New X1900XT gets very hot, very fast

R

Rocco123

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
481
I just got my X1900XT (thank you newegg). Plugged everything in, installed the drivers.

Then I attempted to play HL2 Lost Coast at max settings. The card's fan immediately went into hyper-active mode, and eventually my whole comp froze.

Rebooted, looked at the cat control panel, and it was reading 81C IDLE. Is that normal? I felt the cards HSF, and it was extremely hot. Checked all contacts on the HSF, and it looked normal.

Does anyone know the temp threshholds for this card? I'm worried that this thing is going to start on fire.

Also, does anyone know if this thing throttles it's core/memory speeds when it's at idle?

The cat utility displays that it's "requesting" 621core/725 mem, but it's only getting 500 core/594mem.

Any help is appreciated.
 
Rocco123 said:
I just got my X1900XT (thank you newegg). Plugged everything in, installed the drivers.

Then I attempted to play HL2 Lost Coast at max settings. The card's fan immediately went into hyper-active mode, and eventually my whole comp froze.

Rebooted, looked at the cat control panel, and it was reading 81C IDLE. Is that normal? I felt the cards HSF, and it was extremely hot. Checked all contacts on the HSF, and it looked normal.

Does anyone know the temp threshholds for this card? I'm worried that this thing is going to start on fire.

Also, does anyone know if this thing throttles it's core/memory speeds when it's at idle?

The cat utility displays that it's "requesting" 621core/725 mem, but it's only getting 500 core/594mem.

Any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...


is the fan being obstructed by anything? also dont worry about clocks thats 2D clock speed ur getting . it switches to 3d when u launch a game
 
The fan doesn't seem to be obstructed.

Do these temps seem unusual? It's at 74C now, after about 10 minutes of Windows stuff/browsing, but when playing it skyrockets.
 
Update (and bump)

The system hung again on just windows (no games running).

I took the card out, inspected it, sat for about 5 minutes, and it idles at around 48 C. I'd still like to know what the normal operating temps are (can't find via google).

I'm going to try HL2 LC again.
 
Rocco123 said:
Update (and bump)

The system hung again on just windows (no games running).

I took the card out, inspected it, sat for about 5 minutes, and it idles at around 48 C. I'd still like to know what the normal operating temps are (can't find via google).

I'm going to try HL2 LC again.
Click to expand...

48c is a good Idle temp =p load temps should get over 75deg i suppose, i used the overclocker to set the fan up and keep it below 70deg on my x1800xt
 
That doesn't seem right.
DL ATI TOOL and check to see that the fan is set @ something over 1%.
 
yes the card gets really hot ,

my idle is at 51 and goes over 90 while playing ,

it takes a few minutes for the card to come back to its idle temp after you quit playing ,

the cooling definitely sucks on it , im gonna watercool it since my watercooling is already setup for the cpu

if ur not getting temps over 90 then you should be fine ,

oh ,and yes you can manually setup the speed of the fan , with ati tool beta 12, or you can just select the option "try to keep gpu temperature under 70 "
 
As long as a card is working fine, why bother the high load temperature? It's not that you are forced by someone to stick your fingers to it. Just don't touch it. :)
 
See if you can use ATItool or Overclocker to set the fan to constantly run at 100%. That may help.
 
I'm not touching the video card just to have fun, but when I'm noticing obvious lockups/slowdown, I'm going to check just to make sure.

I just got back from dinner after about 2 hours, and the vid card was sitting at about 68 idle. However the fan was only at 9%. Then I performed the suggestion above and changed the fan speed to 100% all the time. The temps shot down to 39C within about 2 minutes.

The ATITool was kind of what I was looking for (thanks everyone), I just wasn't sure at first what tool to use.
 
I'd just like to post another follow up, after playing HL2 LC for about 15 minutes. The card was a rock solid 55C with the fan at 80% permanently. I think this card has an inherant flaw of fan speed management. Without the ATI tool, this card would definitely overheat when playing a game for a long period of time.

thanks again for the help.
 
I would expect this to be fixed in the next driver release. Remember the driver team typically doesn't start to work on a card until it is released. I pretict many great improvements over the next few months leading up to the G71.
 
About the fan speed, when its at 100%, can you tell what kindof noise is it making. Is it noticeable?
 
If others don't have this problem with the same driver maybe that's not it.

Just to be 100% sure, you definitely removed the 2nd slot cover so it can exhaust the heat out the back (don't shoot me, just checking!!). :p
 
From what I've noticed, the fan does not blow out exaust from the back, it uses it as in intake instead. I could be wrong on this, but I've heard others report the same thing.

I have to mention also that the high temps exist even with the case open in a 68F ambient room. I think this series of card just naturally gets this hot without modification to the fan speed (i.e. the fan doesn't kick in when it's supposed to with the standard ATI management)
 
Could be, but blowing out would be better, otherwise it's more likely to pull in dust and will increase the internal temp ....
 
At first I thought the same thing (seems to make more sense). I double checked and it is not blowing any air out the back, it's definitely pulling air in.
 
Maybe some of them have the fan running backwards and they are the problem ones. :confused:

Might be worth looking at some pictures and check the fan power wires if they are visible (Of course the fan wiring could be wrong too).

Mine is due tomorrow so I can't check it yet!
 
Sweet. Just offhand, which brand did you get? I understand that most if not all ATI cards are producted by Sapphire, but I'm curious if you run into the same situation as I did.

I'll post pictures when I get home.
 
So how loud is it Rocco? I read a report that it is very loud (60 db) but that was with an open environment. Curious to know how loud it is with a closed case. Thanks.
 
I ended up getting the Connect3D one as DABS (UK site) had it at a good price and they were cheaper and pack their stuff to Ireland better than "certain other people". :)
 
Regarding the noise, I have a sound meter so if anyone wants me to take measurements when I get it, let me know.

If I remember I'll take some measurements of the X1800XL (OC 621/621) with VF700 cooler before I remove it too.
 
I'm not sure the exact noise level, as I don't have a meter for that. I can say that it's louder than any GPU cooler I've heard. Closing up the case doesn't help all that much, as it's more of a "whine" than anything.

I'm defintely going to get a new cooler in the near future.
 
Maybe you need one of these?

http://www.thinkgeek.com/pcmods/cooling/7a7a/?cpg=25H

lol - but seriously, these are going to be some hot cards (no pun) just given the operating frequencies... I think there's a reason the water cooling blocks were being developed before the card's release date... I would link to images of those... but XS forums are hosed ATM. lol... this is the 1st ATI offering which has me considering giving up my SLI setup, btw.. seems like a really nice card. :D Get some air on that card.. or water. ;) ...use a vantec fancard to drench it in air if need be..(or something similar)... those are pretty quiet and work well.. plus they look nice too. :)
 
Didnt the [H] review state that air comes in the front and out the back???? It may be that this fan is going the wrong direction and adding to overheating......It doesnt seem quitr right to pull air in and circulate hot air into the case?????

Yup, right there on page two.....hot air out the back.
 
Interesting. How would I go about reversing air flow? Is the fan wired improperly?
 
Assuming they actually installed the fan blades in the right direcftion just reverse the wiring on the fan. I'm guessing it's a 2 lead fan that's plugged into the board or something. Find the connector and flip it if possible and see if that helps.

Reversing the leads will make the fan spin backwards and more than likely move hardly any air in the process.
 
I'll check the leads when I get home. My guess is that the fan blade is attached properly, as the ATI label is facing the right direction. I guess this might be a bad assumption, but to my understanding, the fans on these things will only attach one way.

Sounds like I might have to find a watercooling solution. Do any X1800 (or 1900) owners have a recommended water solution that won't break my pocketbook? The wife is already mad at me for spending 550 on a card, and I can't spend much more on cooling :)
 
maybe just a new air cooler

the thermalright heatpipe one is top notch i've heard


mal
 
Rocco123 said:
I'll check the leads when I get home. My guess is that the fan blade is attached properly, as the ATI label is facing the right direction. I guess this might be a bad assumption, but to my understanding, the fans on these things will only attach one way.

Sounds like I might have to find a watercooling solution. Do any X1800 (or 1900) owners have a recommended water solution that won't break my pocketbook? The wife is already mad at me for spending 550 on a card, and I can't spend much more on cooling :)
Click to expand...


Even if you want a loop just for your vid card and not your CPU, your looking at around $150. $40 block, $40 radatior, $50 pump, $20 for hoses, fittings, liquid, ect.

Perhaps just a good air cooling solution would do you better. AFIAK the Zalman will fit that card fine. A silencer might. I know the GPU orientation is the same as a 7800, not sure about memory though. If not, and there is no x1800 version yet, expect a revision soon.
 
Is there an easy kit out there that is recommended? I'd rather not buy everything separately and not guess at all the parts. This would be my first watercooling project.
 
there's that all in one gpu watercooling unit thing .. i think it's by thermaltake

i think i heard somewhere that the thermalright heatpipe aircooler is better than it though.
 
Rocco123 said:
Is there an easy kit out there that is recommended? I'd rather not buy everything separately and not guess at all the parts. This would be my first watercooling project.
Click to expand...


No. Most kits are CPU oriented. Some come with a GPU block and some dont, but your not going to find one without a CPU block.

However, as far as picking the right stuff, thats why we have the Water Cooling subforum in the Overclocking and Cooling section. Pop your head in, there are pleanty of nice guys to give you a hand in picking the right parts for your system/budget.
 
Ask them about this one: Thermalright V1 Ultra

pic13.jpg
 
Anarchist4000 said:
Assuming they actually installed the fan blades in the right direcftion just reverse the wiring on the fan. I'm guessing it's a 2 lead fan that's plugged into the board or something. Find the connector and flip it if possible and see if that helps.

Reversing the leads will make the fan spin backwards and more than likely move hardly any air in the process.
Click to expand...

Well, that sounds like a great way to kill a poor defenseless fan. Reversing the wires will do NOTHING except possibly destroy the fan. Why? Because it's a brushless DC fan, not a brushed fan. A brushed fan would spin backward, but not a brushless one. A brushless fan has a small electronic chip that creates a series of electrical pulses that go to a number of coils arranged in a circle around the hub. Those coils create a magnetic field that moves in a circular pattern around the hub. Magnets in the fan blade housing are attracted/repelled causing the fan to spin. The advantage is that except for the shaft, there are no touching parts to create friction, and no electrical arcing to create EM/RFI interference. Plugging it in backwards may destroy the electronics that control the fan.
 
^^^^^ good call. yeah, do not reverse the wires!

EDIT: ok, time for a movie quote segment:

"Dr. Egon Spengler: Don't cross the streams.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Why?
Dr. Egon Spengler: It would be bad.
Dr. Peter Venkman: I'm fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, "bad?"
Dr. Egon Spengler: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Dr Ray Stantz: Total protonic reversal.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Right. That's bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon."
-- Ghost Busters

ok - sorry WAY OT - but I could not resist.
 
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