False temperature readings

[vibrantxxninjas]

Hi everyone,
I am running a sapphire 6870 in my computer and recently overclocked it to 975/1125 and was doing some temp monitoring and testing and noticed that i am getting completely different readings from Furmark, Trixx, and GPU-Z

after running furmark for about an hour i looked at the temps and it hit 80C for about two minutes after it ran for about 5 minutes and quickly stabled out to 75C and stayed at that for most of the run (jumped from 74C-76C)

i also had trixx and GPU-Z running in the background and after closing furmark i very quickly looked at the temps on Trixx and GPU-Z and they were giving both giving me 65C

honestly 10degrees is quite a difference and i dont know which one to believe furmark is saying 75C and trixx and GPU-Z are both saying 65C?

also i closed furmark and opened trixx and GPU-Z very quickly and there is no way they could have dropped 10 deg in the not even 2seconds that furmark was closed.

so i dont know what to do, i would like to believe that furmark is wrong and that i actually am getting 65C because then i can continue OCing but if 75C is true then i want to stop.

thanks for any help in advance

 

[purple stain]

I would go with the higher number.It's better to be safe.My XFX 6870 will hit 85c easily if I don't have my fan settings on.It's likely your hitting around high 70's.In GPU-Z their are 2-3 different sensors it uses so make sure you have the one thats reading straight from/around the GPU chip.Their is a sensor for the RAM the GPU chip itself and i'm sure theirs an airflow sensor.It's a bit confusing tho because none of the temps are marked they just say TEMP1/TEMP2/TEMP3 etc.

I would say you have nothing to worry about even if your highest temp is 75c,thats well below the maximum limit(100c) and it's how these cards run.Reference cards have very poor cooling and are known to run hot.Have to get an aftermarket cooler to get better temps but it's not something I would worry about unless your looking to extreme O.C.

 

[vibrantxxninjas]

I would go with the higher number.It's better to be safe.My XFX 6870 will hit 85c easily if I don't have my fan settings on.It's likely your hitting around high 70's.In GPU-Z their are 2-3 different sensors it uses so make sure you have the one thats reading straight from/around the GPU chip.Their is a sensor for the RAM the GPU chip itself and i'm sure theirs an airflow sensor.It's a bit confusing tho because none of the temps are marked they just say TEMP1/TEMP2/TEMP3 etc.

I would say you have nothing to worry about even if your highest temp is 75c,thats well below the maximum limit(100c) and it's how these cards run.Reference cards have very poor cooling and are known to run hot.Have to get an aftermarket cooler to get better temps but it's not something I would worry about unless your looking to extreme O.C.

alright thank you, i just found it weird that furmark is giving me a higher temp reading and two other programs are giving me a lower yet same reading
also i checked all the temps on gpu-z and every single one was at 64C-66C... also when i begin the test, trixx and gpu-z say my temps are at 42C but once i start the benchmark, it says 54C at the very beginning so im just a little confused is all

also my sapphire card is the non-reference one
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7171596&CatId=3669

 

[purple stain]

Actually that is a reference card.In order for it to not be a reference card the marker has to alter the card someway.For instance the MSI Twin Frozr II is not a reference design card because they made their own type of aftermarket cooling for the card,same goes with the Asus DirectCU models.

Have you checked the update speed on those programs?Thats what would make me think it jumps so drasticly.
Try downloading HWMonitor and see if the GPU temps in their read the same as others.

In any case you still have nothing to worry about those temps are perfectly normal for a 6870.If you are seriously concerned about how your temps you can always download MSIAfterburner and set your own fan profile.It may be louder but it will run a lot cooler.

 

[vibrantxxninjas]

Actually that is a reference card.In order for it to not be a reference card the marker has to alter the card someway.For instance the MSI Twin Frozr II is not a reference design card because they made their own type of aftermarket cooling for the card,same goes with the Asus DirectCU models.

Have you checked the update speed on those programs?Thats what would make me think it jumps so drasticly.
Try downloading HWMonitor and see if the GPU temps in their read the same as others.

In any case you still have nothing to worry about those temps are perfectly normal for a 6870.If you are seriously concerned about how your temps you can always download MSIAfterburner and set your own fan profile.It may be louder but it will run a lot cooler.

really thats reference? i thought the reference where more square?

infact i thought this was sapphire's reference
http://yantraonline.in/images/sapphire-6870.jpg

vs this one
http://www.theitwares.com/images/Sapphire_6870_2.jpg

also i downloaded HW monitor and it was telling me the same as trixx and GPU-Z (idle temp is 40C and after quickly exiting furmark load was 76C)

another question is do you think i will be able to hit 1MHZ at stock voltage or will i probably have to slightly adjust that? thanks for all your help so far

 

[purple stain]

It's possible it might not be but just because it looks different doesn't mean they used different parts,they just altered the look.And in the specifications it doesn't state anything about the cooling.Reference designs also place the fan in the middle.It's the Saphire Toxic and Flex that are non reference designs,because they've altered the speed and added aftermarket cooling.

I would disreguard furmark for temp readings.You have 3 programs giving you the same temp so I think that singles it out pretty well.

Well if you've gotten to 975 without any increased voltage then i'd say you did really well or you have a really good chip.Yes you will probably have to add a little voltage to get to 1ghz and beyond.

 

[vibrantxxninjas]

It's possible it might not be but just because it looks different doesn't mean they used different parts,they just altered the look.And in the specifications it doesn't state anything about the cooling.Reference designs also place the fan in the middle.It's the Saphire Toxic and Flex that are non reference designs,because they've altered the speed and added aftermarket cooling.

I would disreguard furmark for temp readings.You have 3 programs giving you the same temp so I think that singles it out pretty well.

Well if you've gotten to 975 without any increased voltage then i'd say you did really well or you have a really good chip.Yes you will probably have to add a little voltage to get to 1ghz and beyond.

thankyou very much for your help, i just tried to increase it to 980 and it actually brought the temps up a whole 5 degrees! and when i decrees it to 975 brought it down again so i probably wont get to 1GHZ since i dont want to fiddle around with the voltage.

 

[vibrantxxninjas]

Best answer selected by vibrantxxninjas.

 

[purple stain]

Just to let you know the stock voltage for the 6870 is 1.17 and max is 1.3.So you can O.C. quite a bit if you have good cooling.
If your ever intrested in seriously O.C.ing you can buy an aftermarket cooler like this one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118061&cm_re=vga_cooling-_-35-118-061-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186043&cm_re=vga_cooling-_-35-186-043-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186046&cm_re=vga_cooling-_-35-186-046-_-Product



It will bring the temps down about 20c~30c at load temps.And it runs almost silent.

 

[vibrantxxninjas]

alright thanks i was looking at those and i think i might get one.. the zalman one

 

[purple stain]

Can't remember if it was that model or another that somone was using it with a 6870.The VGA cooler isn't meant to work with the 68xx series cards but i've heard of people getting it to work for a 6870.Try scanning through some of the reviews and see if you can find someone thats using it with a 6870.