- Joined
- Mar 28, 2018
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- 1,892 (0.72/day)
- Location
- Arizona
| System Name | Space Heater MKIV |
|---|---|
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 5800X |
| Motherboard | ASRock B550 Taichi |
| Cooling | Noctua NH-U14S, 3x Noctua NF-A14s |
| Memory | 2x32GB Teamgroup T-Force Vulcan Z DDR4-3600 C18 1.35V |
| Video Card(s) | PowerColor RX 6800 XT Red Devil (2150MHz, 240W PL) |
| Storage | 2TB WD SN850X, 4x1TB Crucial MX500 (striped array), LG WH16NS40 BD-RE |
| Display(s) | Dell S3422DWG (34" 3440x1440 144Hz) |
| Case | Phanteks Enthoo Pro M |
| Audio Device(s) | Edifier R1700BT, Samson SR850 |
| Power Supply | Corsair RM850x, CyberPower CST135XLU |
| Mouse | Logitech MX Master 3 |
| Keyboard | Glorious GMMK 2 96% |
| Software | Windows 10 LTSC 2021, Linux Mint |
I'm new to making forum threads, so bear with me here. This is also the first time I've ever replaced thermal paste on a GPU.
A couple of days ago, I ordered a 20g syringe of Arctic MX-4 thermal paste with the intention of eventually replacing the paste on my GTX 780. It arrived today, and to test it, I decided to replace the thermal paste on my GTX 480. Then I got bored and decided to see what it takes to cool a GTX 480.
To test it, I ran Unigine Superposition on the medium preset. I left the core clock at 701MHz throughout all testing.
First, I'll show the score with the stock settings.
Max temp: 90C, Average framerate: 21.52fps, Core voltage: 1038mV
Nvidia states on their site that temperatures in the mid-to-low 90's are normal for this card, so I guess this is a good control score. I probably should've run the test before putting the new paste on, oh well.
I tried undervolting the card to see if that would help. I ran this test at 988mV compared to the stock voltage of 1038mV.
Max temp: 87C, Average framerate: 21.52fps, Core voltage: 988mV
As expected, there's a minor improvement. I probably should've done more experimenting to find a lower stable voltage, but I got a little excited and jumped down to 925mV while experimenting, which ended up being unstable. I stuck with 988mV since it was stable.
I also tried a more aggressive fan curve alongside the undervolting. The fan percentage was set to be 15 units higher than the temperature (ie, 85% at 70C). This was my result.
Max temp: 69C, Average framerate: 21.46fps, Core voltage: 988mV
This result genuinely surprised me. With the new fan curve and the undervolt, the card was running cooler under load than it was at idle with stock settings. Granted, it also sounded like a hair dryer.
In conclusion, the GTX 480 is a very hot card, and to keep it cool, you need to turn it into a leaf blower. I also learned that I suck at doing experiments. Not only did I not run the test with the original paste, but I probably ran the tests in a bad order. I ran the undervolting with fan curve test first, and the stock test last, which might've affected my results.
I plan to do a similar experiment when I get around to replacing the paste on my GTX 780. Hopefully I'll do it better next time.
A couple of days ago, I ordered a 20g syringe of Arctic MX-4 thermal paste with the intention of eventually replacing the paste on my GTX 780. It arrived today, and to test it, I decided to replace the thermal paste on my GTX 480. Then I got bored and decided to see what it takes to cool a GTX 480.
To test it, I ran Unigine Superposition on the medium preset. I left the core clock at 701MHz throughout all testing.
First, I'll show the score with the stock settings.
Max temp: 90C, Average framerate: 21.52fps, Core voltage: 1038mV
Nvidia states on their site that temperatures in the mid-to-low 90's are normal for this card, so I guess this is a good control score. I probably should've run the test before putting the new paste on, oh well.
I tried undervolting the card to see if that would help. I ran this test at 988mV compared to the stock voltage of 1038mV.
Max temp: 87C, Average framerate: 21.52fps, Core voltage: 988mV
As expected, there's a minor improvement. I probably should've done more experimenting to find a lower stable voltage, but I got a little excited and jumped down to 925mV while experimenting, which ended up being unstable. I stuck with 988mV since it was stable.
I also tried a more aggressive fan curve alongside the undervolting. The fan percentage was set to be 15 units higher than the temperature (ie, 85% at 70C). This was my result.
Max temp: 69C, Average framerate: 21.46fps, Core voltage: 988mV
This result genuinely surprised me. With the new fan curve and the undervolt, the card was running cooler under load than it was at idle with stock settings. Granted, it also sounded like a hair dryer.
In conclusion, the GTX 480 is a very hot card, and to keep it cool, you need to turn it into a leaf blower. I also learned that I suck at doing experiments. Not only did I not run the test with the original paste, but I probably ran the tests in a bad order. I ran the undervolting with fan curve test first, and the stock test last, which might've affected my results.
I plan to do a similar experiment when I get around to replacing the paste on my GTX 780. Hopefully I'll do it better next time.
