Graphics Card Temperature Spikes

Fidelis

I've noticed something unusual about the temperatures being reported on my BFG 7800GT (91.47). I ran 3DMark'05 at stock speeds of 425/1050. Using RivaTuner, I can see that the temperature gradually rises to 91°c during the tests, but the very second the test finishes, the temperature drops to 78°c and then gradually back down to around 50°c. (The card generally idles at ~50°c with a Zalman VF700-Cu on 'normal mode'.)

My initial thought was that RivaTuner wasn't reporting the correct temperatures while under load, so I monitored them from the Nvidia control panel, but the same thing happened. Surely the temperature can't be increasing by over 40°c under load

So I guess my question is: is it even possible for the core to gain 40°c under load and to then lose 13°c in the space of a single second, and if not, then how can I accurately record my graphics card temperature?

8T8

Honestly don't know, it's not an area I pay much attention to as long as it is working properly within it's tolerances.

That said guessing it may be something to do with the clock domains I think you may get a better answer in Rivatuners own forums.

Or try testing with something else like NV tray Tools.

EL WOG

i have a bfg 6800 gt oc, and it goes from about 50 deg to low 80's while under load, the temp alarm limmit on most nvidia cards is 120 so i am happy with that. BFG have an email address for questions just like that and u can find it at their web page at bfgtech.com.
so it sounds high to me, but not dangerous,
EL WOG

Fidelis

Not sure if there's any point in contacting BFG since I've replaced the stock cooler with a Zalman. I'll try my luck over at the RivaTuner forums though.

Thanks for the suggestions!

EDIT: here's a screenshot of RivaTuner. The 3 elevated sections of the graph correlate to the 3 individual 3DMark tests, with a sharp drop in temperature after each individual test is complete.

Fidelis

Update:

Right. I've been using NV Temp Logger and it's reported temperatures of up to 114°c while playing Hitman: Blood Money :eek:

I also just installed the latest BIOS on my motherboard (Epox EP-9NPAJ). I was setting the clock and under-volting my CPU (from default 1.5v to 1.4v) and noticed that when I got into Windows, the temperatures of both my CPU and GFX card were very high. As if they were on 100% usage while I was in the BIOS.

PogMoThoin

Your temps seem high with a Zalman. Did you use thermal paste? Check in rivatuner that your fan is set to 100% and not anything lower.
BTW i've had heavily oc'ed gpu's hittin 85' before without probs, but 91' is a bit excessive on stock speeds.

Darwin

I have a factory overclocked 7900GT and it was hitting 100c under load. I replaced the stock cooler with a Zalman VF-900 using some AS5. Now the temps don't get over 58 under load. I would say try reseating the heatsink and use some arctic silver 5.

PogMoThoin

Darwin wrote:

I have a factory overclocked 7900GT and it was hitting 100c under load. I replaced the stock cooler with a Zalman VF-900 using some AS5. Now the temps don't get over 58 under load. I would say try reseating the heatsink and use some arctic silver 5.

:rolleyes: Check this out m8: http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054998159

8T8

Fidelis you have an Epox EP-9NPAJ, I have an Epox EP-9NPAJ+ SLI one thing I have noticed is that it reports high temps I think there is something up with the temperature sensing.

It got progressively worse with later bios updates so I think there is a bug in their reporting mechanism.

For instance my Athlon 64 X2 4400+ hovers at idle at 43c that's with 3 fans around the flipping thing so that cant be right because it wasnt always like that.

Fidelis

@ PogMoThoin: when I initially installed the Zalman, I used AS5. I need to pick up some Isopropanol tomorrow so I can re-seat the cooler.

@ 8T8: interesting point about the motherboard. I've mailed Epox about that, maybe they can shed some light on the thermal sensors.

Thanks for everyone's input! Hopefully the re-seat will solve it (finger's crossed).

Fidelis

Problem solved. It turns out that most of the thermal paste had degraded away. I re-applied some AS5 and now it idles @ ~45°c and maxes out @ ~70°c. Happy days