Video Cards Overheating?

[B3L13V3R]

Hey all!

So, I'm playing BF3 for a few hours on a given night with the guys and gals over at GS96, and it seems that after about 3 hours of gaming, the game stops and screen goes black, system then becomes unresponsive and requires a reboot.

I play BF3 at 5760 x 1080 on 3x Asus VG248QE @144Hz so the cards are getting a bit of a a workout I would imagine.

It's an brand new system. Only about 2 months old.

Here are the specs.

Rampage IV Formula
3820 @ 4.3 - Under Swiftech H220
Corsair Dominator GT 16GB 2133
Asus GTX 670 4GB SLI @ 1000/1512
EVGA 1000w PSU

The case is a Corsair 650D with the all cages including 5 inch bay completely removed with another 200mm fan in front pulling through the same material as the default bottom 200mm fan. I can't imagine this being a "lack" of airflow. :confused:

What else would you wanna know before taking some stabs at this? Sorry for the bad pics. Just shot them on the fly for reference.

Thanks in advance!!

[B3L13V3R]

Arne Saknussemm wrote:
Hmm the last time I used GPU tweak I had a load of crashes out of that alone.....I'd uninstall it and use another program..of them all I prefer Precision X.

But if you are crashing you will have to run the card at stock and see if it crashes at stock too...if not it's simply the OC is not stable for that game...but heat wont help.

Watercooling the GPUs makes a lot of sense, for these cards especially.....keeping them well below 70 means they boost to maximum values with no throttling and they seem entirely happier....a nice full card block for those 670s and they'd purr along

I did run them at stock, but I don't remember what the outcome was. I'll have to try that again.

Water cooling is an absolute for these cards. I hate that these things get SO hot, even though it's WAY better than the 470's I replaces with these.

For now, I am just looking for a solution around this air cooling non-sence.

[HiVizMan]

GPU tweak and me are strangers. I tend to stay with what I know works. AB for OCing and GPUz for monitoring.

[B3L13V3R]

I guess I thought OC tools for GPU's were all the same. I'll try these suggestions and report back tonight.

[B3L13V3R]

Well I thought I would post some progress.

I threw some Bitfenix 200's in the front to replace the standard Corsair fans that do NOT push a whole lot of air. These seem only a little bit better from an airflow standpoint, but since they look so much nicer as well, they can stay.

Here are a few more crappy pics of what I did so far so you can see what I'm working with in the chassis.

[B3L13V3R]

OK... Primary card is definitely over heating.

Here's the systems situation 5 minutes after BF3 for reference:

Temperatures
Motherboard 41 °C (106 °F)
CPU 34 °C (93 °F)
CPU Package 42 °C (108 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #1 38 °C (100 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #2 39 °C (102 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #3 42 °C (108 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #4 42 °C (108 °F)
PCH 55 °C (131 °F)
GPU1: GPU Diode 50 °C (122 °F)
GPU2: GPU Diode 38 °C (100 °F)
Corsair Force GT 33 °C (91 °F)
WDC WD30EZRS-11J99B1 33 °C (91 °F)
OCZ-VERTEX2 (OCZ-D26H8Y6U89UPM75I) 30 °C (86 °F)
OCZ-VERTEX2 (OCZ-0G94L8387K7X354S) 30 °C (86 °F)

No OC on the GPU this time.

With the Case closed: GPU temps hot at 75C but Afterburner monitor does not log a clock change in either GPU's.

With side panel off: Same as above....

I'm so desperate for better temps, that I may flip the cards to see if it changes anything. I suspect it will not.

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Is that with setting a custom fan profile? like up to 85% at 65 degrees? this will be loud but....

If you have 75 on the lead card now and it was OCd before I would say it was almost certainly getting toasty after a couple of hours gaming.

One thing you could do, if you haven't already, is carefully remove the cooler and reapply a good TIM to the GPU chips.....

[B3L13V3R]

Arne Saknussemm wrote:
Is that with setting a custom fan profile? like up to 85% at 65 degrees? this will be loud but....

Here are my current settings:

Arne Saknussemm wrote:
If you have 75 on the lead card now and it was OCd before I would say it was almost certainly getting toasty after a couple of hours gaming.

True... but isn't that a indication of something wrong?

Arne Saknussemm wrote:
One thing you could do, if you haven't already, is carefully remove the cooler and reapply a good TIM to the GPU chips.....

I'm out... need to order some. The only thing I have ATM is some Céramique 2.

[Masterbobo]

B3L13V3R wrote:
Here are my current settings:






True... but isn't that a indication of something wrong?




I'm out... need to order some. The only thing I have ATM is some Céramique 2.

Profile is good but why not just max it out at 70*c degrees?, no point in letting the card(s) go over 70 just gonna roast in there and throw up the case temp faster and faster. Sometimes 100% fan speed is mandatory not a luxury lol ask me I know LOL

One thing to keep in mind when upgrading cards is consider getting the reference "leaf blower" design, its on the contrary a lot more beneficial then people think, it blows ALL the hot air OUT of the case, which if you have more than 1 card especially can start to show its benefits. In my case I have 3! LOL

[Arne_Saknussemm]

B3L13V3R wrote:
True... but isn't that an indication of something wrong?

Not really....these cards are designed to run hot and 80 is par for the course if you have a couple of them in a case but they will not run at top speed at this temp and OCing becomes pointless. You have to cool them effectively for them to give the best performance.

The fan curve you have set seems pretty reasonable to me but if it isn't cooling them sufficiently then you will have to look at either running them out on a test bench (I had to do this to get my 680DCiiTs to run well) or watercooling them which is where these cards really shine.

[B3L13V3R]

Arne Saknussemm wrote:
Not really....these cards are designed to run hot and 80 is par for the course if you have a couple of them in a case but they will not run at top speed at this temp and OCing becomes pointless. You have to cool them effectively for them to give the best performance.

The fan curve you have set seems pretty reasonable to me but if it isn't cooling them sufficiently then you will have to look at either running them out on a test bench (I had to do this to get my 680DCiiTs to run well) or watercooling them which is where these cards really shine.

I think I am at a crossroads with this case as well as with all that you said Arne. Thanks for all the comments so far.

Oh and yes. This room about 73-74F at all times. 😞