Geforce 8800 GTS Heat issue

[simkuriakose]

Hai Guys !


I have a XFX geforce 8800 GTS XXX @ 600/1900 factory OC Gfx Card.

The problem is the card is generating big heat especially when graphics intense games like FEAR. It touches about 80C . I am bit concerned about it.

I heard that I can control Fan speed by using a software. I had great result when increasing my fan speed to 100%.

But my friend told me that doing so will reduce the fan's life and will damage my cooling system.

So I switched back to Auto mode.

All I want to know is will this temperature(about 80C) reduce the life of my card ?

Running the Fan @ 100% reduce the life of Fan?

Do I have to buy any alternate Thermal solutions like THERMALRIGHT HR-03 PLUS to reduce the temperature of my Card?


Your Valuable suggestions are really appreciated...

Regards
Sim Kuriakose

 

[Capitalizt]

How is your case cooling? You should have several fans in your ocmputer. You want coolk air to be sucked in, and hot air to be blown OUT. Good airflow is the most important thing.

You might want to add an extra 120mm fan on the back to blow out the hot air from the card...

 

[SilentAssassin]

If you don't have good airflow near the video card I'd reccommend a slot cooler, I use this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811999704

I have mine not directly under the video card but one more slot down and it works great.

Even with those temps though 80c is within spec for your card and unless you are seeing artifacs or games are causing your comp to lock up, there's really nothing to worry about. Something as simple as a slot cooler might drop your temp 5-10c on load though if there's bad airflow.

 

[cputeq]

I had the same problem with my 8800GTS, I was overclocking using ATITool (594/2004). Once, though, I overclocked my CPU and forgot to lower RAM, had to open
case up to reset CMOS and left case off....and my temps dropped a LOT! I didn't realize how bad my case cooling was.
Anyway, so now I just have the side panel leaning against the case, and my video card gets about 75C max temp while gaming and OCd. Might see if that's your problem.

 

[n7]

80C is nothing. My 8800 idles @ that temp if i leave fan settings on defaults.

Get worried when you hit 90C.

 

[fujimitsu]

Thats pretty high for an 8800 gts, you can run the fan at 90-100% without worrying about its life. The video card will most likely be obsolete before the fan dies, as long as you clean it out regularly so it doesn't get clogged by dust. If you're a bit adventurous you can remove the plastic shroud from the card, and either use a slot cooler below it, or zip tie in a few yate loons. Otherwise just make sure you're not blocking the exhaust and that your case airflow is good.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: simkuriakose
Hai Guys !


I have a XFX geforce 8800 GTS XXX @ 600/1900 factory OC Gfx Card.

The problem is the card is generating big heat especially when graphics intense games like FEAR. It touches about 80C . I am bit concerned about it.

I heard that I can control Fan speed by using a software. I had great result when increasing my fan speed to 100%.

But my friend told me that doing so will reduce the fan's life and will damage my cooling system.

So I switched back to Auto mode.

All I want to know is will this temperature(about 80C) reduce the life of my card ?

Running the Fan @ 100% reduce the life of Fan?

Do I have to buy any alternate Thermal solutions like THERMALRIGHT HR-03 PLUS to reduce the temperature of my Card?


Your Valuable suggestions are really appreciated...

Regards
Sim Kuriakose

As others asked, what kind of case cooling do you have? The stock cooler on the 8800s is as good as it gets right now for free air cooling, you'll see variations of this cooler for years to come. With proper case cooling there's no reason to replace it with an expensive after-market cooler like the HR-03. If you don't have a good case with case cooling you're better off spending that $50-60 (probably $60-75 after shipping and fan costs) on a better case.

Temps in the 80s shouldn't reduce your card's life beyond its normal shelf life, but if you start having problems when temps increase that'd be one of the first things to address when troubleshooting. If increasing the fan speed to 100% stops the crashing/problems that'd be a good solution until you get better cooling in your case. It definitely increases audible noise, but its still not unbearably loud and certainly better than constant crashes, errors and restarts. Either way, you should be covered by XFX's lifetime warranty if either the fan or the card dies due to high temps. Just a hassle to be out a video card in the event you need to RMA, so preventing potential problems by lowering temps makes more sense to most.

 

[simkuriakose]

Hello Guys !

I read all of your posting. Its Great and helpful. Nice to knowing that a temperature like 80C will not reduce the card's Life. Thats good news for me.

But I have a little problem here. The thing is I am in India and XFX is only providing a 1 year warranty here. So RMA will become a problem especially because of this short warranty. Anyway if the 80C wont harm my Card's life , its okay. The Temperature is not going beyond it.

About my cabinet. Its Zebronics Antibiotic with four fans (Think its 80mm not 120mm).

One in front, one in back, one in top and one in side.

I will definitely consider the slot cooler.

But can you guys give me a rough idea about power consumption especially because I only have a 600W Zebronics Platinum series SMPS.


Here is my configuration,

17" Monitor LG (Flat CRT)
Keyboard, mouse (Microsoft)
Altec Lansing ATP3 2.1 Speakers
Zebronics Antibiotic Cabinet with Three LED Fans connected to SMPS
One(without) to the motherboard.
1 Inkjet Epson printer.
I DSL Modem.

Intel E6850 Core2Duo @3.0ghz.
ASUS P5K Deluxe Wifi Motherboard.
2 X 1 GB Transcend DDR2 800Mhz Ram (Total 2 GB)
XFX Geforce 8800 GTS (640MB) XXX Edition @ 600/900 factory OC
160 GB Seagate SATA Hard Disk
1 Sony DVD Writer.
1 CD Drive.

UPS = V-GUARD 600VA.

Thats it.


If I Fix an additional slot cooler, will my SMPS will hold or it will blow or get fried?

Help needed. After getting your reply, let me buy the slot cooler.

Regards

 

[ctk1981]

While I think its high also, it is evidently what nvidia wants. My 8800GTS OC2 from bfg tech basically does the same thing.....in a game or 3d heavy app it rises to 80C and by that point the fan is on high and it wont rise any higher. To test if it could be kept cooler I had a side mount 120mm blower fan mounted in front of the card...it sucks air directly out the rear of the case (this doesnt occupy a pci slot, it mounts vertically to the case). At any rate...it made no bit of difference except the increase in noise generated by the fan. So I unhooked it. Next stop was to install a 120mm fan in the cd drive bays to bring in cold air to the motherboard area. The card idles slightly cooler, but still does not stop it from reaching 80C.

Oddly....I can overclock it to 675/1000mhz and it will only get 1-2C higher than the 80C when its at its "factory" 580/850. The cooler is more than capable of handling the temps generated by the 8 series as others have pointed out, but it looks like nvidia has decided that ~80C is ok as there seems to be quite a few people with max temps around that area. I guess if nvidia wants the fan to max out at higher temps and run there, thats what its going to do. I made my small attempts to the help the "problem" and I've concluded that its just the nature of the beast.

 

[Quiksilver]

Isn't the temperature threshold like 130C?