Sapphire x1950 Pro overheats

[VroomBang]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this forum and I would say that I don’t have an awful lot of experience in modding / custom building but I find it quite interesting.

I've recently custom built an entry to mid-level gaming PC and have had quite a few issues. When I finally managed to get it to work, after a couple of weeks of troubleshooting, some ok PS3 games finally came out and I hardly used the PC for gaming.

I've started to use it a bit more lately, and I've experienced some serious GPU overheating. For instance, when playing Command and Conquer 3, the game would crash after 5 min. and an error message from the ATI Catalyst Control Center would warn me of a GPU temperature of 105 degrees Celsius! On some occasions while playing C&C, the system would just shut down. I find this odd since I had played Doom3, Quake 4, FarCry, Crytek, Bioshock and NFS Carbon and other more demanding games than C&C3 without a glitch in the past 9 months.

After downloading ATItool 0.27 (which can apparently handle the x1950 Pro), I've noticed that the idle temp is 77 Celsius, which seems very high. I would expect it to be around 45 C. max. Even when turning the Fan to a permanent 100%, I can’t get the idle GPU temp below 71. Yes, you read well, 71C at idle!

I’ve never overclocked the GPU which runs at 580Mhz, nor the memory. However, I’m now in a situation in which I have to underclock the GPU to 190Mhz not to overheat it, which is ridiculous. The funny thing is all games work like a treat when underclocking the GPU to such low values. I’ve checked the card itself, dusted it off, and made sure there were no cables around it. The tower case has a good ventilation since it’s got fans at the front and at the back. Temperatures on the motherboard and CPU are reasonably low (41C and 51C respectively). I’ve also changed the AGP speed from x8 to x4 in the BIOS and turned off AGP FastWrite, but it doesn’t change anything.

Does this mean that my ATI is dead or about to be? Has anyone else experienced this with the Sapphire x1950 Pro?

If so, are NVidia cards more reliable?

Thanks a lot for your time guys!

My configuration is as follows:
Pentium D 3.0Ghz
Asus motherboard P5VDC-X (both AGP and PCI-E)
Sapphire X1950 Pro AGP 512MB DDR3
RAM 2Ghz
SATA2 Seagate 500MB
IDE WD 500MB
Jeantech PSU 600W "Arctic", 38Amp on 12V rail (above recommended value for the X1950 Pro)
Jeantech NJX ATX gaming tower case

 

[Makaveli]

Buy an Accelero X2, I put one on my Sapphire card and it drops the temps alots. Also alot more quiet than stock cooler.

 

[VroomBang]

Thanks for the tip Makaveli. I'm not sure I want to go down the modding route on the card itself, as I fear the GPU might have suffered from a few overheating sessions, and it might not be worth it. Do you know of any mid-level card renowned for its cooling capabilities?

 

[Morgoth]

mine is 45c idle and 80c max with stock cooling and dynamic fan controll
i think your videocard ist getting enough cold air

 

[Namslas90]

Thanks for the tip Makaveli. I'm not sure I want to go down the modding route on the card itself, as I fear the GPU might have suffered from a few overheating sessions, and it might not be worth it. Do you know of any mid-level card renowned for its cooling capabilities?

ATI cards are tough, my X1900XTX has now had around 6 or 7 "VPU recovery" shutdowns and after servicing (cleaning and new paste) works just fine. Leave the VPU Recoverery enabled and the card should shut down before any dammage is caused.

 

[VroomBang]

My problem is getting worse.

I'm now getting idle temperature readings of 85C on dynamic fan and 81C on 100%. I don't even dare launching a game, this thing is going to blow anytime now. I'm underclocking the MF big time before this turns into a WMD. Time to get this baby RMA'd.

Anyone ever tried the x1950 Pro Ultimate, the one with the Zalman cooling solution?

 

[Bytor]

How hot do you have the room the computer is in?

I had 2 of those cards (but pci-e) and never ran them on stock cooling. I used a pair of Zerotherm GX810's. They kept them cool and were dead silent. I went with them over the Zalmans cause the zalmans come with a multi plug connector and you have to manualy unplug from one and into another to choose fan speed. The Zerotherm has a built it sensor the speeds up the fan as it gets hotter and slows it down when running cooler. And they come with 8 ram sinks..

GX810 (red LED)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887006

GX815 (Blue LED) This one puts out more air flow
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887009

 

[VroomBang]

I don't put the heating on in this room, no need to, the graphic card could heat up the whole building. I must have had one from their faulty batch. I'm waiting to hear from Sapphire Tech Support.

I'll never get one of your Zerotherm coolers in Spain. They've just found out about computers here - only kidding dear Spaniards. I could get an Accelero x2 if anything. I think I'd rather have it RMA'd first, and if the replacement shows any weakness, I might go down the modding route with the new SKU. Then again, I could buy the Zerotherm from the UK, just a bit of a hassle to send back if something's wrong with it. How easy is it to assemble?

 

[Widjaja]

RMA.
My X1950pro idles in the 50's maxes out at 86degC and never locked up or crashed.

 

[Bytor]

It just uses 4 screws through the PCB. And the ram sinks have 2 sided tape.

I ran a pair of them on my 1950 pro's for 2 months before I went to water.

Here's a pic of my cards.

 

[VroomBang]

dude, looks like it's alive! Pink blood?

 

[Mandown]

Have you checked to make sure that the heatsink is tighten down. my card with the stock cooler never got above 70C with a about a 10% overclock. If you can take out 1 or 2 slot tabs below the video card. I did that when i first got it and it drop about 10-15C.
BTW Sick rig bytor!

 

[VroomBang]

yep, checked the heatskink, installed an extra fan on the side panel, removed the original thermal compound and put some AS5 instead, temp dropped by 3-4C, but still very high idle >70C and >105C full load.

The seller has agreed for an RMA, so it's all good ;-).

 

[eidairaman1]

check the airflow in your case, Vidcards and other devices depend on airflow, also a dud powersupply can also cause the card to have higher temps cause it is trying to get the needed voltages, couse other solution is to RMA the card stating DX Problems.

 

[eidairaman1]

i hope its Revision 2 of the GPU as mine is and its been rock steady for 2 months now the first one died in 3 days.

 

[VroomBang]

it probably will be rev 2, but it's going straight for sale on ebay, I don't trust their cooling design. I'm getting a 7950GT instead, comes with a Zalman cooler on.

 

[eidairaman1]

know the diff b/w rev 1 and rev2? Rev 1 was known to have heatsinks not contacting the GPU or ram for that matter

 

[VroomBang]

check the airflow in your case, Vidcards and other devices depend on airflow, also a dud powersupply can also cause the card to have higher temps cause it is trying to get the needed voltages, couse other solution is to RMA the card stating DX Problems.

Mine gets hot (>80C idle) like 1 min after turning the pc on, even with the case open.

I was told my psu was good enough to run it. It's been running fine for the past 5 months and just started to overheat one day.

 

[eidairaman1]

what about the 3850?

 

[Widjaja]

@eidairman1
It's just luck of the draw.
Really sucks.

I had no problems with my rev1 X1950pro but my first 8800GT overheated.

@Bytor
Your rig is sick, pity about the ugly standard ASUS mustard tan brown motherboard PCB.
So tidy.
BTW what is in the PCI slot?

@vroombang
You'll be right this time round.
I just wished the sellers would test the cards at thier store if requested.
Isn't that hard.
Just get a GPU benchtesting program and let it run for half an hour.
Would reduce these RMA's.

 

[VroomBang]

know the diff b/w rev 1 and rev2? Rev 1 was known to have heatsinks not contacting the GPU or ram for that matter

yeah, rev 2 comes with a separate vrm heatsink, check out post #3246:
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=704077&highlight=tits#post704077

The fact that Sapphire released an ultimate version for this card with a Zalman cooler on is a sign that their previous heatsink could be improved. I know some people here who are using the rev2 without a glitch, and good for them. However, my rev1 also worked fine for some time without a single glitch until one day, when it snapped. So I'm not taking the risk again. Also, the card is very power hungry and I'm not 100% sure my psu is good enough as the maker doesn't publish the continuous output on the 12V rail, only peak values. A 7950GT is less power hungry (350W according to the doc.). Anyway, the replacement is an AGP and I'm moving to PCI-E (new mobo).

 

[VroomBang]

what about the 3850?

not this time around, I'm giving nVida a go, I got a 7950GT brand new and v. cheap. I'm still playing 2-3 years old games, so the card should have enough power. I might upgrade later to a higher spec if needed, depending on the games I play. No point for me in getting anything above 1950pro or 7950GT right now.

 

[Widjaja]

AGP version I'm guessing?
Should have less stutters than the X1950pro in some games.

That was the only issue I had with the X1950pro I had.
Bioshock it would run very smooth.
But then I'd play something old like NFSMW and it would stutter hard especially with high shadows.

Haven't tried my 8800GT with Bioshock yet.

But I will be unless Fallout 3 is coming sometime soon.

 

[VroomBang]

AGP version I'm guessing?
Should have less stutters than the X1950pro in some games.

That was the only issue I had with the X1950pro I had.
Bioshock it would run very smooth.
But then I'd play something old like NFSMW and it would stutter hard especially with high shadows.

Haven't tried my 8800GT with Bioshock yet.

But I will be unless Fallout 3 is coming sometime soon.

the x1950pro was AGP, the 7950GT is PCI-E
I'm not sure about NFSMW, but NFSCarbon ran v. smoothly on the X1950. I did notice an awful lot of stutter with Test Drive unlimited though, it was quite shocking, but then it could have been down to my pentium D bottlenecking... I'll see how the 7950GT compares.

 

[eidairaman1]

Thats the Problem with e-tailers, they usually are warehouse based, now places like frys electronics should be able to bench test them in front of you, Directron.com is a warehouse but you can go to the place if your in Houston for that matter, they do have a Mod/Repair Shop there.

well the video card I like so far is the Visiontek 3870 for the next rig, its the factory cooler but I wonder if the same modification works on it just like the 2900XT cooler that CPU mag modified slightly (Lapped/polished the heatsink- put holes near exhaust side of Fan shroud like on the GF 8 cards.)

@eidairman1
It's just luck of the draw.
Really sucks.

I had no problems with my rev1 X1950pro but my first 8800GT overheated.

@Bytor
Your rig is sick, pity about the ugly standard ASUS mustard tan brown motherboard PCB.
So tidy.
BTW what is in the PCI slot?

@vroombang
You'll be right this time round.
I just wished the sellers would test the cards at thier store if requested.
Isn't that hard.
Just get a GPU benchtesting program and let it run for half an hour.
Would reduce these RMA's.