Overheating problems, need some help

helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
edited July 2011 in Hardware
Hi all,

I cleaned my computer today with some compressed air because it was making a little more noise than usual recently. Everything went fine but I ran a few programs to check the temperatures and there's definitely some improvement in the CPU but my graphics card is still making a lot of noise. The fan is constantly spinning from 49 to 54% and the temps are around 63-64C. I've got the XFX HD Radeon 4870 so a little more heat than usual is not unheard of but I still wanna hear some expert opinion. I took a couple of screenshots below so check that out also. :confused:

Comments

  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Those temps are well within expected range, and I believe the 48xx series had notoriously loud fans.
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2011
    Thought so too but why the constant swings in fan spinning when idle?
  • edited July 2011
    Sounds like the temps are right in the range where the fan ramp profile kicks the speed up a bit to me. As the temp goes up a few degrees the fan ramps it's speed up to the next notch and then cools the gpu off, which then hits the next lower fan speed point in the fan profile.
  • RootWyrmRootWyrm Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Nope, those temperatures and fan profiles are too high. I would know; I have the same card. The idle fan RPMs are too high as well as the temperature; it should be sitting around 45-50C with the fan at 30-35% and ramping at 56C. Frankly I've never managed to get the fan to go over 65% without manual control. If you're on the updated HD4870 BIOS, the XFX has a sharp ramp in the 60C area from 30 to 50% fan, and the design of the fan makes it much more noticeable at certain points.

    So yeah, it's well within tolerances, but it's higher than it should be. My guess is that it's an airflow issue within the chassis as a contributing factor. Need to make sure of two major things. One, open area for the fan intake side (bottom of the chassis) and two, good airflow over the back of the card (top of the chassis) without soaking CPU and VRM heat. If I had to take a guess, I'd say heat soaking from the CPU/VRM area.

    The overall design of the HD4870 and the way XFX built their fan profile, at idle, the card is supposed to stay at a stable temperature and keep the fan at ~30-35%. That's been my experience in an air cooled P183 and a Corsair C700D with H60 on the CPU. When the card's behaving as expected there, the fan doesn't fluctuate at idle or even under load. It goes to ramp points and holds.
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2011
    Maybe adding another fan on the side of my Antec 300 would help? It would be placed exactly opposite the card. Or maybe I can take the back 120mm fan and put it in the side position?
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    Maybe adding another fan on the side of my Antec 300 would help? It would be placed exactly opposite the card. Or maybe I can take the back 120mm fan and put it in the side position?
    What is your fan arrangement now? Got pics? Etc ...
    I prefer a balance between cfm intake and cfm exhaust. If I go heavier on either it is usually exhaust.
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2011
    csimon wrote:
    What is your fan arrangement now? Got pics? Etc ...
    I prefer a balance between cfm intake and cfm exhaust. If I go heavier on either it is usually exhaust.

    No pics of my own but take a look at those below. That's my setup. There's one top 140 x 25 mm fan and one rear 120 x 25 mm fan. There's room for 2 more front and one side fan that, according to Antec's site, is there to cool the graphics card. Can adding extra fans help or is it just that the 48xx series was just too hot and I should finally upgrade the card? I mean, I know I should, but I was just concerned about the heat and noise.
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    If you don't have front fans, just get two decent CFM fans and you'll be fine. I don't remember how capable AMD's software is in regards to custom fan profiles, but that would be my next step.
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