New record temperature from my 4850! 116 degrees Celsius!

[carpenter20m]

The card (single slot 4850) was idling at 82 degrees when I first bought it over 3 years ago. When I game it is constantly over 100 degrees with fans at 100% (really really noisy). I just broke my record with 116 degrees!

So far, I haven't had any performance problems though. It has never slowed down due to heat, it has never presented artifacts. I am actually quite happy with it and my oooold Core2Duo E6400 OCed @ 2.56 GHz (I'm from Greece, give me a break). There are very few games that I haven't played with that setup.

Anyway, my question is this: It's got to be a sensor problem right? There is no way that the card would work wonders at 116 degrees.

By the way, I have this pressurized air thing and I dust it from time to time. It helps a bit with the idle temps (nothing dramatic, though), but it does nothing for the gaming temps.

So, sensors or am I playing with fire?

 

[ohshift]

Do you have access to a thermistor?

If not:

I would consider myself a "newb" when it comes to this stuff, but wouldn't a (not so accurate) way to test the sensor is to simply see what temperature it reads upon startup (or as close to that as possible)? A cold start should emulate something around room temp.

 

[carpenter20m]

I don't have a thermistor, I even had to google what it is. But your idea is interesting. When I turn it on, it's already at about 50-60 degrees. Hmmm...the plot thickens.

 

[ohshift]

I don't have a thermistor, I even had to google what it is. But your idea is interesting. When I turn it on, it's already at about 50-60 degrees. Hmmm...the plot thickens.

You can not simply turn it off and turn it back on. I would recommend turning the computer off for at least an hour with the case open. The heat will not dissipate too quickly without the VC fans on.

For the thermistor, I was simply looking for a surface temperature to verify if your card is actually exceeding 100+ C.

Edit: *I do not recommend this option* If you do not want to wait this long, you have already mentioned you have pressurized air. Turn the can upside down and spray it onto the video card (DO NOT SPRAY IT INTO ANY SENSITIVE AREAS).

 

[maui67]

The card (single slot 4850) was idling at 82 degrees when I first bought it over 3 years ago. When I game it is constantly over 100 degrees with fans at 100% (really really noisy). I just broke my record with 116 degrees!

So far, I haven't had any performance problems though. It has never slowed down due to heat, it has never presented artifacts. I am actually quite happy with it and my oooold Core2Duo E6400 OCed @ 2.56 GHz (I'm from Greece, give me a break). There are very few games that I haven't played with that setup.

Anyway, my question is this: It's got to be a sensor problem right? There is no way that the card would work wonders at 116 degrees.

By the way, I have this pressurized air thing and I dust it from time to time. It helps a bit with the idle temps (nothing dramatic, though), but it does nothing for the gaming temps.

So, sensors or am I playing with fire?

What brand and model is your 4850?

I just replaced my 4850 with a new 6850, but my 4850 idled 35-40 and during gaming reached 50-60 max. If it is not a sensor issue then you have gotten lucky so far.

116 celcius !?! ...Who's bringing the marshmallows? =)

 

[carpenter20m]

@ohshift
The 50-60 degrees are from when I turn on the PC in the morning. I've checked it numerous times. I don't think I've ever seen it below 40 on a cold winter morning after just having gotten rid of the dust.

@maui67
It's a single slot Sapphire card. Funny thing about marshmallows: The air coming from the fan of the card is not that hot. It's actually pretty cool. The heat sink, on the other hand, is much much warmer, though I can't say if it's 80 degrees or 50 degrees or 40 degrees. I can touch it, though, so who knows. No marshmallows for me (though, that would be the case anyway. We don't have them here).

 

[ilysaml]

Use more than one software to make sure of the temps readings, try GPU-Z, MSI After Burner and Sapphire Trixx tool, if they all report the same and there's no actual heat or performance throttling then i guess it would be just the sensor fried or going crazy.

 

[maui67]

So you can physically touch the heatsink (the metal part, not just the fan) when it is 100+ degrees (make sure you are grounded before trying this)? If you can touch the heatsink and not leave skin behind then it could be one of two things:
1. This is indeed a sensor issue. Have you checked for a GPU bios update that may fix a known problem?
2. Perhaps the heatsink is not seated properly on the GPU and there is inadequate contact to properly cool the core. You may have to disassemble the card to see if the heatsink is seated properly.

 

[carpenter20m]

AMD Catalyst, Hardware Monitor and GPU-z all report the same temperatures. To be honest, I wouldn't mind if it was just the sensor. But when the sensor says 106 then the fans go to 100% and it's not easy to play games...

 

[zakattak80]

well in most cases people would freak out and tell you to rma, or fix your pc ventilation, but 3 years for any card is pretty good. so even if you does get damaged by heat eventually, you had a good run with the card.

 

[carpenter20m]

@maui67
I am hardly tech savvy enough to change the BIOS of my GPU or, even more, to disassemble it. I am planning on buying a new one soon, as soon as I don't get terrible guilt for wasting more than a month's salary on a PC (remember where I'm from).

@zakattak80
We've been through a lot, this card and I. We even played Crysis in medium-high with an average of 30 fps...that was a good moment...

 

[ilysaml]

Ok, time to let go of your GF xD, so the GPU could really reach those temps specially for the low end fan equipped with the HD 4850.

 

[ram1009]

Why not ask Saphire?

 

[Plasmid]

My sapphire hd 4850 only reached 105 c before failing

 

[carpenter20m]

@ram1009
I'm sure that all I can reach now is low level tech support who wouldn't really be able to tell me anything for sure. After more than 3 years of using it, they can't be of much help. I'd rather discuss it with people interested in this.

@Plasmid
I guess I win? Not much of a victory, though...

 

[mauller07]

if you want to keep the card, the best thing you can do is to remove the heatsink and reapply thermal compound, use the blob pea method to reduce possibility of air bubbles (the spread method is crap, lookup applying thermal compound videos on youtube), my old 4850 before i grabbed a 7870 ran at 45 - 50*c under load and the 7870 does the same rofl.

if you get a new card its always good to never go with reference coolers.