XFX Radeon 7870 DD | Corsair Obsidian 650D Cooling

Retarded Slowbro

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Feb 21, 2015
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4,510
Hey guys, never made a post here before, but I guess I'll just jump in. I apologise if it's a bit lengthy, but I'd really appreciate some advice :)

So I've had my computer for over a year now, and It's been running about the same consistently, but I've always been aware of my GPU getting pretty hot while under load. Depending on the game I'm playing it can go from sitting at around 55° to peaking the high 80°'s.

I always thought I had decent cooling but I'm starting to question myself a bit and would just like some advice on how I could maybe bring the temp down some. I'll tell you all my computers specs and what I've done to it :)

- Corsair Obsidian 650D. Case
- Front fan: Coolermaster Megaflow 200mm
- Top Exhaust: 2x 120mm Corsair AF Performance Edition.
- Rear Exhaust: 1x 120mm Corsair AF Performance Edition.

- ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0. Motherboard.

- AMD FX-8350. CPU (Stock cooling) Never had a problem with cooling my CPU, although the fan used to spin pretty fast and produce a lot of noise if my GPU was running very hot 80°+

- 2x 4GB Corsair Vengance Pro Red DDR3 2133mhz. RAM + I know my motherboard doesn't support the max mhz of my RAM.

- Corsair CX750M. PSU.

- XFX Radeon 7870 Double Dissipation. GPU. Core Clock 1000mhz - Memory clock 1250mhz.
- Just put in a Gelid PCI slot fan holder. 2x 120mm @ 1500RPM.

Just to pre-state I run my GPU fans at 50% as a standard, and keep it at 50% most of the time after fitting the PCI fans and I've got a 5° drop in temps after installing it, but I do turn up to 75% if needed. If I mention high GPU temps, I was probably running the GPU fans at 100% at that given time. (I don't want to have to run my GPU fans too hard 24/7, as I don't want to burn them out). I also have my 3 exhaust fans on the case's fan controller, I run on the low setting while browsing, and full setting while on any game.

While browsing with a moderate amount of programs open (Temp while typing this) my GPU is idling at 41°- 43° I'm considering this pretty warm as friends mentioned their GPU idle at around 31°- 32° (With standard air cooling). Although I get temps around the same as my friends on start up, and while sitting looking at my desktop.

As I said the highest I've even seen this GPU go is about 88° while playing Skyrim with graphic mods, which I expected but I think is still too hot. Also seen temp up to 80° while playing Divinity: Original Sin (Around max'ish graphics)

On what I'd consider less demanding games 55°+ is the norm, I run Neverwinter(MMO) at 55° - 60° as a constant but have seen temp rising to near 70° (Pre-PCI fan install) running GPU fans at 75%.
For an example I recently run Terraria and got temps of around 40°- 50° running GPU fans at 50%. (Terraria is a pretty basic game)

I deep clean my computer every few months or so, but I clean my dust filters every week. My computer stands on a carpeted floor, under my desk. It has a 9" gap to the base of my desk, and is about 4" away from the wall at the back. It's not constricted at all, and I'd consider it pretty free flow.

I use MSI Afterburner to monitor my GPU temp + FPS, and is the source of my temp readings.


I'd like to apologise for how long this post is and thank anyone that actually read it all! :') Also sorry if it was overkill with information, thought more was better than less.

Have a nice day guys! - Retarded Slowbro :D

 
Solution
The problem is the GPU cooler itself, the older silver/black DD coolers weren't very good and you're pretty well seeing normal temperatures, my HD7950 DD (at a leisurely 800/1250MHz) would hit 80C under heavy load with plenty of noise in an equally well ventilated case.
You can try stripping the card cooler off and replacing the thermal paste with a super premium formulation but I found that knocked just 4C off the load temperatures.
My final solution was to replace the cooler with a Gelid Icy Vision and strip the PWM fans off the stock cooler, attaching them with small cable ties to the Icy Vision, result; 10-15C cooler running with much less noise using the stock, automatic fan profile.
Note, the Icy Vision has two main versions, one...
The problem is the GPU cooler itself, the older silver/black DD coolers weren't very good and you're pretty well seeing normal temperatures, my HD7950 DD (at a leisurely 800/1250MHz) would hit 80C under heavy load with plenty of noise in an equally well ventilated case.
You can try stripping the card cooler off and replacing the thermal paste with a super premium formulation but I found that knocked just 4C off the load temperatures.
My final solution was to replace the cooler with a Gelid Icy Vision and strip the PWM fans off the stock cooler, attaching them with small cable ties to the Icy Vision, result; 10-15C cooler running with much less noise using the stock, automatic fan profile.
Note, the Icy Vision has two main versions, one with a flat cold plate, one with a raised square on the cold plate (the 'AMD only' version') some AMD cards place the GPU die surface below the level of the surround others level with it, some slightly above, you'll need to strip the cooler off to be totally certain which you have to order the correct upgrade.
 
Solution

Retarded Slowbro

Reputable
Feb 21, 2015
2
0
4,510
Thank's for the reply :) Sort of nice to know other people get the same problems as me!

I was looking at the Gelid Icy Vision the other day and was considering it, but now I'm considering moving away from AMD GPU's altogether now, the GTX970 is petty powerful and runs really cool apparently :) Might save for that ^^