Just bought the GTX 470

Domc328

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Hey all, this is my first time posting on the site. Although im a frequent reader of the forums when i need to know something, ive never taken it upon myself to sign up and post. Given that i just bought the new GTX 470 card i think it is time to share my thoughts and get some good advice. Turns out i started working this summer and was able to earn a good amount of money so far in a short amount of time. Mind you im 16 still. Well i decided to splurge yesterday after being at bestbuy the other day and seeing the 470. I picked up the last one their and decided to ignore some posts i read about how my E8400 C2D could potentially bottleneck my card and just went head over heels in. I decided if i might get a bottleneck i may as well OC my CPU. Its a very easy process for anyone intrested in doing so if you dont know already, i got to 3.6ghz in all of 15 minutes without any errors. I didnt really stress test my cpu to long because i was very anxious to pop in the 470. All goes over smooth and i get the card in without a hitch. First off all i can say is how much more vibrant the colors got on my screen and how much clearer it looked then my old 8800 GTS 640 card. Now i decide to play a bit of MW2 for a bit to see what the tempatures run at with auto fan on. After a round the GPU was around 85c, now in my opinion that's way to high for any gpu ever, but everyone insists that it is ok and yada yada yada... Well i decide to let my brother and his friend play a few rounds and i came back to check the temps and they maxed out at 101c while playing. Now i dont care what anyone says to me that is just not good. I've been playing around with the fan controls and i'd like to know if anyone has any advice on what i should run the fans at when playing games. Ive found so far that 80% tends to keep it in the 80-85c area. If anyone has any input on this please feel free to tell me. Thanks!


Core2Duo OC 3.6ghz
2 GB DDR2 RAM
Galaxy GTX 470
2 500 GB Seagate HDD's
 

Domc328

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I've got an NZXT case.(trying to think of the name). I have around 4 fans inside of the case and shouldnt have any trouble cooling down. The card cools down almost instantly after playing. It will be at 80c while playing but ill sit in lobby for 30 seconds and it will drop down to about 70c. Its kind of weird :eek:
 

boosterfire

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Well.

The card is known for its higher than usual temperatures. I don't know what people usually get with the 470, though. Over 100C definitely seems high, though... I'd be afraid, personally! Wether or not this is normal, I'm not really sure. What card specifically did you buy?

What I can say for sure is that with a card known for high temps, it surely doesn't take a lot to get it over the top. Any defect on the cooler itself, or in the case's cooling, can be quite dangerous, I'm sure.
 

Domc328

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I bought the galaxy GTX 470
 

boosterfire

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Just an interrogation I have: 470 coolers generally push the air outside of the case, right? I'm pretty sure the reference is designed that way, at least. I'm not sure about what's been put on the card, though. Anyway, with the reference cooler or something that comes close to it, case cooling shouldn't have that much of an impact on the card.

e: Right, the galaxy has a cooler which will push the air outside, so case cooling should be somewhat irrelevant to the temp of your 470. In the Guru3D review of the 470, the GPU reached 94C, with a fan speed of 55%.
 

Domc328

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Well that makes sense to me because that it true, the card pushes the hot air out of the back of the case but the fans need to intake cool air too cool down the card.
 

Domc328

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Gigabyte EP35 Mobo, PSU on top, PCI-e at bottom. Case has side fan on door, one in the back, one in the top, one in the bottom and one in front of the HDDS but its small and under them.
 


Wrong. :non:

Where do you think the cooler on the GPU gets it's "cool air"? INSIDE the case. So if you blow hot air through a hot card, how much cooling do you get? Where as, if your case is nice and "cool", you can blow cool air through a hot card. This is much more efficient.

So Psycho's question about airflow through the case is actually quite important. It needs a good measure of cool air intake so that the cooling fan on the GPU has cooler air to suck into the GPU. Otherwise you're just blowing heated air into a heated space.

I'm actually going to be installing a GTX 470 tomorrow afternoon/evening. So I'll be able to provide some temp readings here soon myself. Thinking about putting one of my GTX 260's in my wife's PC (she'll need a new PSU too) to replace her ATI X1950 PRO.

The other GTX 260 is on eBay. :)
 

Domc328

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Very true, I think im going to work on some wire management when i get home and see if it helps any. I mean theyre already pretty neat and tidy but im sure i can make them better. Other than that i dont see why i wouldnt have good airflow. My computer is in the basement with air conditoning on.
 

Petey1013

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Hitting 100c means your cards not on Auto fan or you have SERIOUS case airflow issues. Card should never hit more then 90-92 degrees. In my 900 my card usually gets no higher then 80-90 degrees with the fan no higher then 65-70% at the very most. Sounds like a case airflow issue. If any of your fans are under 120mm, pretty much guaranteed to be a case with poor airflow.
 

Domc328

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Petey what you just said makes no sense. Bestbuy doesnt make the card galaxy does. I know i havent been ripped off at all they did nothing to make the card run hot. Im going to go into my case and try and see if i cant help the airflow if that is the problem. By the way i have a NZXT Lexa case and dont care to go and buy another one at the moment. Im going to have to just wait and see tonight what happens with the card. Ill just keep using it and ill post what i come to find. I hope to keep it under 90c playing MW2 for extended amounts of time. Im going to put the fan at 80% while playing for a few hours and ill update tonight. lol im still at work :(
 

Domc328

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Funny thing is is that i have a big ass fan sucking air in right next to it. Im idling at about 44c its so nice. I idle so perfect but it heats up so quick when playing a game.
 

boosterfire

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Hmm, if you have a fan blowing air into your computer, unless it's really warm in your room, you shouldn't have this much heat. That proposes a problem regarding the card or cooler. Have you tried testing the card with Furmark? There's basically nothing that will get a card hotter than that, so it would be interesting to see how high it goes running that. Do keep your finger close to the kill switch should it come near the heat limit of the card.
 

Ray Charles

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What is your ambient temp and is it a stock or overclocked version of the GTX 470 and Please comment on its gaming performance as I have a an almost Identical system to you and I might be buying a fermi soon and I would like to know If it works out good!

I have an e8400 @ 3.0ghz, a Gigabyte ga- ep45-ud3p, 2gb ram, 1 500gb hdd, 1tb hdd, Sigma Shark 635w PSU. So I really want to know how it performing!!!
 

hsetir

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Go to Galaxy website and download Xtreme Tuner HD. Set the fan speed to 100% and then take note of load temperature. Online reviews of Galaxy Gtx 470 show it reaches 90-92C even with 100% fan at load though idling at 35-40C.
 

Domc328

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Update for anyone whos following, im sorry i didnt update last night i got on my comp and saw my psu fan was not spinning. Now im wondering if that could have contributed to the heat problem and maybe my psu is to weak to handle the card. Either way im buying an 750 ATX psu at 3 today. Ill install it tie off the cables and check my temps then. If it keeps running this hot i may have to send it back and get another. I cant imagine that my airflow is even close to this bad with the case that i have and nothing really is stopping the airflow. Ill check in but id also like to know if an underpowered psu can cause high temps on my gpu.