The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
How hot is too hot? (NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240 question)
Arthil
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Alright so today I happened to notice my PC sounded a little louder than it has before, admittedly today we also went and turned off all our fans since it seemed nowhere near hot enough outside to warrant it.
I'm running a SLI set-up of two NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240 cards, and I made sure to do a bit of research first and it -seems- some people have said those line of cards tend to run a little hot anyway but this is still worrying.
At the moment while I have nothing going but Chrome, the widget I downloaded says one card is running at 73C with it about 65% fan usage, but the speed says 0rpm while the other is going at 68C with 52% fan usage, also at 0rpm.
This is on a machine running Windows 7, I've got about 6 gigs of ram or so as well.
I've also done a little test with a game that while perhaps not the most visually impressive, can have a lot going on at once: Mount & Blade. My first card went up to around 80C, though dipped lower. Fan usage went up to 76% at one point. Once again it is still saying 0rpm, which is a little worrying but I know little of GPUs. UPDATE: Played out a siege with my SLI turned on, one card still got around 79-80C but the other remained decently cool. However overall the noise coming from my machine was considerably less. I have to wonder what the control panel sets the second card to automatically...
What I want to know is if this is normal. Or perhaps this is happening because I currently have SLI turned off? Hard to tell, really.
I'm running a SLI set-up of two NVIDIA GeForce GTS 240 cards, and I made sure to do a bit of research first and it -seems- some people have said those line of cards tend to run a little hot anyway but this is still worrying.
At the moment while I have nothing going but Chrome, the widget I downloaded says one card is running at 73C with it about 65% fan usage, but the speed says 0rpm while the other is going at 68C with 52% fan usage, also at 0rpm.
This is on a machine running Windows 7, I've got about 6 gigs of ram or so as well.
I've also done a little test with a game that while perhaps not the most visually impressive, can have a lot going on at once: Mount & Blade. My first card went up to around 80C, though dipped lower. Fan usage went up to 76% at one point. Once again it is still saying 0rpm, which is a little worrying but I know little of GPUs. UPDATE: Played out a siege with my SLI turned on, one card still got around 79-80C but the other remained decently cool. However overall the noise coming from my machine was considerably less. I have to wonder what the control panel sets the second card to automatically...
What I want to know is if this is normal. Or perhaps this is happening because I currently have SLI turned off? Hard to tell, really.
Arthil on
0
Posts
It still shows nothing for rpm, which I know means Rotations Per Minute. However it still shows the fans having "usage" which just confuses me.
I definitely know that if the fans aren't actually rotating then it's fucked, though.
First and foremost, make sure you have adequet air flow. When I say this, make sure that air is coming IN from the lowest point of the PC and blowing OUT of the highest point in the PC.
Second thing I would check is to see how dusty the PC is overall. Fans tend to collect dust, which hampers performance and can cause an overall system temp increase. Of course, the problem here is convincing the person who actually owns the PC to let you or someone more experienced open it. Much like a car, a PC needs to occasionally be taken apart and inspected to ensure it is in tip-top shape.
Thirdly, the fans themselves could be going bad. All fans die eventually, so it's not uncommon. There are aftermarket fans and heatsinks for GPUs out there at reasonable prices. However, it can be a pain to change them out.
As for the fans, I have a feeling the Win7 Gadget I was using just didn't read it right. I can HEAR the fans going, admittedly they aren't meant to be quiet cards. Right now while idling and doing nothing but watching youtube videos/browsing the forums I'm running at a 71C and 59% fan speed on the first card, with 66C and a 47% fan speed on the second. I put my hand up to the two very large 'mesh' looking vents on the front and I feel a bit of cool air, but it's likely bringing it -in-. I feel the main spot on the back, and it's hot air. So I think the airflow is working.
I really wish I was in a situation where I could just pop it open, but my friend is completely anal about the warranty.