phase 2: idle 50, max 112

The VDDC numbers look a bit alarming ... though I've read of higher values for other people with this card. These are @ stock. I've read of 4870X2 dying on people after they've been using it for 2 years and that VRAM frying might be the reason. Does VDDC refer to VRAM? Do you think lowering memory clock would produce less heat in VDDC?

Given that 4870X2 makes quite a lot of noise and heat, I've been thinking about buying a new card and selling this one. But I don't know if selling it is such a good idea if it's not going to last long anyway..

 

[Melvis]

Just checking all my temps agaisnt yours and ill let ya know what i get for them all ok

 

[Melvis]

As you can see there no where near the temps your getting and its summer time here atm.

 

[Cruc1al]

I'll try to find some compressed air and blow it inside the heatsink/fan casing to remove the dust. As I couldn't get it open before, I'm not 100% sure the dust is there but I think it has to be because I wouldn't be getting these temps otherwise. I doubt I will achieve your temperatures though, but any improvement would be nice :0

 

[Melvis]

Yea gotta try all areas as those temps of yours are just way to high to be safe. That card will fail quickly with those temps. I havent touched mine since i bought it off Ebay lol, i just give it a quick blow out with air every month or so and thats it, its been a very good card for me and temps have been not bad realy, better then my m8s GTX460's :S

I was playing Counter Strike: Source when i gave you those temps^ I have not yet seen my card hit of 80c yet with my fan profile. Was even thinking of getting another one lol

Good luck getting those temps down

 

[Cruc1al]

Alright I cleaned it as much as I could with the compressed air. I noticed some dust come out, which I sucked into the vacuum cleaner, but not alot. Certainly my PSU which looked dusty gave out a lot more puffs of dust as I cleaned it.

No difference in temperatures at ALL. Either there's still considerable dust in there which I doubt, or this unit is simply crap. May have been why whoever sold it to me on ebay sold it in the first place.

I wonder if the problem could be in how I applied the thermal paste. Maybe I applied too much or too little or maybe the surface isn't entirely even. Maybe I should reapply it, and be extra careful to get it just the right amount. Unlike with CPU coolers however, you can't twist the cooler a little bit once it's in place to make sure the thermal paste spreads evenly... :/ .. it bugs me though that the temperatures didn't change at all when I applied the new thermal paste the first time.

I increased my fan profile a bit, now the GPU temps stay under 82 and the VDDC's under 107 after 5min of kombustor. When gaming these will be lower of course.

Ah well, looking forward to a new card in January... and I'll try to sell this one for a reasonable price.

 

[Melvis]

Hmmm very odd, yea id give it one last try of redoing all the thermals and new paste etc and see what happens, i havent had to do mine yet since it runs cool anyway. You never know it could be just reading it wrong? how does the card feel after its been used? or can u get ya hand near the card and feel the heat off it? can you touch it without going OMG that burns? etc lol We did this with my m8s GTX260 it was to HOT to even hold, now thats hot.

I will have to also do a bigger stress test on mine and see what temps i get for ya.

 

[Wile E]

I wish I could help you out here. I never tested mine on air. I do hope you get it sorted tho.

 

[stock]

If the card was bought new (9months ago? even though it's been sitting on the shelf for a while), I would assume it is still under warranty (I've seen nothing less than at least a year warranty on new cards, usually 2 or more for high-end gpus starting on date of purchase). And correct me if I'm wrong, but in the event the card is no longer being made, manufacturers would typically RMA you a comparable GPU (5870 perhaps?)

A fella on another forum got a 5970 in return for his RMA'd x2 (from Asus)



Mine (with Accelero Xtreme) runs 5°c difference at idle. Fan @ 40% = GPU1 40°c / GPU2 35°c, fan @ 100% = GPU1 35°c / GPU2 30°c. My airflow isn't particularly good as it's only in a TJ07 with a couple of 120's stood in the bay area atm as my loop is down.

I'll update when I can be arsed to put it under load as I'm off to bed now

 

[Widjaja]

Used GPU from some stranger on the net who probably abused the card before giving it to you.
I remember a while back of the same scenario with another TPU user.

The guy he bought the card off seemed nice enough but it turned out the guy had done something to it.
The next owner had the same kind of temperatures as you but was able to get the cooler off.