GPU: How hot is *too* hot?
By
-System,
Posted on: 2010-07-23 12:01 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
87 Celsius? Holy friggin' crap that's hot.
First thought: when's the last time you cleaned the dust from around the fan vents?
Second thought: what drivers are you running? There was one nVidia driver released a few months back (Forceware 196.75) that caused overheating problems.
I run CoH on a Gateway p7805u FX and the highest I've seen the GPU get is around 65 Celsius. That's with lots of bells and whistles turned on. If your GPU cooling fan really is running constantly, you shouldn't be seeing it getting that hot.
My other thought is that the GPU temperature sensor might be malfunctioning. Find which vents expel air from your CPU and GPU fans and compare how hot that air is. 87 C is 13 C short of boiling water, so the difference should be very, very noticeable.
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You'd need to look up the safe operating temperature for your particular GPU. It will be available on your manufacturer's website. |
Originally Posted by Tyrrano
So I guess the $64 question is, what's a safe temperature to shoot for? I think I can shave off a few degrees with a good laptop cooler, but if the threshold is in the 70s I might have to give up CoX on this machine for good.
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Realistically, 87 degrees isn't bad. In many cases, 105 degrees is the "generally accepted" point of no return where you stand a chance of system failure/shutdown/bricking. But even that is theoretical. If you're under 100 degrees c. I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you approach 100 degrees, it's time to look into where the issue is. If you never exceed 95 degrees c. you're probably fine. If your card is even somewhat current, it can handle it.
However, it shouldn't be running that hot unless you're pushing it hard. If it's doing that with THIS game on low settings, something's wrong. I'd check drivers as a previous poster said. If it still has an issue, I'd replace it.
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Originally Posted by eltonio
This is over the top mental slavery.
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Laptops don't have the luxury of a big honking heatsink that desktops have. The natural side effect is that they will run hot. That's why those cooling pads/laptop stands with built in fans for improved cooling are popular.
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I missed the part where it's a laptop. Yes, get a lapdesk with a cooling system, either active or passive. Laptops run hotter than desktops, and that's expected. Check your manufacturer's website for safe operating temperature tolerances.
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Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Laptops don't have the luxury of a big honking heatsink that desktops have. The natural side effect is that they will run hot. That's why those cooling pads, laptop stands with built in fans for improved cooling is popular.
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Originally Posted by eltonio
This is over the top mental slavery.
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No idea about temperatures myself [and the hubby is sleeping or I'd ask him], but there are at least two things that I've picked up from him so far as laptops are concerned |
Originally Posted by Tyrrano
Quick background - I play CoX mostly from my laptop, an Everex XT5300T (dual-core TL-53, nvidia 8600M GS). It's not bad. I can opt-in on a few Ultra-mode goodies if I want, tho lately I've been going mostly slider-left.
So I guess the $64 question is, what's a safe temperature to shoot for? I think I can shave off a few degrees with a good laptop cooler, but if the threshold is in the 70s I might have to give up CoX on this machine for good. |
1)the *surface* you have your laptop on can have an effect on the temperature. If it's sitting on something soft and squishy [that does include your lap.
], the fans won't be able to get as much air-flow going because the vents that are used to suck air in can be partially blocked by the squishy.2)The hubby is *constantly* warning me not to set it on my lap for another reason; how hot the laptop can run. It's possible that the temp it's running at now is at least at an 'okay' level...probably not optimum, but there you go.
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Seconding this, anything under 100 is acceptable, but in general i'd say 50-80 should be a safe norm.|
Originally Posted by Smurch
You'd need to look up the safe operating temperature for your particular GPU. It will be available on your manufacturer's website.
Realistically, 87 degrees isn't bad. In many cases, 105 degrees is the "generally accepted" point of no return where you stand a chance of system failure/shutdown/bricking. But even that is theoretical. If you're under 100 degrees c. I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you approach 100 degrees, it's time to look into where the issue is. If you never exceed 95 degrees c. you're probably fine. If your card is even somewhat current, it can handle it. |
Hell, my old card would shut off as soon as it went over 100.
One thing i find helps a lot on desktops (sorry, know you're on a laptop), is to move any PCI cards 1 slot down away from your graphics (pci-e/agp) slot, and leave the backplate for that slot uncovered to improve air flow.
For a laptop... maybe get a cooling mat thing with one of those fans in.
Also, as a slight deviation on topic: Do system temps show up in C or F in the US?
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I use evga precision to monitor GPU temps, and I get mine in degrees Celsius.|
Originally Posted by Big_Lunk_NA
Seconding this, anything under 100 is acceptable, but in general i'd say 50-80 should be a safe norm.
Hell, my old card would shut off as soon as it went over 100. One thing i find helps a lot on desktops (sorry, know you're on a laptop), is to move any PCI cards 1 slot down away from your graphics (pci-e/agp) slot, and leave the backplate for that slot uncovered to improve air flow. For a laptop... maybe get a cooling mat thing with one of those fans in. Also, as a slight deviation on topic: Do system temps show up in C or F in the US? |
I have a Gateway P-7811 FX laptop. It used to run at 95C when playing this game on high gfx settings (I have an nVidia 9800 GTS mobile gfx card), but that would cause the left edge of the laptop, as well as some of the left-most keys, to be extremely hot--sometimes almost too hot to comfortable touch. This was unacceptable, and a clear sign of excess heat, so I got a laptop cooler (zalman nc2000, amazing cooler) and my game now runs at below 70C. I always keep my laptop/cooler combo on a hard surface.
Of course, always check your safe operating temperatures for your given equipment, but remember that the more heat your laptop produces, the faster it's going to wear out. Even if your laptop is running at "safe" temperatures, cooling it better is only going to make it last longer.
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It just came back from being fixed, so it's really clean right now.
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Originally Posted by Demobot
First thought: when's the last time you cleaned the dust from around the fan vents?
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Originally Posted by Demobot
Second thought: what drivers are you running
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Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Laptops don't have the luxury of a big honking heatsink that desktops have. The natural side effect is that they will run hot. That's why those cooling pads/laptop stands with built in fans for improved cooling are popular.
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Originally Posted by Frygyd
1)the *surface* you have your laptop on can have an effect on the temperature. If it's sitting on something soft and squishy [that does include your lap.
], the fans won't be able to get as much air-flow going because the vents that are used to suck air in can be partially blocked by the squishy. |
I use the dining table or other hard surface.Quote:
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Originally Posted by -System
It used to run at 95C when playing this game on high gfx settings (I have an nVidia 9800 GTS mobile gfx card), but that would cause the left edge of the laptop, as well as some of the left-most keys, to be extremely hot--sometimes almost too hot to comfortable touch. This was unacceptable, and a clear sign of excess heat, so I got a laptop cooler (zalman nc2000, amazing cooler) and my game now runs at below 70C.
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Thanks all! As always, this forum is most helpful.
In my experiance laptop video cards tend to run at slightly below 100c at load. That is just the normal thermal footprint of such things. What's the problem is when you have a laptop that will only amp up the one fan in it when the processer gets hot.
Also, desktop cards usually run south of 80c, 90c is hot, but as long as it's not 100, you should be fine, though if you have a card running at a constant 90c at load, there is likely something wrong with it, desktop wise.
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I currently have an XT5000T sitting on the table across from me that overheated from running firefox, windows mail and excel all day everyday. I couldn't get anyone to even look at it for less than what it would cost me to buy a new one.
I tried using it to play COx a few times and it would get so hot you could not keep your hand on the keyboard (the GPU was right under my left hand). I had this on a nice CoolerMaster cooler AND I tried a really good ThermalTake cooler as well. NOTHING cooled this down while trying to game. This particular laptop had a dual core amd proc and a 7600go gpu. It also had space for a second hard drive which I put to use then removed the HD after feeling it get hotter. I took it apart many times and cleaned it really well. It just didn't have a strong enough fan to pull air out and the air inlets are pretty much non existant.
I don't know how different yours is than mine but good luck getting it cool enough to play this game. I currently have an ASUS that without the laptop cooler gets pretty hot but because of vent locations the cooler helps tremendously.
Good Luck!
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Pretty much same as mine - the 5000 has a slightly slower processor and GPU. AFAIK the case is the same. I found a guy in St. Louis that reflowed the GPU for me after it failed. It was a couple hundred dollars IIRC, but that included shipping it to him and back, and I was really happy with the work he did.|
Originally Posted by PowerStream
I currently have an XT5000T sitting on the table across from me that overheated from running firefox, windows mail and excel all day everyday. I couldn't get anyone to even look at it for less than what it would cost me to buy a new one.
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Originally Posted by PowerStream
I tried using it to play COx a few times and it would get so hot you could not keep your hand on the keyboard... It just didn't have a strong enough fan to pull air out and the air inlets are pretty much non existant.
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I'm actually thinking I'll cut some more vents into the service covers just to get some more air flowing thru it. I think these new drivers are helping some, too.
Quick background - I play CoX mostly from my laptop, an Everex XT5300T (dual-core TL-53, nvidia 8600M GS). It's not bad. I can opt-in on a few Ultra-mode goodies if I want, tho lately I've been going mostly slider-left.
Unfortunately, I've had the dreaded GPU failure twice. Heat eventually ruins the solder on the northbridge and suddenly I have a doorstop. This time, the guy I sent it to reballed the GPU, replaced the heat sink pads with some better material, and hard-wired my fan so it runs full-speed all the time.
I decided to try out GPUZ to see what kind of temps I'm running. Right now, with only Firefox running, my GPU is sitting at 51.0 degrees C. Earlier, whilst standing in a costume contest in AP, my GPU temp was up at 87.0 degrees C. This is with all sliders full left, and all eye-candy turned off.
I've never really showed any heat-related issues during play in the past. No weird graphic glitches or BSOD crashes. Only the eventual sudden failure.
So I guess the $64 question is, what's a safe temperature to shoot for? I think I can shave off a few degrees with a good laptop cooler, but if the threshold is in the 70s I might have to give up CoX on this machine for good.