5870 Gaming Temps.....?

[Markdek]

I own an XFX 5870, and am for the most part gaming with it on COC World at War. With full eye candy on, frame rates are excellent (usually >90fps; w/ Vsync off obviously), with dips only during missile attacks.

I've also been monitoring my quad cpu usage and gpu usage and temps. COC WAW gpu activity ranges from 70% to 99%...quite often it hovers up and down around 99% when there's alot of action and players logged on.

Temps on the 5870 during the high stress (activity ~ 99%, and full eye candy) can get up into the lower 80's C, with the auto fan usually running ~ 33%. Temps never go above 85C, where the fan would kick up into 37% (I'd actually like it to kick into 37% here). For comparison, setting the fan manually @ 36%- 37% keeps temps in the 70's C all time. Idle temps are good. All the above tells me the thermal paste on the stock unit is ok, as a good amount of heat is exiting the card.

Question, is it safe to keep the fan on auto, w/ the temps sometimes to often running into the lower 80's. FYI, the case air flow to the video card is excellent. And of coarse, if I lower ambient room temps, then all the temps discussed above do drop.

Is if safe to run the 5870 into the lower 80's for extended periods of time? Since this is what the card's bios settings allow on auto fan, I assume it must be safe? ..............Anybody been watching their 5870 temps in this detail?

Last FYI, in my own experience throttle begins @ 90C, and gets aggressive @ 95C.

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[Little_4nic8er]

I just used OCCT to stress mine and I'm seeing similar numbers. Running at 98-100% solid (Mostly 98%) my fan has jumped to 40% and it's standing rock solid at 85C. (It was at 37% fan speed at one point, but then hit 87C. That's when it went to 40%/85C.)

It's been rock solid for 5+ minutes now. So I would assume you are safe at 80C.

P.S.

I raised the fan speed to 100%, and the temps are now rock solid at 64C @ 98% usage., but damn......I'm scared my rig is going to lift off and fly around the room any second.

Uh...wait......it just hit 63C.

Basically, the card gets hot, but I doubt you have anything to worry about short of a fan breaking. The fan will kick itself up to what it needs to to keep itself happy. I have yet to see any clock degradation when running at 85-87C. I believe that threshold is 100C+ before you'd see any throttling.

 

[Copyright]

I am overclocked wtih a tad bit of voltage and a custom fan curve.. I hit 77C while gaming. It would go into the 80's using stock fan control.

 

[TechloGoblin]

I just recently purchased (2) XFX 5870's

I am clocking them at 900/1300 via the ATI overclock tool (not worth messing with flashing an ASUS bios to get higher clocks ATM)...and am water cooling them with (2) Danger Den 5870 blocks

I get ~35c idle, and about a max of ~49c on each card when running a really intense benchmark after 20-30 mins.

When you start getting over the 82-85c mark for SUSTAINED periods of time I would start being careful.

 

[Markdek]

Thanks for the input; I'm 1st, trying to see if these are normal temps (being in the lower - mid 80s) w/ usage near 99% and auto fan on; sounds like it is, right? So, ATI must be comfortable w/ this as they set the fans speeds themselves in the bios.

Where I/we go next is another question. For now but only sometimes, I set the fan manually (35 - 37%) just to put temps solidly into the 70s, if I'm going to game for a few hours, or more....that should answer the "sustained temps" concern comment. I also wanted to avoid pulling the card apart and redoing the TIM paste........the temps seem very sensitive to fan speed so I don't think redoing the TIM is worth while.

As far as water cooling or aftermarket air cooling, it's probably not going to happen for me.

Please, give me more of your temperature info/experience!

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[Copyright]

Download MSI afterburner and build your own fan curve. Its very easy. I have my fan set to run at 10% at idle.. basically any temp under 50C is at 10% fan. Then I have 90C setup for 50C which builds a nice strait line for the fan speed to follow. My temps are great and my rig is very quiet when not gaming. Keep in mid MSI afterburner is not just for MSI cards. It works on pretty much anything.

 

[TechloGoblin]

I set the fan manually (35 - 37%) just to put temps solidly into the 70s, if I'm going to game for a few hours, or more....that should answer the "sustained temps" concern comment.
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That is a wise choice.. Its like if a car maker tells you that you can run up to 120mph on a certain tire.. Do you want to run at 115mph for 3 hours and take a chance??? Kinda pushing the limit if you ask me.

for the longevity of your card I think it's better to be cautious than wild.

IMHO

 

[Markdek]

Just an FYI on where things stand:

I did redo the TIM thermal past on my XFX 5870 w/ AS5, because I just like to get my hands dirty, so to speak. I'm immediately seeing about 1-2C difference idle and ~ 3C at load (maybe more, hard to judge). Maybe I'll see another degree better after the AS5 cures. In general, the stock TIM job was ok. Glad I got it back together w/ the oem thermal pads in place. Would I do it over again?....in this case it probably wasn't necessary.

Edit: I'm starting to think it was worth while replacing the paste; the gpu temps are noticeably lower and respond to the fan much better now.............

Anyone else replace their paste/grease? Let me know your experience.
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[poppachocks]

I just recently purchased (2) XFX 5870's

I am clocking them at 900/1300 via the ATI overclock tool (not worth messing with flashing an ASUS bios to get higher clocks ATM)...and am water cooling them with (2) Danger Den 5870 blocks

I get ~35c idle, and about a max of ~49c on each card when running a really intense benchmark after 20-30 mins.

When you start getting over the 82-85c mark for SUSTAINED periods of time I would start being careful.

Less than 49C at load????? The idle temps sound about right. Mine is setting right now at 34C with a system temp of 23C. But, my card is at stock speed.

Try Furmark and see what you get after a few minutes.