Cooling a Zotac 560 Ti AMP!

[drewhoo]

I have a Zotac 560 Ti AMP! card in a Lian Li Lancool case. It was getting close to 90C running BF3, so I bought better exhaust and intake fans for my tower. Problem solved.

HOWEVER, I recently upgraded to a Dell U2711 (2560x1440), and now the card reaches 93C (low 70Fs room temp) while in BF3, irrespective of the video settings in game. Framerates, FWIW, are pretty good, and hang out in the 40s on HIGH.

Thus far, any attempt to lower core voltage with MSI afterburner results in a crash.

My question: Is this okay? Do I just need to accept that the card is going to run very close to TDP (which I think is 95C--can someone confirm?)? If not, what cooling option do you recommend? Please don't simply say "get a pci cooler" or "you need a sidefan." I did research before posting this, and very specific recommended fixes would be helpful.

System Specs:
Lancool PC-K58W
i5-2500k @ 4.2Ghz
Noctua Cooler
120mm Silverstone Exhaust fan, running at 2400 RPM (quite loud)
140mm Xigmatek intake fan, not sure of RPM
Seasonic 750w
ASRock z68 Extreme3 Gen3

 

[drewhoo]

I just chatted with a Zotac representative who basically told me that temps in the 90s are okay for this card. She said the thermal threshold was 105C, and I'll be fine. Unless someone can explain why this is not true, case closed!

 

[DM186]

Well if she said so then no worries then. I hope you got her name just in case she is wrong. I don't know how high the Zotac 560 ti TDP is on that card. But most cards are around 98 to 99c.

And I live by the rule not to go over 80c. If you are at 93c and you don't have laging or other stuff happening. Then she is probley right. So just keep a close eye on your temps. And good luck to you

 

[Candy_Man]

Any update on this? I just installed this card and its running around 90-93C for Mass Effect 3. How is your card holding up?

 

[mactronix]

Well the thing with this card is that its a very highly clocked version and as such draws more power than a standard design. Obvious really.
Zotac have used the same cooler on the Amp version as the standard version, so what you end up with is a highly tuned chip running on a standard cooler. Not good in my book.
Nvidia say 99c is max.

90c is about right for the card. As you have already uprated the case cooling the obvious other option is to upgrade the cards cooler to a decent third party cooler.

Mactronix

 

[drewhoo]

It is holding up quite well after 180 hours of BF3 and quite a bit of time in video editing applications. It typically runs in the mid 80s and frequently gets up to the low 90s. So, not too bad. When my A/C is below 70F, it never gets above 85C. I never messed with the voltage, either.

 

[drewhoo]

Best answer selected by drewhoo.