Is this the graphics card over heating?

[heero yuy]

while playing mass effect (the first one) my screen dimmed and the computer turned off
i pulled the computer out and i could smell hot plastic coming from the psu (not not burnt plastic) the cpu cooler was touchable the psu had hot air coming from it and the graphics card (gtx 295) was quite hot to the touch

after letting it cool down for a bit i plugged it all back in to see if anything was broken thankfully it appeared to be ok but after looking at speccy the graphics card temperatures appear to sit at around 55 degrees C when idle

also speccy reports the 295 as being two seperate cards with about 896MB of ram each yet the card is advertised as having about 1792MB of ram (yes it adds up about right but i'm sure i have been told that two 1 gb cards in sli does not = 2 gb unless it being two cards in one does some things meaning it does have 1792MB of ram to use or whatever <.<)

 

[devilofdeaths]

55 degrees is way to hot for idle a idle temp should be 30 and also what is it under load(playing games)

 

[Deemo13]

The GTX295 is a dual-gpu card.

And that is a hot idle temperature. The 295 is pretty old, I would recommend getting a can of compressed air and blowing the air out of the card.

 

[whooleo]

55C idle is not hot for that card, I have a GTX 260+ overclocked and it idles at 59C-63C depending on room temperature and maxes at 87C.

 

[Surgeking]

hmm the way the computer crashed doesn't sound like a gpu problem to me as it didn't black/blue and freeze, sounds like PSU.

Just to cover all bases, how old and what PSU do you have?

Dusting all fans and psu might also be usesfull.

 

[Deemo13]

Also, what power supply like questioned above? The 295 takes alot of juice.

 

[greddy23]

To my knowledge, any smell of burnt is most of the time the psu, also random turn offs are psu most of the time as well, your psu will most likely fry soon.

 

[heero yuy]

^ its not the smell of burnt it was just the smell of hot plastic there is a big difference in smells also this is the first turn off of its sort even after a few hours of skyrim or tera
i dont think i have vsync turned on in mass effect that might help stop my gpu from rendering more frames than it needs and then it probably will draw less power from the psu

and i have an alpine 750watt psu and the fan i think is sucking air into the psu and down into the case (the psu appears to have been made to go in the bottom of the case - i wonder what would happen if i put the case on its head...)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alpine-750Watt-PSU-120mm-Retail/dp/7135799380/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top/279-0488964-0285869
(i didnt buy it from amazon this is just the same product - nvidia says it needs 680 watts and i am currently saving up for a new psu after spending quite a bit on this graphics card :/ perhaps i should swap back to the 275 untill i get a new psu)

also i have dropped the over clock on my cpu and dropped the over volt from 150 mv to 100 mv

 

[Deemo13]

That's probably the problem.

That is a pretty bad power supply based on the price of it. It probably can't put nearly enough power out to support a 295.

 

[heero yuy]

just brought a cougar CMX 1000 watt psu
very solidly built i dont think its what you call fully modular but saying as all the cables that are in it as standard are being used in this box i have no complaints

a few problems is that there appears to be a bit of clear plastic in the psu (probably to do things with the airflow as it appears to be curved) that is catching on the fan (the fan is facing down into the case as the psu is at the top of the case) and i cannot do anything with it as that would void my 3 year warranty

also the cables are stiff (the psu is most likely made for use in a larger case than my one anyway) and the 20+4 pin and the 6+2 pin pci-e connectors extra bits do not slot into the main part and you have to try and put the extra connectors in before the main part (and thats quite hard to do i find)

in other news play.com's courior decided to throw my mop collectors edition over a wall and into a puddle - not pleased