Keeping a New 5970 cool - advice?

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EGM92

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 11, 2005
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Hey guys,

I just got an Asus 5970 from an RMA. I've had a 5970 before but it didn't run this hot, this one is lding at 49-52c @ 25% fan while my previous was idling at 43-44c. Load temps on the new one are hitting high 80's while playing games like Just Cause 2 and Dawn of war 2 and low 90's when playing Metro 2033. Right now the card gets a lot of airflow from my Cosmos S case, I have Arctic Cooling MX-3 and Noctua HT-N1 available, which is better to use? and what method would be best to apply the paste?

Thanks for any help guys!
 
Keep it away from a GTX480 and you'll be fine.


in all seriousness, check into remounting the heatsink and replace the paste and check the airflow with some smoke to see how well the airflow really is.

For just a little test like that, the smoke will not damage anything and can really indicate the true directions of the airflow in a system (if you have a window to look through)

When I did the smoke test on mine, I found my ABS Black Pearl wasn't flowing air nearly as well as it should so I made some changes and dropped case temps by 9°C and vidcard temps by 11°C under load.
 
Airflow is fine, wire management is in place and doesn't get in the way of the 120mm fan that I mounted in the front. I'm going to remount the HSF but I want to apply a different thermal paste than the stock one.

I have 3 choices to work with Arctic Silver 5, Arctic Cooling MX-3 and Noctua HT-N1.

Edit:
While writing this post took apart the card, the stock thermal paste is all over the core and even on the green pcb and touching some of the ... transistors? How would I go about cleaning off that stuff without causing damage, I know how to clean off the core but not the rest.
 
I would say that its getting hotter period. Spring is coming and its getting hotter.

Pics of your case would be smart. The single biggest improvement would come from creating a 120mm or 140m hole in your case right before the pci slots to get fresh air right into the case
 
I would say re-seat heatsink with some new thermal paste, AS5 will due well. And look into modding a little and add a fan to the side and DEFINITELY one on the top of the case as a blowhole...makes all the difference!
 
I have fans on top of my case and a 200mm side fan... I don't think either of you read my initial post.
 
Well I have found that if you leave the card with auto fan management the fans dont increase at a regular pace. It will gladly let the card get into early 60s before upping the anti. And this is not just the MSI card, it was the same for my Sapphire 5970 also.

I find that by setting the fan to 40-45% it keeps my card idle at late 30's and max eary 60's after hours of gaming, and is not very audible either.

Look into it mate.
 
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