285GTX overheating

[SnakeTheFox]

My BFG 285GTX OCX is overheating. It gets to max temps of 85 degrees Celsius during operation. Strangely this happens in most games, from old Mechwarrior titles to newer titles like Mass Effect.

I emailed BFG and they gave me the typical "blah blah cash in on a replacement blah" but this thing is only 2 weeks old, I'm not ready for that.

I have the side of my case opened up, and the fan on the GPU is running about twice what it normally is (runs stock at like 30% and I've manually increased it to 60-70%) and it still has some issues, although less frequent.

Generally when playing games eventually the game will freeze, and I'll be treated to all sorts of graphical anomalies (fragmented textures everywhere, strange geometries, etc) and less than a minute after that, if I don't crtl-alt-delete out of the game, I'll get a "nv4_disp infinite loop" blue-screen-of-death.

Is this a manufacturing defect? I understand the OCX is factory overclocked, but shouldn't the factory heatsink/fan be capable of keeping it in check? I'll be damned if I have to buy an aftermarket fan/heatsink to run a card at stock settings.

My specs:
Intel E7200 @ stock 2.55ghz
BFG 285GTX 1gb OCX edition
2x2gb (4gb) generic DDR2 RAM
Windows XP 32-bit SP3
650w Earthwatts PSU
Gigabyte motherboard (unsure of exact model)

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[sabot00]

85 Degrees Celsius isn't overheating, especially for a GTX 285 which runs really hot.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

It sounds like youre artifacting, and from heat as well, especially with increased fan speeds and open side.
RMA, and dont let them hoodwink you

 

[AMW1011]

Artifacts and locking at 85c is not good, that's not overheating the card is junk. RMA it.

 

[SnakeTheFox]

Yeah, I'm new to graphics cards, but 85C seemed pretty hot to me. It was too hot to touch, at least.

This is a strange question that no one is likely to have an answer too here, in which case I'll find out by calling them. But do Microcenter retail outlets honor warranties/replacements the same way BFG does? In other words could I take it to them and have it replaced instead of mailing it away to BFG and waiting for a few months?

Nobody will probably have an answer for that but by chance maybe someone who knows their policies might drop by this thread.

Thanks for all the answers so far, and in such a fast manner. Puts all the other places I've asked tech support questions to shame.

 

[SnakeTheFox]

Best answer selected by SnakeTheFox.

 

[MagicPants]

I had a similar problem, the problem is nTune. The fan speed is 40% by default in 2d mode but it normally ramps up for games. The problem is ntune keeps the fan from ramping up and sets it too whatever you set it to despite the temp of the card.

nTune also provides temp to fan speed curve settings that just plain don't work. Nvidia "fixed" this problem by adding a EULA.

The best solution is to remove every bit of nVidia driver from your system and then reinstall it without nTune.

Anyway get a replacement but also remove nTune. If you want to mess with settings use rivaTuner.

 

[SnakeTheFox]

I had a similar problem, the problem is nTune. The fan speed is 40% by default in 2d mode but it normally ramps up for games. The problem is ntune keeps the fan from ramping up and sets it too whatever you set it to despite the temp of the card.

nTune also provides temp to fan speed curve settings that just plain don't work. Nvidia "fixed" this problem by adding a EULA.

The best solution is to remove every bit of nVidia driver from your system and then reinstall it without nTune.

Anyway get a replacement but also remove nTune. If you want to mess with settings use rivaTuner.

I'm unsure of exactly what Nvidia software I have installed on my computer but doing a search for "ntune" on that crappy windows search feature revieled nothing, so I'm going to assume it's not on my rig, I never remember downloading it.

However you're right about the fan issue. It never changes speeds, even in the heat of the moment (forgive the pun).