Gainward 6800 GT Golden Sample temperatures

[Cow Art]

Hi there. Long time lurker, new poster.

I bought the Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/2400 Golden Sample recently, mostly because it seemed like a pretty solid GT, and most reviews stated that it ran relatively cool with it's dual-slot cooler. I was especially swayed by X-bit labs' positive review, which placed it as a heavy, near-Ultra overclocker.

I'm very satisfied with it. I can run everything at 1600x1200, highest possible detail and full AA/AF without so much as a hitch. That was until I encountered HDR, that is. And so the need for overclocking arised. However, I noticed that my temps were a bit high before I even started increasing the clocks. Now, according to X-bit labs, the GPU idles at about 46 degrees and the PCB at 32 degrees at stock speeds. At stock speeds, mine idles at 60/42 (GPU/PCB). At the highest speed that ExperTool allows (420/1200), I idle 64/46. X-bit labs reports 48/32 at those speeds. (430/1200, actually)

That's a 10 to 16 degree difference. The card idles at what X-bit labs claims to be the burn temp (burn being five sessions of 3DMark05 run in succession)
Just for interest's sake, here they are:
350/1000: GPU-60 PCB-46
430:1200: GPU-63 PCB-48

I've only tested it with Far Cry and Doom 3, though, as I haven't installed 3DMark05 yet. Regardless, at any speed, I get around 74 to 86 degrees in Far Cry, and 68 to 76 degrees in Doom 3 (PCB temps are mostly 10-16 degrees below the GPU's temp). I even pushed the GPU further (±430) with RivaTuner and Doom 3 timedemo1 gave me a glorious 50fps average at ultra detail with 4xAA. After 4 hours of play, I had a single crash, but no other glitches were noticed.

Far cry, on the other hand, has a truckload of problems at even Ultra speeds. With HDR on, I get a 10 degree increase in temperature and graphical anomolies start appearing. Textures flash and some models render incorrectly, with polygons portruding out of them for meters into any given direction.

Is my card running at abnormal temperatures and should I consider additional cooling, or were the X-bit tests run in a fridge. Speaking of which, I should add that my room is kept at a constant temperature of 24 degrees Celcius, so I doubt it's a result of room temperature.

Any comments or help would be appreciated.

Snip:X-bit labs review is over here (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gainward-ultra2400.html)

[AStaley]

My card will idle at around 51c (Ambient around 33c) and goes upto around 75c under load, clocked at 400/1100, which is the rated speed for the GS version anything above this and you maybe pushing your card to hard. Although a lot of people have said the can run it stable at 425/1150.

You might want to check the heat sink is screwed down tight as myself and a lot of others have found that they are simply to loose. You want the screws tightened down to around half way and make sure not to tighten to much and bend the card.

Also try using some Artic Silver 5 on the car as this helps a fair bit.

AStaley

[Tym]

Your temps are definitely high, mine idles at 53/34 degrees when I set my rig in a "low-noise mode" (all case fans at minimum, VGA fans at 50%). I can get it down to 50 on the core without turning the card's fans up, just by increasing rear case fan speeds (they are way quieter...). It runs fine at 420/1150, never gets above 75 degrees on the core (I also play FC with HDR), no artifacts at all. Is your case properly cooled (especialy with a rear fan to blow the hot air away)? If it is, then its most likely a problem with the card's heatsink.

[JRd1st]

Have you checked the screws for the heatsink? Gainward Gs's are known for having loose screws on the heatsink. You have to remove the fan assy to tighten them. But don't make them too tight.

[Danhill]

My idle temps are 50-53 C on the GPU and 33 on the PCB, thats when running the fans at 50%
At load my temps go up to 65-70 (sometimes 73) thats with the fans at 60%

So check your screws if they really are tight.

[musickna]

Ditto the heatsink check - I found my GPU heatsink was loose & also Artic Silver 5'ed it.

Now I run at in the low to mid 60's at load (as opposed to high 60's), which seems reasonable enough.

However, you may still get some problems with games at overclock - I cannot get Forgotten Battles-Pacific Fighters to run stably using maximum 'Perfect' settings at more than 375/1050, whereas it works without issue at 400/1100 under the less-demanding 'Excellent' graphic setting. Also 3Dmark05 and other older games work just fine at 400/1100.

With new technology, it's all a bit 'hit or miss'!

[Cow Art]

Haven't really had time to check the screws, but I did play around with the clock speeds for a while. Then I let my friend play Doom 3 and Far Cry for a few hours while I had some other stuff to do. Turns out that I only get the texture flashes and other crap when the memory clock is higher than 1100. So I installed RivaTuner just to see how far I could push the GPU, and it was stable at 440 after 4 hours of gameplay.

I'll check the screws when I have time. But in the meantime I'm quite pleased with the high GPU clock I managed to get. Will have to see what kind of performance boost it offers.

[RTarget]

However, you may still get some problems with games at overclock - I cannot get Forgotten Battles-Pacific Fighters to run stably using maximum 'Perfect' settings at more than 375/1050, whereas it works without issue at 400/1100 under the less-demanding 'Excellent' graphic setting. Also 3Dmark05 and other older games work just fine at 400/1100.


Funny you should mention that, I noticed the exact same thing.375/1050 is also the farthest I've gotten my GT on "Perfect" in Pacific Fighters. Any higher, and it seizes up into the rainbow checkerboard and I have to reboot.

[musickna]

Funny you should mention that, I noticed the exact same thing.375/1050 is also the farthest I've gotten my GT on "Perfect" in Pacific Fighters. Any higher, and it seizes up into the rainbow checkerboard and I have to reboot.

Yes - that checkerboard is all-too-familiar! It was frustrating at first, but at least we are getting some overclocked performance with Perfect. Better than none!

[Cow Art]

Seem to have solved my temperature issue.
The heatsink on my card was indeed loose and after fooling around with it a bit, my temperatures are now 52/38 at idle and 70/50 at load. That's still at stock speed, though. I'll try overclocking it later.

[Knot3D]

Gee...
You guys have hotrunning Gainwards then. I also have the golden sample GT 2.0ns clocked @ 400/1100. Dynamic fanspeeds for 3D clock up to 100%, 2D clock up to 60%. I haven't modded the card nor tightened screws nor use of arctic silver.

Idle temps vary from 39 to 45 degrees celcius

Load never exceeded 59 up until now.

I must note I have two very nice 120mm case fans though. I hope you can get those temps down some more. Goodluck (snowcool)

[Cow Art]

Sorry for going OT, but may I enquire as to how you have these fans set up?

At the moment I have a 120mm on the side acting as intake and one at the back acting as exhaust. I'm not sure what the optimum layout is, but I'm keen to try anything.

I've read that you should strive to have a negative air pressure inside the case (i.e. more air going out than going in) to avoid dust, but does this affect temperatures?

[$n][pErMan]

I also have a Gainward Golden Sample 6800 GT. I run it at 400mhz Core / 1101mhz memory. (the 1101 is because im using coolbits to OC over Expertool as I have noticed conflicts). It runs stable at this and idles at 50c and at max load about 70 ~ 72c.

Here is my question... in coolbits / nvidia overclocking tool when I do "detect optimized settings" It selects the speeds as "427mhz core / 1400mhz memory". In expertool the 427 is in the red (which is supposed to be bad) and the memory is in the orange. My question is... are these clock speeds acctually safe (and expertool is lying by saying its in the red) without any mods to the vid card cooling wise? If so I would not mind using them.

[Knot3D]

Sorry for going OT, but may I enquire as to how you have these fans set up?

At the moment I have a 120mm on the side acting as intake and one at the back acting as exhaust. I'm not sure what the optimum layout is, but I'm keen to try anything.


I have the Antec Sonata case with one 120 mm case pre-installed at the back right under the PSU (which right now is a Tagan480W which has 2 fans itself) The other 120 case fan is located on the HDD rack ; Antec made screw holes on the rack there to have a fan there which sux air from the front bezel vents. So, it's all a one-way stream to the back.

Oh yeah, I got a Zalman7000cu cpu fan on my P4. it blows right over the back of the videocard. I guess that helps a bit too.