Overheating VideoCard

[zoobernut]

So my old computer died and I did not know which part it just would not do anything and I took the opportunity to pick up new mobo, ram, processor and video card. I am planning on building a dream computer soon so I went as budget as possible on this one.

I got:
MEM 1Gx2|CRUCIAL CT2KIT12864AA667 R
VGA BFG BFGE86256GTSOCFE 8600GTS RT
MB ASROCK 4COREDUAL-SATA2 PT880 775
CPU INTEL|PDC E2160 1.8G 775 1M R

now my problem is when I put it into my computer everything seemed fine and it was all running then I tried to startup Supreme Commander and after about 2 minutes the computer froze. So I ran it again in windowed mode and noticed the temp of the video card shot up to 105 C then froze. So I restarted the computer and ran it idle and noticed that even without anything going on the video card ran at ~80 C which seems way too hot. The fan on the video card is working I checked that.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Cephius]

Yes, that's extremely hot and 105C is well above the danger range for that card. I would try downloading Rivatuner and setting up manual fan speeds. Some of those nvidia cards do not ramp up fan speeds like they're supposed to. Also check your case and make sure your fans are all working so that the hot air is getting pushed out of your case.

Use this guide for getting started with Rivatuner, it should walk you through setting up a fan profile. Hope this helps.

[zoobernut]

Thanks for the quick reply. I will try to make sure the fans are working at proper speed. I also noticed something strange too, the card is supposed to be x16 PCI-E and the motherboard is supposed to be PCI-E x16 as well but when I open the nvidia control panel it says:

Bus: PCI-E x4

[Cephius]

Your motherboard only supports 4x mode. It's listed that way on their website, anyway: http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?M ... DUAL-SATA2

[zoobernut]

well I just got off the phone with BFG Tech and the tech guy said he was 100% positive it was a defective heatsink so he is going to RMA the card for me and get me a new one.

As for the mobo I am going to call newegg and complain that is kinda false advertising... see if maybe they will exchange it for a different board.

once I get the new vid card from BFG I will look into that program to keep the fans running at proper speed.

[zoobernut]

I think I want to find a different board but I cannot seem to find any boards that are compatible with the Pentium Dual Core processors.

Any suggestions?

[Cephius]

The evga 680i or the Asus p35 should suit you just fine. They're a bit more expensive but also widely popular and shoudn't give you any trouble.

[zoobernut]

that brings up another question/issue i have though. I have 2 HDD's and 2 optical drives that only have IDE connections in the back. Is there an adapter to turn IDE to some other connection like SATA? Also I have 2gb of ddr2 667 ram will it hurt the mobo to put slower ram in a faster mobo like one that takes ddr2 800?

[Cephius]

There are IDE to SATA converters.. something like this... but I wouldn't recommend them. If you have some extra cash I'd just buy SATA hard drives, IDE drives are slowwww.

Also running slower ram won't hurt your mobo at all, it'll run just fine at the lower speed.

[zoobernut]

yeah i am trying to go as cheap as possible with this it is just a temp repair of the computer so i have a working machine until i can save up enough for my dream computer which will have a budget of about $3k-$3,500 but for now my budget for this fix is limited to $300 max.

This might be a dumb question but can you hook 4 devices up to a single IDE input? do they make cables with that many branches off it? I know this would be slow but I dont have enough money to buy new HDD and stuff right now.

[zoobernut]

update i found a motherboard that fits my needs and is not too expensive... i think this one will work much better for me than that ASrock.

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_sp ... m&class=mb

[mootsfox]

$35 shipped for some great RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231098
Although your current DDR2-800 will be just fine.

$96 shipped for a great motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128059


About this "Dream Computer", I would suggest against it. Rarely is it a good idea to drop $3-4k into a computer unless you can afford to upgrade it every six months. You will get a lot more performance, and I think you would be a lot happier with a $1.5-2k computer that you can afford to upgrade for 2-3 years.

[zoobernut]

yeah I will probably wait just a bit till the core 2 extreme processors drop in price then buy a new computer i was thinking for a mid priced pc not super bleeding edge tech it would be about 2.5k and for that i can get a decent processor and maybe even an SLI config with the video cards.

The main issue for me right now is i am old school when it comes to building computers and i am completely lost when it comes to
SATA, raid, SLI, and water cooling systems. anyone have any good links on how to build pcs that discuss these aspects.

I have a decent job now so after i save up the money for a down payment on my house i will be able to afford a new comp pretty easy.

[mootsfox]

yeah I will probably wait just a bit till the core 2 extreme processors drop in price then buy a new computer i was thinking for a mid priced pc not super bleeding edge tech it would be about 2.5k and for that i can get a decent processor and maybe even an SLI config with the video cards.

The main issue for me right now is i am old school when it comes to building computers and i am completely lost when it comes to
SATA, raid, SLI, and water cooling systems. anyone have any good links on how to build pcs that discuss these aspects.

I have a decent job now so after i save up the money for a down payment on my house i will be able to afford a new comp pretty easy.

I don't know of any guides for what you asked, but I could answer any questions you have about them.

I'll tell you now that water cooling is only worth it for looks. Performance wise, your price/performance ratio is higher on air... or even phase change.

[Avanarius]

water cooling is just a luxury, much like buying a harley is for motorcycles, the performance might be better, but the price goes through the roof.

the core 2 ex's will never drop considerably from any retailers

and meh, they're not even that great, woo for multipliers

[zoobernut]

Thats interesting I was reading reviews and tips on Tomshardware and they were saying for some of the newer core 2 extreme processors water cooling is very helpful to have to keep the processor temp down and some of the new motherboards require (or at least have hookups) for watercooling for the northbridge, I noticed this was mostly on the nForce 790i boards.

Or also if you want to run two 8800 GTX cards in SLI configuration they recommended you get watercooled cards.

Do you think it is better to get two video cards and run them in SLI or to get one video card and one physics card like the AGEIA?

[Cephius]

Extreme processors are mostly for people who have extra cash and don't want to be bothered with overclocking. The only difference between extremes and normal processors is that they unlock the mulitplier and you basically get a "guaranteed" overclock whereas if you overclock a normal processor you won't get support for it anymore if it breaks. I got a q6600, I overclocked it to 3.2Ghz, which in effect is giving me the same performance as an extreme version for $800 less.

As for watercooling, I agree it costs too much to be worthwhile. But I disagree on its usefulness. You cannot achieve overclocks on air that you can on water cooling. People can usually get 3.6Ghz max on quads but get up to and over 4 Ghz on water, so it does make a pretty substantial difference. Even with watercooling you're saving money over extreme editions so it still pays off in the end.

I really doubt you need to watercool the northbridge on the 790i. I have the 780i and when I got it was really hot (around 65C) and it turns out it was put on really poorly. I reseated it and add a little bit of thermal compound, put it back on and now its around 40C. If the 790i is the same way it's easy enough to fix.

I like SLI and I don't really see the point in physics cards. Most games don't even make use of them. SLI can be a pain especially with the nature of nvidia drivers, but you can work through them and the results are really nice. Those cards do run hot, but they're designed to withstand it and the biggest issue is making sure you have a decent amount of airflow running through your case. I have the Antec 900, a great case for airflow, and my cards idle around 45C which is very nice for the 8800 line. I don't think you need to watercool them unless you plan to overclock a good deal. I don't know where you got the idea that you NEED to watercool them in SLI, hardly anyone I know does and they run just fine.

[zoobernut]

well I am trying to make the transition from casual builder that knows just enough to build a machine once every 8 years (which is how long my last computer lasted before it died) to someone who knows and understands overclocking and how do do it without breaking parts. Its tough to make that transition because its scary to play around with parts that are as expensive as they are.

I think when I do build a new machine I will stick with two 8800's in SLI. How hard is it to configure SLI?

As for processors I might go with a quad core and overclock it. Though like I said I am not familiar with overclocking territory.

[mootsfox]

Extreme processors are mostly for people who have extra cash and don't want to be bothered with overclocking. The only difference between extremes and normal processors is that they unlock the mulitplier and you basically get a "guaranteed" overclock whereas if you overclock a normal processor you won't get support for it anymore if it breaks. I got a q6600, I overclocked it to 3.2Ghz, which in effect is giving me the same performance as an extreme version for $800 less.

As for watercooling, I agree it costs too much to be worthwhile. But I disagree on its usefulness. You cannot achieve overclocks on air that you can on water cooling. People can usually get 3.6Ghz max on quads but get up to and over 4 Ghz on water, so it does make a pretty substantial difference. Even with watercooling you're saving money over extreme editions so it still pays off in the end.

I really doubt you need to watercool the northbridge on the 790i. I have the 780i and when I got it was really hot (around 65C) and it turns out it was put on really poorly. I reseated it and add a little bit of thermal compound, put it back on and now its around 40C. If the 790i is the same way it's easy enough to fix.

That's the thing, to me $300-500 in water cooling parts + time for leak testing, bleeding, etc, doesn't seem worth it for an extra 400MHz.

Quads have that lovely thermal problem of two dies on one piece of silicon and it gets hot. The G0 stepping on the quads runs cooler than the B3, but water cooling does allow for more headroom.

I hit 3640MHz benchmark stable, it could probably go higher, but I didn't mess around with it much. I just got a great deal on an ASUS Maximus Extreme (X38) so I'm gonna try that.

[zoobernut]

Have you guys ever heard of this company? They build custom PC's and send them to you setup completely overclocked and ready to go and they come with a three year unconditional warranty.

https://www.uberclok.com/store/product. ... 249&page=1

I still want to learn more about how to overclock my computer and maintain stable performance and how to maximize how much I can squeeze out of a computer for less money.