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6970 temps with GPU-Z 85 idle?

edge929

edge929

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Feb 9, 2012
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temps.gif


New reference XFX 6970 installed tonight, replaced stock TIM with some arctic silver making sure to cover the entire die (only done it a hundred times). Idling at Windows desktop I see the GPU Temp #2 sitting at almost 85 degrees. Is this normal? The tool tip on this says it's a random area of the GPU die so I'm guessing I need to re-apply thermal compound.
 
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Yeah try re seating it, which XFX 6970 do you have ?.

As i am kinda curious with our VDDC being at 1.0v and not 0.9 while idling ( cores idling at 500 too).. Thinking yours might be a different model as i know mine ram clocks down as well.

Make sure you coolers on right and all so not to tight as well.

EDIT:

If you decide to get in touch with XFX i hope your from the US as many other places are not allowed to take of the cooler and even if you are from the US you have ask them for the ok to take off the cooler before you did.
 
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This is my card.

I re-seated 2 more times now, checking the pads were all in the right places. Temps came down about 3 degrees, nothing crazy. Windows 7 Aero affects the "idle" of most GPUs, hence the 500mhz core and not lower. I started up a game and monitored the temps. GPU #2 hit 112 degrees and I quickly shut down the game. I really have no idea if this is normal or not. From my hour of googling, the 1/2/3 temps are supposed to be core/shader/mem controller.
 
Whats our case ventilation like ?. Well from what our saying it's the same card i have and i had around 40-50c idle with the default cooler on..

What i don't understand is why our memory is running full speed, keep in mind i am using a 3rd part cooler.
6970ref.gif



OK, for some reason our ram is not running idle which is coursing the VDDC to jump to 1v. Any thing like afterburner or riva tuner installed ?

EDIT: I just checked mine to yours and they are both the same cards.
 
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Those clocks look like what I would have running 2 monitors. You multi monitor? Set up a custom fan curve and see what happens.
 
manofthem said:
Those clocks look like what I would have running 2 monitors. You multi monitor? Set up a custom fan curve and see what happens.
Click to expand...

Yes, I run 2 monitors but only game on one. Main is 24" 1920x1200 and the secondary is 19" 1280x1024. Just downloaded Afterburner and am setting up the fan profile now.

I have an open air case, in the basement. It's ~65F down here during Feb/winter.

rig.jpg
 
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Disable afterburner and disable the second monitor and see what it's running right after a reboot.
 
I disabled the 2nd monitor and the clocks came down to 150 core/250 memory. This only lowered temps 1/2/3 to mid-50s all within a couple degrees. I played 15 minutes of a game and monitored temps. Core hit a high of 86C and GPU Temp #2 hit 116C. GPU Temp #1 and #3 were in 90s.
 
edge929 said:
I disabled the 2nd monitor and the clocks came down to 150 core/250 memory. This only lowered temps 1/2/3 to mid-50s all within a couple degrees. I played 15 minutes of a game and monitored temps. Core hit a high of 86C and GPU Temp #2 hit 116C. GPU Temp #1 and #3 were in 90s.
Click to expand...

Fan speeds got up to... ?
 
You can RMA for the high temp. I'm curious what temps were before though. Seems a common issue that one temp is abnormally high after changing TIM.
 
If the arctic silver is somewhat dry-ish, it won't work well. It's especially not good for GPU's. I suggest using a better TIM like AC MX-4.
 
cadaveca said:
You can RMA for the high temp. I'm curious what temps were before though. Seems a common issue that one temp is abnormally high after changing TIM.
Click to expand...

That's a good question. I bought it from another user on the HardOCP forums who ran it on water. He took off the heatsink/fan on day 1, never ran it.

From my extensive googling I found another thread where 2 users mentioned that using Arctic Silver Ceramique caused their temps to go up 10-20C. I also used this for my 6970. I've used it for years (yes the same tube) on my CPUs but this is the first I've put it on my GPU. I have a few other types of TIM I will try when I get home tonight. I have some from Prolimatech that is not conductive (like Ceramique).
 
Oh yeah, ceramique is not so good for modern GPUs. erocker has good advice there.


XFX cards should ahve had warranty transfer, if the original owner bought the card and registered within 30 days.

XFX also allows cooling/TIM changes, but you do need to let them know. If there is any physical damage to the card, RMA will be denied, but iif it's a cooling issue, they are pretty helpful.
 
cadaveca said:
Oh yeah, ceramique is not so good for modern GPUs. erocker has good advice there.
Click to expand...

I really do hope it's my poor choice in TIM but why is this? It works great for CPUs. I realize one has a heat spreader, the other doesn't but didn't think this would make a large difference. Anyone have some science behind it?

erocker said:
If the arctic silver is somewhat dry-ish, it won't work well. It's especially not good for GPU's. I suggest using a better TIM like AC MX-4.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was eye-balling MX-4 but will try out the stuff I have first. Don't want to drop $12 bucks for 1.5g if not needed. I'm not in the habit of swapping TIM on my GPUs, this was an exception.

Thanks to all for their feedback. I was crapping bricks for awhile thinking I just pi$$ed away $300 (6970 + EK block). I may swap to the EK block later if I don't sell it (any takers?).

I will post back with results so that some other poor soul who finds this thread in the future will have more knowledge.
 
edge929 said:
I have some from Prolimatech that is not conductive (like Ceramique).
Click to expand...

As far as I know, ceramique is NOT conductive, its the Arctic Silver that is conductive.

cadaveca said:
Oh yeah, ceramique is not so good for modern GPUs. erocker has good advice there.
Click to expand...

While I agree that ceramique is not the top solution, I don't think it is bad for modern cpu's or gpu's. I run it on my 2500k and my 6970 and when I am not waterchilling my GPU temps never get over 42C. This is with it running mostly 90 - 99% during my 3 - 4 hour skyrim sessions on one swifty 3.120 rad and one 1.120 rad. Just my .02!
 
So I tried some Evercool TIM I had lying around as it appeared to be the most "liquid" of everything I had. The Prolimatech TIM I had is ~1 year old but was very dry/hard to spread. My 5 year old Ceramique was easier to spread. End result however was the same. Played an hour of Batman AC and main GPU temp hit a high of 91 and temps 1/2/3 at highs of 98/120/96. The 91 is a little high but acceptable but the 120 still scares me and would assume this would create weird behavior during gameplay of which I saw none. The card is pretty hot to the touch towards the core and the exhaust/connection plate. Fan speed was ramping up to a max of 40%. Luckily I wear headphones.

Looks like I'll be getting a 7870 on March 6th....
 
try putting some shims around the base of the bracket of the gpu cooler to create more tension on the springs - seems like a contact issue; or the board is warped (?)
 
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