Whats a normal video card temperature?

BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
edited April 2008 in Hardware
Right now I am running 48C with full high quality on right now.

I am planning to over clock it, I am just wondering what temperature should I look out for so my card doesn't go over its threshold.

I heard cards can take 100C just fine...

I am going to use this nTune to overclock everything.

I am also confused if you can help me with this, I have my card set with the most high quality image settings possible, and is there any reason to go to performance settings if I don't notice anything wrong with my frames?

I am guessing performance if your expeirencing frame issues...
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Comments

  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    I wouldn't use nTune. Use RivaTuner or ATi tool. 48C seems about right, although it depends what you're playing :tongue: If there's nothing wrong with it then there's no need to fiddle, unless you're into benchmarking and went to get the max performance for higher scores, that or you really want the absolute maximum performance for your games.
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    Well you see I am probably going to scrap this PC in 3-4 months and build my first ever PC, make it the best PC on the market because I crave perfection :P

    So basically I want the best performance of this card, its certified to be "overclocked" by bfg but... I dont think so.

    I dont know... I just feel this card can do more..... you know what I mean? I dont feel I am utilizing its full potential.
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    Why shouldn't I use Ntune?
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    nTune is really bad for it, I found that you have little control over what you overclock and often it doesn't apply the settings you choose. So I'd overclock my card, click apply, close it, restart and it would still be at stock speeds again. RivaTuner gives you more control and it actually works :tongue:
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    Hmmm ok,

    I also can adjust the fan control, theres no harm making it run at 100% always right? Right now its on automatic, adjusts the fans speed for the card.

    I mean if sound isnt a issue, I guess I can just put it on 100% speed
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    The default speed is between about 25% and 40%, the difference between 40% and 100% is amazing though. at 800MHz core speed, 100% load my GPU never goes above 44C. It is noisy but if you have a headset or simply don't care it's not an issue :D
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    Yeah headsets all the way... thinking about getting a new headset soon.

    So what temperature should I get worried about tho and tone it down if it gets to high.
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    below 60-70 is ideal I think, but it depends what settings your graphics card is at. But you don't need to "worry" until you hit 100C tbh :tongue:
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    I just want to get this right...

    Overclocking my video card would increase performance of frame rates right? So means you can push your cards graphic settings higher?

    And Overclocking your main proccessor of your system just makes everything work faster overall even the video card?
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    Overclocking makes things go faster, but to do that you need more power, which makes things run hotter. Much hotter. And pushing it too far can break it- You need to be careful ;)
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    Yes, I will not go to far with it I think. We will see.
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    I need to uninstall nTune before I install riva right?

    Also what do you do with your vertical sync option? Currently I have it at 3D application use and triple buffering ON
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    Nope, you don't need nTune but the nVidia control panel can also be useful, but that comes with the drivers so you're fine for that. Vertical Sync synchronises your game's framerate with your monitor's FPS. So if you have your screen set to 60Hz that's the max fps you can get. Triple buffering is something you enable if you are seeing virual errors, like tears or artefacts.

    Having vsinc off allows higher framerates but is more stressful on your graphics card.
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    Do you shut vsinc off? And by stressful you mean it would probably raise the temperature?

    My monitor is set at 75hz refresh
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    If your monitor is at 75hz and you hagve vsinc enabled then the max fps you can get is 75. And stressful because if your card is capable of going above 75 on that current application then it will go as high as it's possible for it to go at those settings.

    If I was playing WoW and I had vsinc on then I'd be stuck at 60fps, but if I turned that off, hid my interface and went somewhere quiet I'd hit 600-700fps.
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    Hmm Wow I see... Well 75 Frames per second is enough for any program really. So I guess I'll leave it on with triple buffering.

    And as for overclocking a video card, does it take a very high temperature to fry a card or I guess it depends on the card there...
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    But there's your problem- Overclocking will increase your overall fps, but not the stability of the fps so much- If you're going to have vsinc on which in effect limits your fps then there's not much point overclocking.

    To fry a graphics card? Probably 150c+ which is a riddiculous temp, but its' not so much the temperature that fries it as the voltage. I don't know much about GPU voltages but to overclock you increase the voltage too, or that's part of it. The higher you go the higher the voltage and if that goes too high for the GPU to handle then it's gunna blow.
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    Is there a site to know your max voltage of a specific card?

    Well I guess your right, so in some games like WoW you would use vertical sync on I guess, and for crysis just leave it off.
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    With graphics cards you don't need to worry so much about the Voltage since with the average piece of overclocking software you don't need to change it, I was just stating worst case scenario. Most cards have a clock speed that they'll stop working at so you'll need to experiment to find that. You can look it up online of course, but whatever floats your boat :)
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    I really don't think I need to limit my FPS, now with monster of a graphics card I could see why but with mine not so much. So I might select the option Force off and see what happens.

    I guess I will have to experiment a little.

    Also on a offnote, how would you overclock your CPU, Mine is in my sig. I probably wont go this far but would like to know regardless
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    Overclocking is different depending on the BIOS, but you go into the BIOS, find your advanced menu or wherever the menu is located and change 3 main factors: the bus speed, the CPU multiplier (that often doesn't change) and the voltage.

    At stock speed my processor is 333Mhz (bus speed) multiplied by 8 (CPU multiplier) at about 1.3Volts. To overclock you change those, currently my bus speed is 450, multiplier 8 and the voltage about 1.45. 1.5V+ is the danger zone.

    If you want to overclock your CPU you'll need most likely want to ask for more help before overclocking since its complicated and dangerous- Heck, I've learned everything I know from Icrontic :D
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    Yeah one day I will go in those uncharted waters, maybe when I build my first rig. But for now I'll just work on the video card.

    Thanks for the replies :) I will post back if I have anymore questions, currently working right now so might be awhile till I try this.
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    Have fun :)
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    Is there a temperature monitor on the riva tuner?
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    Nope, ATi tool has one though
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    Well ntune had a great temperature module

    is it ok to install ntune with rivatuner going?
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    Sure, but once again I don't reccomend nTune >< Off to bed so won't reply til tomorrow. Good luck :)
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited April 2008
    Bubbleman wrote:
    Is there a temperature monitor on the riva tuner?

    Yes. On the main RivaTuner page select "Customize..." under the "Target Adapter" section. Then click "Hardware Monitoring" to chart pretty much anything including real core/shader/memory frequencies, fan speed, framerate, and of course temperature. It is also highly configurable.
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    Well then... Guess I wont Ntune anytime soon since it sucks, I mean doesnt even keep the settings.

    Yeah you can even put the temperature number in the task tray!

    So much easier now. Just look at the task tray

    Thanks
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited April 2008
    whats a good data poll interval ms?
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