8800 Ultra temp issues

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Godmachine

[H]F Junkie
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Apr 7, 2003
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Ok , (I've got a EVGA 8800 Ultra) so when I'm playing a intense game of COD4 online .. my card heats up to sometimes 91c! Needless to say I'm worried I'm gonna fry it. It has plenty of power and the fan on it maxed at all times yet I cant keep it cool. The case I have sucks so I leave the side panel off..would that really cause a rise in temps?

I've also applied AS5 to the core for extra thermal transfer yet it seemed to make no difference.


Any suggestions?
 
Sometimes applying thermal paste to gpus is not a god idea because it doesnt contact with the hsf. Cut a hole in your case on top of the card and put a high cfm 80mm or 120 mm fan and see if that helps. You gotta make your case breath better.
 
What temps do you expect? 80-90 celsius is not to hot since the 8800 is a hot card.
The card can handle a bit over 100 degrees celsius before it reach it´s threshole, I does not have ntune anymore so i don´t remember the exact temps but is is a bit over 100 celsius for sure so 91 is nothing to be to scared about it it is the load temps.
The best aftermarketcooler is Thermalrigth HR03 Plus and with a 120mm fan it can gives you 20-30 degrees celsius cooler card idle and load.
 
Heat kills/reduces the life of electronics, end of story. Now perthaps that card will be long obsolete before it becomes a concern, or not. Consider too the other components under that shroud, capacitors in particular do not like high temps. Anything you can do, bash a hole in the side panel with rock and put a fan in to push cool outside air into the cards fan would be a nice project since you have the side panel off anyway. Take care to line up the fan so that its airstream would be directly sucked in by the video cards fan.

If the case airflow is horrible, crappy 80mm front fan blocked by hard drives and ribbon cables removing the side panel can drop temps a lot. If the case has decent air flow removing the side panel can hurt as the intended air flow of from front lower flowing up to top rear becomes messed up. Just try it both ways and look at card temps and cpu temps (speedfan has a temp logging feature) after an hour of gaming, then yank the side panel off and run another hour and look at the logs. Also see if your case has optional holes for a 120mm front fan, some do but the manuf puts in a cheap 80.

With that said, you have a high clock on that card and if like most people you sit down and run a game for 4+ hours its going to get pretty not unless you take extream measures. It is just doing a hell of a lot of work and giving nice cool air to breath can only help so much. The next step would be to give it more cool air and moving faster, to remove heat faster, an aftermarket cooler. E.R. has a great recommendation. I like the one you selected too because air will be hitting ALL the components on the board I just have not seen any reviews of it. hmm actually I like that a LOT but would hook it up to a fan controller so I could turn it down when not gaming.

So you are very wise to be mildly concerned and if that card is one you intend to keep for several years I agree with E.R.

The good news is you are not reporting crashes or artifacts which indicates that while the card is running (imo) hot, it is not overheating. As mentioned by others there is no critical issue that must be addressed today. It is my opinion that the very expensive card would well be worth spending another $40 or so to ensure long life and reliability if you intend to keep it and can afford it. The side fan at least. Both if you can. (Plus that heatsink looks cool as hell. :D )

Heck if you do not have an expensive case it might be easier/cheper to get one with decent airflow, I use these all the time, cheap junk but as far as cooling and getting the job done, it is as good as any case costing hundreds of dollars. 120mm fan mounting front (not included) and back (included) with low restriction grills (I cut the front one out anyway with tin snips) a side vent with duct for the cpu and lower grill vent for video card (you can mount a fan there also with a little creative work with a drill or dremel) and it looks decent. I would not sit on it however. About $32 deliverd to your door and you will need another 120mm fan.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI...iption=Rosewill+R218-P-BK+Black+Computer+Case
 
spawn447 said:
down load riva tuner and set up the fan speed so it will not get to that temp, im working on finding a good fan speed setup, theres a guide here : http://download.guru3d.com/download.php?det=163
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"It has plenty of power and the fan on it maxed at all times yet I cant keep it cool" So he's got the fan all the way up.

One question do you have any other pci cards cuz if you don't try putting a fan on the back of your pc over the pci slots so it sucks out the hot air put off by the card. I did this to mine and it helped alot, the card was just circulating the hot air right back into the card.

DSC00102.jpg


BTW is your name godmachine from the acid bath song?
 
I only have a Audigy 2 card and its not even close to the card so its got alot of room to breathe. I guess I can make some holes in the card to help vent it I just hope it doesnt void my warranty. I'll get that aftermarket cooler, I've seen it at microcenter so I can atleast return it if it sucks. Also my card has crashed at 91c before while playing so I guessing this issue could get serious if i dont find a solution.


Oh and yes my name is from the acid bath song :D Acid Bath for life!
 
Oh and yes my name is from the acid bath song :D Acid Bath for life![/QUOTE]

Sweet. Its good to see some Acid Bath fans once and awhile. But yea i would go for the aftermarket cooler or try to RMA it
 
Re seat the stock cooler. DO NOT MODIFY IT! Modify your case. Mine max out at 54C under load and 45C idle to its not a hot card at all.
 
astrojunke said:
"

One question do you have any other pci cards cuz if you don't try putting a fan on the back of your pc over the pci slots so it sucks out the hot air put off by the card. I did this to mine and it helped alot, the card was just circulating the hot air right back into the card.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I have done and it helps a tone with a GT as it vents internally.

I imagine it would also help with a GTX or Ultra as the entire card heats up which will heat the air around it, even though they vent externally.

Due to the size of these cards they act as a barrier on the fan side, creating a warm pocket of air which is where the cooler air is most needed.
 
Caramanos2000 said:
Re seat the stock cooler. DO NOT MODIFY IT! Modify your case. Mine max out at 54C under load and 45C idle to its not a hot card at all.
Click to expand...

The 8800 Ultra is not a hot card at all? What planet do you live on? (or maybe what country. Maybe you live in Greenland and it's 5 degrees outside all the time so maybe your card is pretty cool).


Anyway, the ultra is a hot card but there are things you can do to keep it cool. I have my ultra clocked pretty high, (675/1710/2340) but it loads at at 58-59 degrees which is excellent for this card. But then again I have taken a lot of measures to keep it cool.


If you have a PCI slot underneath your card, then put a slot blower in there. It's cheap and easy and should help some. I'm using this one here but there are plenty that should do the trick. This blower lowered temps for me by 6-7 degrees.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835114024&Tpk=azenx


After that I would look into a good aftermarket cooler. I would probably stay away from that Duorb cooler you have listed. My gripe with that cooler is that is doesn't look like it's specifically designed for an Ultra/GTX card. The ultras have a very unique design and I would be concerned that the cooler would not mount perfectly on your card. That last thing you want is a cooler that doesn't make good contact with your card.

I would really only recommended two aftermarket air coolers for an Ultra. The first is a thermalright HR03 Plus with a 120mm fan. This set up has received very positive reviews and allows you the flexibility of choosing your own 120mm fan. Total price of this set-up is about 65-70 dollars.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835109136&Tpk=HR03+plus

The second cooler I would recommend is the Zalman VF1000 LED & RHS88 combination. This is the cooler that I personally use. It's very quiet and it gives excellent performance. Some people complain that the fan is too small, but I don't feel that's an issue. I like the fact that this cooler has a Memory heatsink plate that molds specifically to all the critical components of your card. Total price of this set-up is about $80 dollars so it is a little pricey. However if you've already invested $600+ on your GPU, then I personally feel it's worth it to spend a little more protect your investment (especially if it helps you get a good overclock.

http://www.sharkacomputers.com/zalmanvf1000.html


Anyway, that's my 2 cents as someone who actually owns the same card your're using. Good luck.
 
Johnny78 said:
The 8800 Ultra is not a hot card at all? What planet do you live on? (or maybe what country. Maybe you live in Greenland and it's 5 degrees outside all the time so maybe your card is pretty cool).


Anyway, the ultra is a hot card but there are things you can do to keep it cool. I have my ultra clocked pretty high, (675/1710/2340) but it loads at at 58-59 degrees which is excellent for this card. But then again I have taken a lot of measures to keep it cool.


If you have a PCI slot underneath your card, then put a slot blower in there. It's cheap and easy and should help some. I'm using this one here but there are plenty that should do the trick. This blower lowered temps for me by 6-7 degrees.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835114024&Tpk=azenx


After that I would look into a good aftermarket cooler. I would probably stay away from that Duorb cooler you have listed. My gripe with that cooler is that is doesn't look like it's specifically designed for an Ultra/GTX card. The ultras have a very unique design and I would be concerned that the cooler would not mount perfectly on your card. That last thing you want is a cooler that doesn't make good contact with your card.

I would really only recommended two aftermarket air coolers for an Ultra. The first is a thermalright HR03 Plus with a 120mm fan. This set up has received very positive reviews and allows you the flexibility of choosing your own 120mm fan. Total price of this set-up is about 65-70 dollars.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835109136&Tpk=HR03+plus

The second cooler I would recommend is the Zalman VF1000 LED & RHS88 combination. This is the cooler that I personally use. It's very quiet and it gives excellent performance. Some people complain that the fan is too small, but I don't feel that's an issue. I like the fact that this cooler has a Memory heatsink plate that molds specifically to all the critical components of your card. Total price of this set-up is about $80 dollars so it is a little pricey. However if you've already invested $600+ on your GPU, then I personally feel it's worth it to spend a little more protect your investment (especially if it helps you get a good overclock.

http://www.sharkacomputers.com/zalmanvf1000.html


Anyway, that's my 2 cents as someone who actually owns the same card your're using. Good luck.
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Thanks man , both of those coolers are in my area for sale so I'm gonna go pick on up today. The zalman looks like a sexy beast so I may get that (got a Zalman 9700 LED on my quad core).

Funny thing today since its only 54 degree's outside I opened a window and the card dropped to 52c idle ...ahhh winter.
 
Godmachine said:
Thanks man , both of those coolers are in my area for sale so I'm gonna go pick on up today. The zalman looks like a sexy beast so I may get that (got a Zalman 9700 LED on my quad core).

Funny thing today since its only 54 degree's outside I opened a window and the card dropped to 52c idle ...ahhh winter.
Click to expand...


Yeah, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some people don't like the look but I think the Zalman looks pretty awesome myself. Yeah, I have a Zalman 9700 on my CPU as well. My 9700 has a blue LED as well as the VF1000 so it does color coordinate if that's any importance to you.


I live in southern california where it's almost always hot and I've always been concerned with keeping my components cool. People sometimes overlook that ambient temps make a HUGE difference with GPU/CPU temps.
 
Great case and keeps everything nice and cool. I got the same case and have all fans on medium and the top 200mm on low.
 
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