Any way to keep a 4870x2 cool?

[cokenbeer]

Damn that sucker is hot! I leave the fan at about 25% when I'm just surfing and what not, and crank it up to 45% when I game. Right now just sitting here at idle one core is at 76 degrees and the other is at 56. I know it's "within" the limits, but it's definitely more than I'd like! Generally it stays around those temps even when gaming.

Do I have any options for cooling without turning up the fan? 45% is bearable with a headset, but other than that it's too loud. Is water cooling the only option?

 

[Annisman]

Well, if you can't live with the fan at 45% than maybe you will have to water cool, I find the fan speed on my X2 a bit quieter than my old GX2, keeping both cores cooler as well.

 

[br3nd064]

45% really isn't that high. Try setting it higher and try to get used to it. If that doesn't work, I don't think aftermarket heatsinks are out yet, so water cooling may be your only option.

 

[Annisman]

Really, when it comes down to it, even though without tweaking the fan settings it runs really hot, the card IS meant to handle these temps, otherwise they wouldn't have shipped them with such low fan RPMS. So, either get used to a little noise imo, or keep it at stock speeds and deal with some heat.

 

[halister_one]

45% is loud? I wonder what 100% sounds like then...

Other than turning up the fan speed all the way, I suppose you could change the thermal paste to something of better quality, like AS5. I did that to my 8800GTS and it was 1-2C lower on idle and around 3C lower under load. Make sure every nanometer of GPU is covered with paste.

 

[Lefti]

Mine goes all the way up to 86 celsius at max load, this thing really is hot and i would really welcome a decent aftermarket air cooler, I'm not full of hope though, the 3870X2 didnt seem to have much in the way of aftermarket coolers.

I'm not gonna play with the fan settings, its already the loudest thing in my system. Like annisman said they wouldnt ship the cards unless they were capable of performing at high temperatures.

Watercooling would certainly solve both the heat and noise issues, only trouble is it's expensive. I had hoped to set up a watercooled rig but had to shelve that little project for the time being after spending so much on expensive components, like the 4870X2

 

[halister_one]

I believe the threshold for these video cards is around 120C, but general rule of thumb is to keep them under 85C to be safe, just like how you'd want to keep your CPU under 65C to be safe.

 

[cokenbeer]

hmm, well like i said in your other thread these things can handle the temps however, i find 30-40% fanspeed really isn't noticable above my case fans and drops temps considerably from 25%.


why not just increment the fanspeed by a % until you find a good balance. i really think you are overreacting here.

I know I'm overreacting... that's without a doubt! However, I worked to get a very good balance with this build and it's very quiet. Pretty much the only other noise is the "woosh" of air flowing. I don't mind cranking it up for games since my headset blocks out most noise. I was really posting just to see what options there are. I can't imagine how hot it's going to be once I stick the second card in there (should be here on Monday), at that point I'm just going to order water blocks and set up a simple loop for now.

 

[halister_one]

There is one way to dramatically reduce your idle temps - underclock ALOT.

There's a real good guide on using the scheduler in Rivatuner http://www.vaguetech.com/index.php?pageid=rt207

Basically what it does is when a certain temp is reached, the fan will increase to whatever you set it to. When the temps go down, the fan will reduce to whatever you set it to. When there is no 3d load, the card will underclock to whatever you set it to. When under load, it will overclock to whatever you set it to. XD

I did it on my 8800GTS 320MB. Currently idling at 270MHz/400MHz with 60% fan speed. When the temps hit 65C, fan speed goes up to 91%. When it goes over 85C, fan hits 100%. Under 3d load, card OCs to 650MHz/1000MHz.

 

[iluvgillgill]

or you can remove the shroud and ziptie a fan on it. but that will VOID your warranty.but sure it will keep things under control. but the hot air will get trap in your case.

 

[samsung]

When I’m gaming with my 4870x2 it hits like 95 and then my screen goes all weird green color and system crashes so I turned up the fan on it to 65% and it still gets up there so now I’m looking at this aftermarket cooling I’m going to get and no its not water lol The Accelero XTREME 4870X2 they say should lower my temps in half but it said it would be out in the end of march and I have checked every place that sells pc parts and no one has it yet so the waiting game starts . I at first thought my card was broken and was like why is it getting so hot and crashing and I was told by ncix when I bought the card that to wait for the drivers that it will fix the problem well it’s almost a year now and it is still crashing so do I rma the card and find out that nothing is wrong with it lol or just get a cooler > oh the choices?

 

[stevensl2]

man i just got this card.. and it makes me so angryyy. its so loud at 40%, i keep it at 33% fan speed because thats as high as it will go without me noticing too much of it.

 

[Amg]

I was about to say, turn the fan up but hay LOL

I don't think there is a after market cooler for it as yet. one is coming out through.

its not in the UK for a start.......or if you live in the uk return that and get your money back and buy a nice asus TRI fan x2

 

[cjl]

I'm surprised it doesn't overheat at 33%. Mine ramp up as high as 50% in crysis (I have them on auto), and it's still staying around 88C.