What's wrong with my 470's temp while playing Mafia II?

[goldbranch]

Hi folks, I just got my hands on Mafia II for 2 hours and the temp was starting to reach 108C. It really FREAKED ME OUT. Metro 2033, Crysis never went beyond 82C while kombustor/furmark might push it to 92C max.

I don't know wth is going on. I started Mafia II without any problem and after 1h30, temp reached 85C max, average 82-83C. Then half an hour later, I saw some flickering on my screen for a few seconds and it was ok again. Being curious, I checked MSI A/B and saw the temp was reaching 108C for about 5 mins. I immediately quit the game and post the issue here.

There's something I notice which is unusual:
1. I set a fan profile for MSI A/B and when the temp reached 108C, the fan was at 92% but it did not sound as loud as it used to be at 80%.
2. After I quit the game and let the system idle, MSI A/B kept reporting the temp line at 108C, no reducing or fluctuating whatsoever.

What could possibly the reason for this?

Edit: HWMonitor showed the exact same temp as MSI A/B.

 

[Maziar]

Hello
If your system is at idle and Afterburner is still reporting 108c, then there maybe something wrong with this program.So try GPU-Z instead, open it and then run the game and play for 1-2hr,then check your temps in the sensors tab.

 

[wa1]

^+1
gpu-z:
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

 

[goldbranch]

I'll try as soon as I get home. But HWMonitor also showed the exact same temps as MSI A/B and both software have never failed me before.

And one more thing, what could possibly be the reason for screen flickering?

 

[Helltech]

You can try GPU-z, but I find it believable that your card is getting that hot.

What kind of case do you have?

 

[jerreece]

Once you confirm the temp issue...

Screen flickering could occur due to poor FPS (Mafia 2 recommends a GTX 470 or better with high res settings, so it should be fairly demanding).

Screen Flickering could also be due to the need to enable VSync. Some games, can sometimes cause tearing or flickering if the screen isn't refreshing in sync. VSync will sometimes help with this. I had to enable VSync on a game recently because of this, although I can't recall what game it was. LOL

However, if your temps are truly at 108C, that could be causing problems too!! So we need to see if that's a real temperature, or if it's being read wrong, or if perhaps your card is falsely reporting temperatures to begin with (or you have very poor cooling in your case).

 

[goldbranch]

My case is a Silverstone GD05 HTPC case but I believe my air flow is quite good since there are 5 fans (3 intake on sides and 2 exhaust at rear) attached to it.

I tried GPU-Z today and there's no difference from MSI A/B and HWMonitor. Same case, same temp as yesterday. Please read about 2 things that I feel unusual above.

I can't understand what got the card that hot (108C, holy crap). I played metro 2033 and crysis for several hours and temp never went beyond 82C. Even 1 hour of kombustor pushed my card to 92C max. And the funny thing is after 1h30 playing mafia II, I watched my temp max at 86C, average 82C-83C. Then suddenly 30 mins later the screen flickered and temp went crazy as hell.

Edit: oh, and FPS is not a problem. After I tweaked Physx on clothing (apart from vito's), the game ran at 80 fps average, never dropped below 60 fps.

 

[jerreece]

Silverstone GD05 HTPC Case...


Wow, at first guess I'd say your GPU probably is hitting 108C. That's not a good case for using the GTX 470. I also have a GTX 470 and have MUCH greater airflow through my case and it will peak at 94C.

Here's my case to compare with yours:
Thermaltake Armor 8003BWS

I have 2 x 120mm intake fans in the front, a large 25cm opening on the side panel, 1 x 120mm exhaust fan, 1 x 90mm top exhaust fan. More airflow likely, plus a much larger space (thereby heat is dissipated better). And my card still pushes 94/95C at full load.

HTPC cases are not meant for the highest of high end, heat outputting devices like the 470/480's. Those things need very good airflow as they run very hot as it is. The fact that you reduced PhysX settings and saw any improvement in temps tells me that card was being pushed hard by Mafia 2, and was burning itself up heat wise.

EDIT: Your HTPC looks like it has very good cooling for an HTPC. But with such a compact space, I'm still thinking it's a cooling issue. What's your ambient temperature while gaming?

Also, MSI produces an 'Afterburner' software app you might consider using. It allows you to overclock (which I wouldn't suggest at this point) and adjust fan speeds. You could take a look at altering the fan speed curve (instead of default) and see if that has any significant impact on your GPU temps while playing. I know it did help me some generally speaking.

 

[goldbranch]

I already set a fan profile for MSI A/B. At 108C, fan was spinning at 95% (but the weird thing is it did not sound as loud as it used to at 80%).

The second weird thing is my temp while playing mafia II was always under 86C, ave. 82-83C for mostly 2 hours. Then in the last 15 mins or so it went up like crazy.

I think I'm gonna run another test with open case to see if the problem could be the VGA fan. That just did not make sense that your gpu suddenly runs extremely hot in a game which you already played for 2 hours without problem and got temp in control.