Graphics woes.

[eno]

MSFS ...... 64* ..... with heavy weather ..... now idling at 61*.


Stranger and stranger  ::)

[Nick N]

[quote]MSFS ...... 64* ..... with heavy weather ..... now idling at 61*.


Stranger and stranger

[eno]

I decided to really push the system today ..... after a couple of days with no problems. Fired up the sim with really heavy cloud coverage and a high polygon aircraft and left it paused in an area of dense clouds. After about 35 mins the artifacts started to appear ... and the GPU temp had hit 95*.

Methinks it's time to add more cooling on the card ..... or change it.

[Nick N]

I decided to really push the system today ..... after a couple of days with no problems. Fired up the sim with really heavy cloud coverage and a high polygon aircraft and left it paused in an area of dense clouds. After about 35 mins the artifacts started to appear ... and the GPU temp had hit 95*.

Methinks it's time to add more cooling on the card ..... or change it.

Ok so @ 95c you are in the zone for overheat, no question about it.

But before you go buying any coolers or change anything consider this

1. ATi would not have put a cooler on the card that could not do the job, unless you are overclocking.

2. A low current PSU, OR, a PSU that is getting hot and start breaking down WILL in fact cause the system to heat up to extremes

3. Assuming you have indeed verified the cooler fins on that card are free of dust or plugged up in any way, AND, the fan is not stopping (defective) after a period of time, I would say you have one of 3 possibilities:

a. The card is defective, OR, the HSF was not mounted properly from the factory

b. The PSU is breaking down and getting hot, therefore heating up the card which is being starved for power

c. The PSU could be defective or was simply not up to the task to begin with and has deteriorated over time with the card drawing high current

I am assuming you ran this setup for some time and had no problems, and now this is all of a sudden showing up. If that is the case, I must suspect the PSU or the fan on the HS before the electronics on the card being defective.


Post the PSU model and the voltage/amp specs. If you can find a web site that shows the exact model that would be better. I suspect that PSU may be the reason but if not, then the card must be defective in some way, be it a poorly/improperly mounted cooler or the electronics themselves. Assuming you ran for some time with no issues I cant see the cooler being mounted wrong the problem but the fan slowing down or stopping, would do it.


The idle temp on the card seemed a bit suspicious to me. ATi does run hot but they usually idle fairly cool, low 50's or less.

[eno]

http://www.hipergroup.com/English/produ ... 4b580.html

Thats the specs for the PSU ....... I'd given everything a good clean before our house move so the case etc was last cleaned just over a month ago...... the fan is working fine on the GPU

[Nick N]

http://www.hipergroup.com/English/products/hpu-4b580.html

Thats the specs for the PSU ....... I'd given everything a good clean before our house move so the case etc was last cleaned just over a month ago...... the fan is working fine on the GPU

Radeon cards usually have a plastic or metal cover over the heat sink fins which channel air across them. You need to get a good look down the throat of that duct to make sure the heat sink fins under that cover are not plugged up. Just because the fan blade is clean does not mean the fins of the heat sink are not full of dust.

Hyper type R, huh

The burn out special

OK, your card has a MAX requirement of 24A on a +12V rail .. guess what, the HyperR crap you have, and I do not mean to be nasty, is only 18A on 12v 1 and 20A on 12v 2. It will run the card but the hyperRip is also known for burning up. That PSU is underpowered for most modern systems and the card you are running is definitely pushing its limits to the max. Top it all off with modular connectors which heat up and apply resistance over time, and the PSU is a key suspect.

I would say assuming the card has not been damaged by the PSU running it hot, and, the HS fins are indeed clean, you need a PSU, if anything just to get the power you need for the better video cards.

I can not say which is the problem for sure but my guess is that POS PSU is the culprit. It either ran the card hot and damaged it or the PSU itself is breaking down and starving the card.

[eno]

Cheers Nick ........ I was hoping not to have to spend too much ..... and a PSU is cheaper than a card.

[Nick N]

Cheers Nick ........ I was hoping not to have to spend too much ..... and a PSU is cheaper than a card.

I did not say it was definitely the problem but from the internet and the specs and the symptoms, its up there on my list above the card at this point


You may find the card is also defective or damaged but the bottom line is that PSU is not what I would consider good for a high power ATi card

[eno]

The plot thickens ......... I decided to have another good clean up ...... took the hoover to the whole case heatsinks the lot ...... the card is now idling at 48* ...... I'll buy some compressed air tomorrow and give everything a good blast.

[Nick N]

The plot thickens ......... I decided to have another good clean up ...... took the hoover to the whole case heatsinks the lot ...... the card is now idling at 48* ...... I'll buy some compressed air tomorrow and give everything a good blast.

That sounds more like it. 48 idle is just about right depending on the room ambient temp


I though perhaps there may be some microdust packed into that heatsink. Those smaller covered sinks can be hard to see and clean out