Overheating and similar issues with GeForce GTX 280

[darkrider01]

I think my problem is similar, maybe not. My temps never get up to the 100C range, but the results are similar. I'll be playing along just fine then I get a black screen and after a few more moments, my PC just shuts off.

I can't seem to run Crysis for more than 5 minutes. Last time was less than 1 minute. I get a black screen at factory clocks (670/2430) and reference clocks (602/2214).

Age of Conan dies in 5 minutes or less at stock clocks, but seems to run ok (played about 15-20 minutes) at reference clocks.

I called Evga support and spoke with a gentleman named Don. He advised me to take the card to a local shop and have them test the card or try the card in another PC. He cited possible problems with my PC as follows:
A. My PSU might be malfunctioning.
B. There may be conflicts with another component, mainly my motherboard.
C. There may be a driver confict of some sort.

The only thing has changed on my PC in the last year is that I replaced my IDE DVD burner with a SATA model and I've added one hard drive. However, everything was working perfectly with my 8800GTX. I'm actually going to go to TigerDirect tonight and buy a new Motherboard since I don't like mine that much anyway. If the card doesn't perform perfectly when I get a new Motherboard......then I'll let Don talk to my wife. She's pregnant, and it's real hot here in the South.

Should I just bypass the Evga support and RMA the card? I paid for the overnight EAR program when I registered the card.

[visualguy]

Originally Posted by particleman

Well I took my BFG 280 GTX back to the store and exchanged it for a EVGA 280 GTX and I am happy to report that my temperature problems are gone. I am typing this with Furmark runnining in the back ground and my temperature never going above 85 degreess and leveling off after several minutes.

There must be a heatsink contact issue or something with some of the cards.

That's good information. Mine is EVGA and it overheats with FurMark.

My card maxes out @ 87c with Furmark - with fan @ 100%

[visualguy]

I just increased the speed of my case fans from 2000 RPM to 3000 RPM, and that didn't have much of an effect on my GTX 280. It still overheats with FurMark running at 2560x1600.

[visualguy]

Originally Posted by PeterJensen

My card maxes out @ 87c with Furmark - with fan @ 100%

What resolution are you running at? I'm running 2560x1600 with 8x MSAA.

My screen only does 1920x1200.... will try that

Running @ 1920x1200 with 8X now...give me 5 mins

[particleman]

Yeah the BFG 280 GTX that I returned was the same way, when I took it to the store for them to test, they just hooked up a motherboard on a desk, with no case so it was entirely open air in an airconditioned store and it still hit 105 degrees in a minute.

The weird thing is the BFG never really artificated, the problem was that it would throttle and shut itself off.

My new EVGA I have the case closed and my fan only goes to 80% (instead of the roaring 100% of my BFG) in furmark and the temperature is still only 85 degrees.

Originally Posted by visualguy

I just increased the speed of my case fans from 2000 RPM to 3000 RPM, and that didn't have much of an effect on my GTX 280. It still overheats with FurMark running at 2560x1600.

[Lfctony]

Cards that have properly seated heatsinks still overheat... The shim must not be making contact with the core or something, thus it overheats terribly quickly. The fan speed increase makes no difference since the shin probably isn't making proper contact... In my case it took 4-5 seconds to exceed 100C, 20-30 second to shut down from overheating.

Dont go higher than that.

[particleman]

Originally Posted by Lfctony

Cards that have properly seated heatsinks still overheat... The shim must not be making contact with the core or something, thus it overheats terribly quickly. The fan speed increase makes no difference since the shin probably isn't making proper contact... In my case it took 4-5 seconds to exceed 100C, 20-30 second to shut down from overheating.

I think it might be a shim or contact issue as well, the air coming out of my new EVGA is hotter than the BFG even though the BFG reported way higher temperatures.

The air is definitely much warmer on my EVGA, it is hard to hold your hand there for too long the air is so warm. What is surprising is that since things are pointing away from a temperature sensor issue, is that the 280 GTX can actually run at 105 degrees without artifacts. My BFG would run at 105 degrees the problem was that it would throttle and shutitself off.

[visualguy]

I just ran 1920x1200 8x on mine, and it overheated at that resolution as well - I stopped FurMark when the temperature reached 102.