Overheating 5870 XFX XXX Edition

[tekenator]

hello everyone,

I just bought my XFX radeon 5870 XXX edition (only one in stock at the time) and the performance has been a decent step up from my GTX 260. THe only issue is that it overheats. I was running furmark and it got up to 92C. It was really hot and that was at a manual 40% fan speed. (recommended on other forums). I am running the 9.11 ATI drivers.

This card crashes a lot. I will have the vertical lines issue, app crashes, etc.

I was wondering what i could do for the overheating issue. For those who have experienced this, what was your solution?

Thanks.

 

[j_chatelain]

I also have the XXX edition, and my temps were a bit high as well. I had an extra Zalman VF1000 sitting around, so I installed that on my 5870. Now the temps rarely go above 60c, and I'm currently idling at 25c.

Also, try reducing your clock to about 850/1250, or maybe a bit lower. That completely stopped the vertical line crashing for me.

 

[jay2tall]

The only thing bad about manually setting the fan duty cycle is that at lower temps the fan is running faster than it really needs to be. However, it also might not be running fast enough if your temps are getting that high. If the fan profile is set to run at 60% at 90C and you manually set this to 40, it is going to run hotter than it would be if you left it alone.

My 5870 has gotten up to 85C on a REALLY intenst graphic game. On some older games and even newer DX9 games like MW2 it doesn't even break 75C. My thoughts are you have an XFX with a lifetime warranty. Don't worry about the temps because they will replace it if it fries. You could try and increase your case airflow to feed it some cool air, this usually is good for a few C.

 

[tekenator]

The only thing bad about manually setting the fan duty cycle is that at lower temps the fan is running faster than it really needs to be. However, it also might not be running fast enough if your temps are getting that high. If the fan profile is set to run at 60% at 90C and you manually set this to 40, it is going to run hotter than it would be if you left it alone.

My 5870 has gotten up to 85C on a REALLY intenst graphic game. On some older games and even newer DX9 games like MW2 it doesn't even break 75C. My thoughts are you have an XFX with a lifetime warranty. Don't worry about the temps because they will replace it if it fries. You could try and increase your case airflow to feed it some cool air, this usually is good for a few C.

what about those PCI slot fans? Are they even worth it? Ive maxed out the fans in the my case.

 

[OvrClkr]

What case do you have? ^^^

 

[tekenator]

What case do you have? ^^^

ive got a Corsair Obsidian 800D

http://corsair.com/products/800d/default.aspx

 

[jay2tall]

That is a fine case. I think your card just likes to heat up. Like I said I wouldn't worry about it as it has a lifetime warranty. Video cards run hot and are designed to do so.

 

[tekenator]

That is a fine case. I think your card just likes to heat up. Like I said I wouldn't worry about it as it has a lifetime warranty. Video cards run hot and are designed to do so.

true but RMAs suck lol. I remember this happening when i got my 7800GT OC edition from EVGA back in the day. took FOREVER to get a replacement.

 

[OvrClkr]

Well that case should have some decent airflow even though it seems that it was built specifically for watercooling. If your GTX 260 was running at tolerable temps then the only other solution is to either to lower the clocks and manually set your fan speed or install an aftermarket cooler.. If all else fails then it is time for an RMA.. Or you can just RMA the card from the get-go and not worry about any mods....

Not sure why many are having overheating problems with the 5870, I mean if you spend 400$ on a GPU the least you would expect is a decent cooling solution...

 

[notty22]

Why does the OP not put the fan back on automatic and do the same Furmark test. At only 40% it was not spinning fast enough. IMO that will solve the problem.

 

[orangegator]

Have you tried leaving it on automatic fan control? I'm not surprised it's overheating with only 40% fan with Furmark. You only have a problem if your card crashes with the fan set at 100%. So, your card is fine. Turn up the friggin fan.

 

[OvrClkr]

Well if AMD would have opted for a more appealing cooling solution like those found on the MSI Twin-Frozr GPU's, nobody would have to worry about their GPU temps. I have a GTX 260 (216) that idles at 36c and it won't reach 62c at LOAD with stock cooling installed in a 55 dollar case....The OP has a 5870 paired with a case that is almost 300 dollars and he cannot get tolerable temps, that says alot....

 

[Ehsan w]

That is a fine case. I think your card just likes to heat up. Like I said I wouldn't worry about it as it has a lifetime warranty. Video cards run hot and are designed to do so.

that's really nice and stuff, but I had a problem where it would lower clocks because it was overheating... -.-*

 

[jay2tall]

So sent it back and tell them it runs a little hot, but are not having any other issues with it. I am sure they will not accept an RMA if it is not having a functional issue.

You can always call XFX and ask them this very question.

 

[Ehsan w]

maybe, try to burn it, and send it back for a new one
xD

 

[Kari]

and you have remember that furmark greates a load that isn't going to happen under any games, it's way harder than any 'real' application... in fact, it's likely to be limited by the drivers/hardware to some extent just because it might overload the voltage regulators if let run loose on it's own (like the 4000 series)

 

[OvrClkr]

true but RMAs suck lol. I remember this happening when i got my 7800GT OC edition from EVGA back in the day. took FOREVER to get a replacement.

Try setting your fan speed to 100% and run a benchmark like 3dmark06, then check your temps again.

 

[FatFunkey]

and this is why you generally leave the Fan speed onto auto.

Leaving it at 40% and only 40% is going to damage the card if you keep running it at 40% and playing graphically intense games. Especially since generally in normally operation the card would automatically increase the fan speed to anywhere from 60%-100% depending on the load and temp.

 

[tekenator]

well i put it on auto and the card still gets hot. the metal around the vent is almost too hot to touch. I have a ticket open with XFX and they said that the 5870 can deal with 100C+. They said it isnt abnormal. Thats still pretty damn hot.

 

[tekenator]

I noticed you guys referred to the GPU lowering the clocks because of high temps....i wonder if this is the case with me. In dirt 2, i get about 35fps average. From the reviews ive read and the averages people have posted, it seems i should be getting around 50-60 fps average. I think it may be my cpu though that is holding back my card. its a core 2 e8400 @ 3.6ghz. 4gb of ddr2 800 and a corsair 850w PSU.

 

[OvrClkr]

I noticed you guys referred to the GPU lowering the clocks because of high temps....i wonder if this is the case with me. In dirt 2, i get about 35fps average. From the reviews ive read and the averages people have posted, it seems i should be getting around 50-60 fps average. I think it may be my cpu though that is holding back my card. its a core 2 e8400 @ 3.6ghz. 4gb of ddr2 800 and a corsair 850w PSU.

Your CPU at 3.6Ghz is not bottlenecking anything unless you are playing a game like GTA4 which benefits off of more cores.

Submit an RMA, forget trying to troubleshoot since it is clear that the card is overheating. 92c is way off, specially when those cards normally run in the 70's under LOAD...

 

[Makoballs58]

Well most people are close to the money with there answers. I had a XFX 5870 Extreme for 3 days and it would fly through 3Dmark 06 and never crash but when running Far cry 2 it would last at best 2 minutes, obviously more taxing than 3dMark 06, tried every thing and it even crashed in Fear after 15 minutes, not as graphically taxing on the GPU. So cracked after reading a lot of posts about locked and unlocked bios with Asus and Msi and returned to the store and exchanged for an Asus brand which comes with Smart doc which vary,s the fan speed to match the temp. I now game for up to 4 hours in Far Cry 2 with ease. I noticed with XFX the fan never moved of 21%, sure with Asus its a plane taking of when gaming but at least i can now play all my games with no crash and never go over 45 degrees. And it really does have balls with an unlocked bios to overclock to my hearts desire with out over heating, but with well over 100fps with a Q6600 in Far Cry 2 i have no need to O/Clock. I have 8 fans in total in a full tower with a 300mm blowing straight on the XFX with no results. I have had XFX for years but due to a problem with there fan controls have gone to Asus. Now a very happy gamer.