4850/4870: better temps by reapplying thermal paste?

[rafer]

If anyone has reapplied thermal paste while keeping the stock cooler, could you please share your results?

thanks!

 

[nukemaster]

Based on the heat that comes out the back, the thermal contact is quite good.

If you find it too warm you can increase the fan speed. Either way it never lets the 4870 get much over 82. Thats still a bit cooler then my 8800GTX

my idles are as follows and the room was 28c

55 @ 35% - Starts to be more audible
50 @ 30% - Quiet

I still just leave it auto since 82 is not going to hurt the card. It seems to run the fan at 26 or so when loaded, but will go higher if needed.

If you do want to change the speed do the following. and make sure you enable overdrive. You do not have to overclock, but it was to be unlocked to make fan speed control work. Do not set it too low as the card will not auto control with it this way.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=2751569&postcount=8

 

[rafer]

yeah, i know speeds can be changed, i was just curious if anyone had improved their temp issues by reapplying thermal paste.

 

[Malovane]

I used Arctic Silver Ceramique on mine. I believe they changed the name of it to CMQ-22 or something like that. It did slightly better on my CPU than Arctic Silver 5, so I tried it out on my GPU. Originally, my stock fan speeds kept the temperatures at around 82C at idle, and at load it didn't get over 90 due to the fan kicking in. After the Ceramique application, done via the credit card thin coat method, it was about 8-10C less, which is pretty good. At the moment, the fan speed is set at 45%, and I am getting roughly 43-45C at idle, and 55C at maximum load.

I did have a Thermalright HR-03 GT waiting on the side, but with temperatures like this it doesn't seem necessary. Better the hot air is pushed out of the case with a dual slot cooler than being blown around inside the case anyway.

 

[nukemaster]

82 idle. thats hot. i idle in the 70's and lower if the rooms is cooler then 25c.

But for 8-10c, it may be worth it.

 

[gmanvbva]

Most posts I have seen, have only stated a 2-4c change from thermal paste. Biggest issue is just the fan control (and the generic cooling solution).

It may depend on the which brand you purchase, since they probably select how and what to use for thermal compound.

 

[spathotan]

Mine idles around 55c at 35% fan speed with the 780/1065 overclock. It hits about 68c under full load. I didnt change the paste on this 4870 I have, but I did change it on the two 4850's I used for about 2 days, those things run much hotter than the 4870, before the paste they were idling at 86c, after I changed it they were around 82c, didnt make much difference.

I pondered it with the 4870, but im satisified with the temps and performance I have now, plus the cooler is a pain in the ass to get off with the tiny screws around the GPU. Its not worth it tbh.

 

[Keiki646]

yeah, i know speeds can be changed, i was just curious if anyone had improved their temp issues by reapplying thermal paste.

I did, I change the paste and added some Arctic silver 5 to the GPu and I did notice a 7C drop in temp.

 

[Koolaidman23]

This is an old thread but I just did this so I thought I would give my results.

At 50% fan speed my stock Sapphire HD4850 with stock thermal paste was idling at 73C.

At 50% fan speed my stock Sapphire HD4850 with AS Ceramique is idling at 62C.

This is fantastic as I have only recently defeated the atidiag.dll bsod problem by turning up the fan. My computer went from silent to noticeable, which is complete fail in my living room. I am now going to turn down the fan speed and see how quiet I can get it without going over 73C, which is an okay temp for me as long as it works.

System:
q6600 @ 3 Ghz
4x1 gb DDR2-800
GA-P35-DS3L rev 2.0
Sapphire HD4850 512mb
Arctic Cooler 7 pro
Cooler Master CAV-T03
Seagate 250 gb 7200.10, Seagate 640 gb 7200.11
Antec ea500D
Vista x64 Home Premium

I turned the fan down to 40% before I started writing my specs and now the temp is up to 72C. The fan is quiet enough, and I am happy that I do not need to spend ~$25 for a different cooler to get a decibel level I can live with.

 

[wh3resmycar]

ahhh, the horror of the 4850 single slot stock cooler strikes again.

mine came wit a different cooler, idles 36c, loads @ 45c, 90% fan efficiency. turning it up to a hundred pierces the sound from my philips DJ headset even @ high volumes.

 

[Duesouth]

I got myself an ati radeon HD 4870 directly manufacture by ati radeon premioum graphics. got the 1 gb gddr5, it seems to always running around 80 degrees celcius. what is it supposed to be running at normally. all factory setting never unlcoked to be overclocked under ati overdirve. oh and I paid 224 plus tax up here in toronto canada. original 324 plus tax. cdn funds. Best Buy price matched it to an saphire since it said ati radeon HD 4870. lol I just paid and ran. it came with a diamond cd in it.(drivers and the software that it came with on it) I guess it is a diamond radeon since of the side markings on the box and address diamond multimedia

I just wanted to know what is the right temperature for it.
it runs farcry 2 nicely on my 52" sharp aquos at 1280 x 1024. I have tried it on 1920 x 1080. but things are just to small on a big screen.

June 10 2009

 

[steele_22]

I have two ATI 4870's running crossfire they are ATI brand came from dell. i flashed bios on the Gpu to 800 Mhz and Ram 925 Mhz
then oc them to 830 Gpu mhz and Ram 1060 Mhz fan at 35% they run about low 50c fan at 45% high 50c... i keep the fan at 35% seems a lot more quite