Thanks for your insight!The stock cooler is fair, though not really great by any means. Being only a single fan and a blower style, it cannot compete with dual fan non blower cooling systems. However, in my experience it does keep both GPUs within a few (2 to 4C) degrees of each other when the load is averaged between them, such as under normal SLI conditions while gaming or benchmarking. Both GPU speeds should be exactly the same or vary slightly (+- 15MHz or so) during SLI usage.
Using a custom fan curve in MSI Afterburner, I always set it so 80C resulted in 100% fan and (almost) linearly configured the fan speed back from there. So 80C was 100%, 70C was 85%, 60C was 70% and 50C was 50%. Something like that anyway. Under that custom fan profile, gaming would result in 70C - 72C on both cores once heat saturated, which I considered acceptable both in terms of temperatures and noise.
My 690 has been re-installed in the original system I bought it for (Asus Rampage IV Formula w/ i7 3820) since I upgraded my main rig and moved the video cards over to it. I can even play FC5 and New Dawn 1920x1200 max detail at around 45fps under SLI and it's a decent, if not stellar, experience. Certainly better than expected given only 2GB memory per GPU.
If you are seeing much higher temps on one GPU #2 compared to #1, then it could be that the heatsink isn't fully touching the complete surface of the GPU #2 die, or excess voltage is reaching GPU #2. You might try checking the GPU voltages (try HWiNFO64 or MSI Afterburner if your software doesn't show GPU voltages).
Yes, I've considered that. The thing is, the rail that keeps failing doesn't seem to be connected directly to the motherboard power. Power comes into the card at three places. One is the PCI-E connector, and the other two are the 8 pin power connectors. The VRM I mentioned that produces "12 volts" doesn't connect to the PCI-E power at all, as far as I can tell, and instead is connected to one of the 8 pins*.I wonder if you've considered that maybe the motherboard is the real villain here?![]()
It actually won't post without the 8 pins connected. The VCore VRMs have a total of five phases each, three of which are connected to one of the 8 pins, and two of which are connected to the other. Without both 8 pins hooked up, the Vcore VRM doesn't power up at all.I mean it most likely is the PSU, if at all.
If it were me, I'd find a new relatively one, and use it purely to power the GPU via the PCI connectors, and leave the existing one powering the mobo + PCI slot. It'll also post without the extra power, which could be a useful for testing.![]()
It actually won't post without the 8 pins connected. The VCore VRMs have a total of five phases each, three of which are connected to one of the 8 pins, and two of which are connected to the other. Without both 8 pins hooked up, the Vcore VRM doesn't power up at all.
Also, the .95 rail seems to be hooked up to both of the 8 pin connectors, such that it wants both to be working before it starts.
I've pretty much resigned myself to pulling my water cooled 1080 Ti out of my gaming machine, and testing with that, since it has a really nice Corsair 1000 watt power supply, with voltage monitoring. It's just that draining the coolant loop is a pain...
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Is that the cap you're talking about? I can desolder it later and check the capacitance, but it's probably best to get known good ones, if you can. I guess I could send you one if you can't, though. Are you in the US?
Can you clarify, you have two cards? One that used to work, but you removed this cap, and now it doesn't ("Board A"), and another where it was broken off, and never worked("Board B")?
I'd expect that the card would mostly work without it, as it seems to be there for the purpose of smoothing out noise in the 12V supply power, but there's a lot about this card that seems less robust than it maybe should be, to me. If you replaced it with a capacitor of some unknown value, though, one never knows what might happen.
PS: How did you manage to break the cap in the process of removing it? Are you just using a soldering iron, and not hot air?
I think a fresh thread would be fitting as ultimately these threads are resourceful for anyone else in a similar situation. Separate threads means more accurate search results.Ok, so philosophical forum usage question:
I mentioned before that I bought a pile of other cards to work on, which are not GTX 690s. Would it be considered bad form to start a fresh thread about those? I'm thinking I may make some videos for Youtube, which I'd like to post here for the sake of sharing, but I don't want to be accused of shilling my Youtube channel or anything like that. It just seems like if a picture is worth 1000 words, a video is probably worth at least ten thousand.
Yeah, I think a new thread would be best, but please stick a link to it in this thread so we don't miss itOk, so philosophical forum usage question:
I mentioned before that I bought a pile of other cards to work on, which are not GTX 690s. Would it be considered bad form to start a fresh thread about those? I'm thinking I may make some videos for Youtube, which I'd like to post here for the sake of sharing, but I don't want to be accused of shilling my Youtube channel or anything like that. It just seems like if a picture is worth 1000 words, a video is probably worth at least ten thousand.
Sure. I can certainly take a look at it, anyway. Figure out how much it'll cost to ship, and PM me.Would you be interested in a dead obscure graphics card? I have a 512 MB Matrox M9120 that doesn't POST, but compared to these things it should be a cinch. You'll need a DMS-59 connector to get video output, but I'd put it in the mail for the cost of shipping to see it examined here.
Sure. I can certainly take a look at it, anyway. Figure out how much it'll cost to ship, and PM me.
Where in Texas are you?If you're in Texas like me it'll probably run about $8 for Priority Mail. I can find a cheaper solution but it won't be a huge cost change. Let me know.
So like, you get a picture, and you can boot into Windows with the "VGA Display Adapter" driver, but when you try to install the real Nvidia/AMD driver, it doesn't recognize the card as compatible? Are you getting Error 43 in the device manager?This is amazing.
And with a long face i look onto myself why did i wasted so many cards just because of small issues.
I have a question!
If a card works all the way good but does not install any drivers. What could be the problem ?
So like, you get a picture, and you can boot into Windows with the "VGA Display Adapter" driver, but when you try to install the real Nvidia/AMD driver, it doesn't recognize the card as compatible? Are you getting Error 43 in the device manager?
That could be indicative of a lot different things - a damaged or corrupted BIOS (hardware or software), some sort of GPU die or memory hardware failure, even problems unrelated to the card itself, such as the motherboard or just a corrupted Windows install. From memory, both AMD and Nvidia cards are capable of doing that, but they do it for different reasons, and each card design may be prone to different modes of failure.
That sort of problem is the hardest to troubleshoot without insider information from the card's manufacturer, but a corrupted BIOS is what I would suspect first (this could maybe be repaired without the need for soldering). After that, some sort of hardware failure within the GPU or memory would be next, either in the silicone itself, or the BGA solder balls holding it to the board. At that point, if all you want is a working card, just buying a working one is probably the best option, unless it's a super expensive 2080 Ti, or something. If that's the case, it should still be under warranty.
Where in Texas are you?
I'm in DFW.
I have a working 690 that I'd sell trade you for.
Did you not read the thread? I got one working.I have a working 690 that I'd sell trade you for.