6800 GT running HOT, Stock fan going bad?

mathesar

mathesar

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 5, 2005
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I have a PNY 6800GT wich I bought just before Doom 3 was released, Ive never had a problem up until recently , I was playing the FEAR demo and started seeing artifacts.. knowing this is usualy heat related I exited the game and to my suprise the GPU temp reading was 91C ,Ive noticed the fan sounds unusualy loud when first booting my PC, but it calms down once the desktop loads .. Fan going bad perhaps? My case is a fairly large Antec 1080 Soho with 6 fans: 2 front intakes,1 side intake,2 rear exhaust and 1 pci slot cooler (exhaust) under the 6800GT, Is there a better fan setup I could buy for it? and is it wise to keep the metal sheet on that covers the heatsinks etc. ive heard some people remove this. Thanks in advance.


This is IDLE temp since turning my pc on this morning , havent played any games today:

6800gt_idle_temp.gif
 
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Wow, I would at least try and re-seat the hs/f and apply AS5. If that doesnt help, go with an NV5 or the Zalman.
 
You should make sure PNY installed all of the heatsink screws. They forgot to on my first 6800Ultra and the card decided to burn itself up at nearly 100C.
 
mathesar said:
I have a PNY 6800GT wich I bought just before Doom 3 was released, Ive never had a problem up until recently , I was playing the FEAR demo and started seeing artifacts.. knowing this is usualy heat related I exited the game and to my suprise the GPU temp reading was 91C ,Ive noticed the fan sounds unusualy loud when first booting my PC, but it calms down once the desktop loads .. Fan going bad perhaps? My case is a fairly large Antec 1080 Soho with 6 fans: 2 front intakes,1 side intake,2 rear exhaust and 1 pci slot cooler (exhaust) under the 6800GT, Is there a better fan setup I could buy for it? and is it wise to keep the metal sheet on that covers the heatsinks etc. ive heard some people remove this. Thanks in advance.


This is IDLE temp since turning my pc on this morning , havent played any games today:

6800gt_idle_temp.gif
Click to expand...


Try taking off the heatsink cover and cleaning out all the dust build up. I just did it to mine and it lowered my temperature Idle about 5 degrees. You could have dust restricting air flow. I think there is 4 small screws and 2 little bit larger ones. If that doesnt work, try removing the entire heatsink and apply Arctic Silver 5. If that doesn't work, get a new Heatsink cooler, preferably copper.
 
One major shortcoming of the reference nvidia design (among many) is their tendency to rapidly accumulate and clog up with dust. The blower simply builds up with dust, and packs what loose dust it can into the heatsink, essentially forming a wall.
If people don't start maintaining their systems better, I predict 6800/7800 overheating and failiure will reach increasing levels as the months go on. :eek:

Replace it with a STASIS IceStorm if you really want to fix those temps. ;)
 
consumer9000 said:
One major shortcoming of the reference nvidia design (among many) is their tendency to rapidly accumulate and clog up with dust. The blower simply builds up with dust, and packs what loose dust it can into the heatsink, essentially forming a wall.
If people don't start maintaining their systems better, I predict 6800/7800 overheating and failiure will reach increasing levels as the months go on. :eek:
Click to expand...

Another reason to go with another cooling solution such as the Zalman, but for now Im going to remove and clean the card. Thanks for the replies.
 
Wow my card was dirty! The airflow was almost 100% blocked by a wall of dust build up, Also is it normal for the heatsink screws to be loose? I know they're spring loaded but I went ahead and tightened them all down is that ok? So far my Idle temp is much lower after cleaning, this is after about 40 minutes of idle time:
6800-Idle_After_Cleaning.gif


I took some hi-res shots of the card with my digicam:

Overhead shot before surgery.

Overhead shot after removing metal cover.

Airflow blockage closeup.

Airflow blockage closeup #2 (opposite angle)

After cleaning :)

I still may consider another cooling setup being this will just happen again over time.. The case itself wasnt that dirty inside although I cleaned some dust build up from my CPU heatsink as well (Zalman all copper). Thanks again. :cool:
 
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dust bites man...

i use a can of air and vacuum on my case innards at least once a month...

air filters dosent hurt either
 
mathesar said:
I still may consider another cooling setup being this will just happen again over time.. The case itself wasnt that dirty inside although I cleaned some dust build up from my CPU heatsink as well (Zalman all copper). Thanks again. :cool:
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Nice work! I think the HSF on the 6800 GT is laughably dinky for the amount of heat that chip puts out... and it's prone to blockage as you have seen. 65C still isn't a great idle temperature, but it's acceptable.

You may also want to consider air filters for your case fan intakes!
 
Do yourself a big favor and get 2 copper heatsinks from eVGA.com. There're $9.99 a each if you register. You'll see a big difference and they are easy to install.
 
Diseaseboy said:
Do yourself a big favor and get 2 copper heatsinks from eVGA.com. There're $9.99 a each if you register. You'll see a big difference and they are easy to install.
Click to expand...

Im probably missing something but my card only has 1 heatsink on it.. If I bought two of those copper's where would they both go?
 
mathesar said:
Im probably missing something but my card only has 1 heatsink on it.. If I bought two of those copper's where would they both go?
Click to expand...

Sorry- I guess I'm in the world of "SLI"- your're correct, only 1 heatsink is needed
:D
 
Im amazed that damn thing hadnt already burned up! Jesus man that was ugly.
 
mathesar said:
Wow my card was dirty! The airflow was almost 100% blocked by a wall of dust build up.
Click to expand...

That is sick! That doesn't look like dust, that looks like grey hair or something! Makes me glad I installed my Zalman.. :rolleyes:
 
mickey987 said:
That is sick! That doesn't look like dust, that looks like grey hair or something! Makes me glad I installed my Zalman.. :rolleyes:
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You know come to think of it I do have a black&grey cat , perhaps some of that is cat hair? lol ... Yum.

I have an air filter in the front of the case (came with it) located behind the only 2 Intake fans so not sure how it would've gotten in there tho.

That was the first time removing the metal cover & cleaning the card since I bought it last year (July 04')

.
 
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