MSI Gaming 280x get's hot, worth flashing?

[NdMk2o1o]

I recently bought this MSI Gaming R9 280X and it seems to run really hot, I have quite an aggressive fan profile set in MSI afterburner and it still manages to hit 80c under load, at this point the fans are at 90% and it's pretty loud considering it's a twin frozr cooler on it.

Anyway I came across this article: https://rumorscity.com/2013/12/12/msi-r9-280x-bios-update-to-fix-overheating-and-vrm-temperatures/ and I'm wondering if it's worth flashing mine to the latest bios to see if that fixes the high temps.

This is my current bios https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/151603/msi-r9280x-3072-131204

And from what I can tell from the other MSI 280x's Bios's on the database is this is the newest one compatible with my card. https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/168873/msi-r9280x-3072-140302

I'm new to flashing but am willing to give it a go if it will help keep the temps of the card down.

Thoughts/suggestions?

 

[P4-630]

Personally I wouldn't touch a VGA BIOS but thats me, if your card has a dual BIOS you could try it.

 

[OneMoar]

flashing the vbios isn't gonna fix the temps
card is probly due for fresh paste or the cooler is defective

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

280X getting a little hot is kinda normal considering AMD cards are known for being hot runners. Before u fiddle with it, you might wanna check your casing's airflow coz it's one of a many factors why your card isn't dissipating heat effectively. Another thing to consider is your ambient temperature. If your room is slightly warm (~30C or so), u might need to turn on the air-conditioner to cool down. 3rd is to open the side panel to let the casing "breathe" to ensure no hot pockets are in the case.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Update: After this review, MSI sent me an updated BIOS, which I posted here. It fixes the overheating issues I experienced. GPU temperature now maxes out at around 82°C and the highest VRM temperature is 101°C. Noise levels are reduced too, to around 33 dBA. This results in a huge improvement to the product as these were the major issues we experienced during the review.

This is my current bios https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/168873/msi-r9280x-3072-140302

And from what I can tell from the other MSI 280x's Bios's on the database is this is the newest one compatible with my card. https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/168873/msi-r9280x-3072-140302

Those are the same. Fixed

 

[OneMoar]

Update: After this review, MSI sent me an updated BIOS, which I posted here. It fixes the overheating issues I experienced. GPU temperature now maxes out at around 82°C and the highest VRM temperature is 101°C. Noise levels are reduced too, to around 33 dBA. This results in a huge improvement to the product as these were the major issues we experienced during the review.

that is way way way to hot for a aftermarket cooler
my reference 7970 doesn't exceed 75C @ 60% fan ... and thats at 1100Mhz @ 1.20v

 

[NdMk2o1o]

280X getting a little hot is kinda normal considering AMD cards are known for being hot runners. Before u fiddle with it, you might wanna check your casing's airflow coz it's one of a many factors why your card isn't dissipating heat effectively. Another thing to consider is your ambient temperature. If your room is slightly warm (~30C or so), u might need to turn on the air-conditioner to cool down. 3rd is to open the side panel to let the casing "breathe" to ensure no hot pockets are in the case.

It's the UK my room is never 30c, it's bloody freezing here all the time and my airflow is fairly sufficient.

flashing the vbios isn't gonna fix the temps
card is probly due for fresh paste or the cooler is defective

Depends whats been modified in the bios and if it's a known issue perhaps it's been fixed in later bios

Update: After this review, MSI sent me an updated BIOS, which I posted here. It fixes the overheating issues I experienced. GPU temperature now maxes out at around 82°C and the highest VRM temperature is 101°C. Noise levels are reduced too, to around 33 dBA. This results in a huge improvement to the product as these were the major issues we experienced during the review.

Those are the same.

My bad I'll fix the links.. FIXED

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

hmm... have to check the direction of the casing fans? Try looking into that first. You can use the open case method when you are gaming or pulling some benchmarks as it should keep the GPU much cooler. Another thing to check is whether you are using the latest Radeon Software or not as precaution. =)

 

[NdMk2o1o]

hmm... have to check the direction of the casing fans? Try looking into that first. You can use the open case method when you are gaming or pulling some benchmarks as it should keep the GPU much cooler.

I said my airflow is fine, that's not the issue, these particular cards where known to run hotter than they should and as someone else stated above they were sent a modded bios by MSI following a review which brought the temps and noise down.

that is way way way to hot for a aftermarket cooler
my reference 7970 doesn't exceed 75C @ 60% fan ... and thats at 1100Mhz @ 1.20v

Now you see why my 80c temps and 90% fans will not do!

 

[OneMoar]

I think the cooler is probably defective I think Msi realized this and instead of recalling the defective coolers they just issued a patch to lower the vcore to keep the card alive
that cooler/card should not be exceeding 70c
there is no good reason that card should be seeing 85c/100c temps period
RMA it

 

[MrGenius]

I've been using that one for a long time now. I don't remember if it made any significant difference in temps or overclockability over the stock BIOS. But I've been using it anyway, just in case it does. I've modified it with VBE7 too, to suit my needs. Changes to the following.

PowerPlay # 0 Core Clock 1175 Memory Clock 1850
OverDrive TDP (%) 99
PowerTune TDP (W) 500
Fan Profile 35°C, 55% - 37°C,100%

I also have an ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme IV 280(X) installed. And use CL Liquid Ultra currently. Tops out at 54°C. Idles ~30°C ± 2°C.

IMO there's nothing wrong with your card. IIRC the stock cooler yielded similar temps on mine.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

that is way way way to hot for a aftermarket cooler
my reference 7970 doesn't exceed 75C @ 60% fan ... and thats at 1100Mhz @ 1.20v

I think the cooler is probably defective I think Msi realized this and instead of recalling the defective coolers they just issued a patch to lower the vcore to keep the card alive
that cooler/card should not be exceeding 70c
there is no good reason that card should be seeing 85c/100c temps period
RMA it

I've tried lowering the vcore a tad myself, didn't do much and doubt I will be able to RMA as I bought it used

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

ah. There's your answer. It's a pre-owned card.

 

[OneMoar]

you can try re-pasting it

 

[NdMk2o1o]

ah. There's your answer. It's a pre-owned card.

So you're saying all pre-owned cards are defective..... just disregard what others have said and what I've posted and make it up as you go along, that'll work.

I have no paste, just ordered some stuff from Amazon already today and too late to put on that order for delivery tomorrow grrrrrrrrr

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

@OneMoar he could do that since the warranty of the card is pretty much expired by a few months assuming the previous owner used it for almost 3 years... so yea... reapplying the thermal paste would be the first step since by then the old paste is already "dried up"...

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

I didn't say that pre-owned cards are bad/defective/a lemon... but there are some cases where very unlucky few got a bad unit that's much worst than yours. At least you got a working card still in good shape but have a little issue in thermals, which can be rectified.

 

[MrGenius]

For the record, I bought mine pre-owned. It was used for ~6 months of mining according to the PO. I've had no issues with it at all. And I've been overclocking it balls out since June 2014.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

I didn't say that pre-owned cards are bad/defective/a lemon... but there are some cases where very unlucky few got a bad unit that's much worst than yours. At least you got a working card still in good shape but have a little issue in thermals, which can be rectified.

The card is in good condition, I trust the previous owner and these cards have been known to run hot as has been posted previously, now whether that's down to a defective cooler or something else I don't know however MSI took the steps of making changes to the bios to help this problem hence my OP though I will take apart tomorrow and start with the paste and see how I get on

 

[thebluebumblebee]

As long as you follow the correct procedures for flashing your GPU, I don't see a problem. It's not like you're asking us "I found this BIOS in a shady corner of the Internet........"

 

[Norton]

MSI Twin Frozr coolers are notorious for having TIM issues- the symptoms you're describing is suggesting that the TIM needs to be redone. I had an MSI 6870 Hawk with a Twin Frozr cooler and I had to redo it every few months.

I believe @Aquinus and a few other folks here had the same/similar issues with the coolers on their MSI cards.

 

[MrGenius]

Dual BIOS too. So it's not like you're going to brick it.

 

[GhostRyder]

I recently bought this MSI Gaming R9 280X and it seems to run really hot, I have quite an aggressive fan profile set in MSI afterburner and it still manages to hit 80c under load, at this point the fans are at 90% and it's pretty loud considering it's a twin frozr cooler on it.

Anyway I came across this article: https://rumorscity.com/2013/12/12/msi-r9-280x-bios-update-to-fix-overheating-and-vrm-temperatures/ and I'm wondering if it's worth flashing mine to the latest bios to see if that fixes the high temps.

This is my current bios https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/151603/msi-r9280x-3072-131204

And from what I can tell from the other MSI 280x's Bios's on the database is this is the newest one compatible with my card. https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/168873/msi-r9280x-3072-140302

I'm new to flashing but am willing to give it a go if it will help keep the temps of the card down.

Thoughts/suggestions?

It can help in cases where the bios on the card is putting to much voltage into the card and the new bios reduces that. Otherwise it won't help. My advice is like the others to try and repaste it to see if that helps because that can make all the difference is its bad on the card.

280X getting a little hot is kinda normal considering AMD cards are known for being hot runners. Before u fiddle with it, you might wanna check your casing's airflow coz it's one of a many factors why your card isn't dissipating heat effectively. Another thing to consider is your ambient temperature. If your room is slightly warm (~30C or so), u might need to turn on the air-conditioner to cool down. 3rd is to open the side panel to let the casing "breathe" to ensure no hot pockets are in the case.

Not really dude... Certain cards run a bit warm on some coolers but a 280X with Twin Frozr is not going to run that hot normally. AMD cards are not just running magically hotter because they are AMD, its relative to how much voltage the card needs mixed with the cooler like any brand...

The card is in good condition, I trust the previous owner and these cards have been known to run hot as has been posted previously, now whether that's down to a defective cooler or something else I don't know however MSI took the steps of making changes to the bios to help this problem hence my OP though I will take apart tomorrow and start with the paste and see how I get on

Yea, I would start on that route and then go from there. Though you never know because sometimes the OC models just have a ton of voltage pushed through them and you maybe in that very scenario. Can't say for certainty, but its better to start on the paste and cooler work first then move on from there when temps are an issue. That's normally were I start if the case has good airflow.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

@NdMk2o1o wish u luck man.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I think the cooler is probably defective I think Msi realized this and instead of recalling the defective coolers they just issued a patch to lower the vcore to keep the card alive

Actually nothing wrong with that cooler. It was well-designed. Just not a good choice for the 280x, which already ran hot. The VRM seem to get really hot with it. That model worked very effectively on a large number of GPU's.