I only really started looking into temperature stuff because my computer started crashing after a few hours of Borderlands, and while I had always known that the black-screen crashes on games I intermittently had were a heat problem, I didn't quite realize how much of a problem it was until I installed Speedfan today.
My GPU idles at around 70-75C. Playing Borderlands it jumped to 110C. And that's before it starts doing its "fan clicking against something" audio cue that the card is really straining.
Now, I'm not an expert on computers, but 110C seems like it would be
really fucking bad.
I currently run a 3.0ghz Core2 Duo processor, 2064 mb ram, with a
9800 GT 512mb graphics card. The system case is an older
Cooler Master model. I only have one case fan - the one in back. This will probably need to be rectified, but I don't know where to go about putting another in. (The circular hole has this large cumbersome funnel attachment inside that would seem to preclude putting anything bulky on there. Do I scrap it?)
The system is almost always "on", though it idles with the hard disk and such turned off at night. I would assume that this is at least part of the issue: it never has a real "cooling time."
The card also hasn't been cleaned because
jesus christ I've never had a card with a cover like that before and I have no idea which screws I am and (more importantly) am
not supposed to remove.
It seems likely that by now I've already done damage to the card that I don't yet realize. In the interest of keeping it cool, do you guys have any suggestions for an extra cooling fan for the card? I've heard there are some that fit in PCI slots, and as I am pretty low-tech when it comes to hands-on computer stuff, something like that would appeal to me, but other ideas would be great.
Symptomwise I haven't really noticed a problem other than the card occasionally making the computer black-screen and require a reset when it gets REALLY HOT (precluded much in advance by loud clicking of the GPU fan against... something, I don't know what), but I'd like to do something about it before it gets worse.
Posts
First thing to try is take the cover off the system and see if the card temps drop a lot. If they do you've got a case circulation problem.
Get this fan bracket - http://www.quietpcusa.com/Zalman-Overhead-Fan-Bracket-Assembly-BR123-P339C8.aspx
and this fan - http://www.quietpcusa.com/Zalman-ZM-F2-PLUS-92mm-Quiet-Fan-P571C67.aspx
and have it pointing at the fan intake on the graphics card.
If your heatsink is damaged then - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118050
This can help, but make sure you hold the fan in place before you blow air against it. You don't want to make your fan worse than it already is.
I was afraid of having to take the protective covering off, but it turns out it wasn't necessary. Some canned air all around dislodged some rather significant looking bits of dust. After that, computer booted up and GPU held steady at 60C for an hour. Decided to try out Badlands for an hour, and that held at 75C. Then another hour... Still 75C.
Just turned it off, and it's holding at 66C, slowly declining.
Looks like dust was the culprit, but I'll keep tabs on it.
Thanks for the assist.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
My GPU maxes out about 55-60C under load, even overclocked.
Now they get to about 75 under load. Still getting some case fans and an aftermarket GPU cooler to improve the situation some more.
Seems like I have to get out the compressed air every few weeks to keep on top of temps though.
Might want to think about a case with dust filters on the intakes.
Hot, but not too hot, I'd say. They could probably benefit form me taking them out and giving them a good cleaning.