mtotton

Hi,

I bought a GeForce 8800 GTX in order to get good response playing ProStreet and other graphics intensive games. I managed to squeeze the card into my PC and connected it up and it all works just fine - except.... It overheats! Whenever I play any graphic heavy games the SmartDoctor pops up and tells me my card is overheating and I should contact ASUS. As soon as I stop the game, the temperature goes back to around 65-70, but up over 80 when playing.
There is a fan on the card, I have a super duper copper tower cooler on the CPU (can't remember the name - thermaltake?) and two other chassis fans. The mobo temperature is fine, as is the CPU (Dual Core).
What should I try first to get control of the temperature?
There is an empty fan slot nearby - if I get another fan should it blow in or out of the case?

My setup is

ASUS P5B mobo in an ATX midi tower
Intel Duo Core E6600
4GB DDR2 800MHz memory
GeForce 8800GTX graphics card
3 X 250 GB s-ATA drives
1 X 200GB IDE Drive
S-ATA DVD read/Write
WLAN card
Echo Mia Midi sound card

Done_Fishin

When you say squeeze do you mean that there was virtually no room for it ??

mtotton

Not quite that bad, but the P5B only has 3 PCI slots and the first is so close to the PCIe slot that I can't use it anymore. I also moved the full size audio card to the furthest slot so that there is only a small WLAN card in the slot next to the graphics card. It is tight in there, but air should be able to circulate.

dai

what power supply are you running
brand
wattage

mtotton

It's a Corsair HX 520W modular unit

dai

that could be adding to your heat problem you would excpect to see a corsair 650w in there

mtotton

Hmmm.. I would have expected different problems with lack of power, and I did calculate that that was plenty when I bought it (though I don't remember the details).

Rather than speculating on buying a whole new psu just yet, I have ordered 3 new fans (lots cheaper) to replace 2 existing ones and add a third. I noticed one fan was turning very slowly, so maybe age has caught up with them.

If that doesn't help I will have to consider either a new mobo with more room for the PCIe slot (and thus air circulation) or check my power consumption and look at the psu.
Thanks for your input guys!

FreoHeaveho

Just for the record mtotton, i had the exact same psu with a 7900GS and noticed 12V rail droop, indicating a underpowered psu. I upgraded to the 750W version when i got my 8800GT. It is not unusual for a ppu to overheat when underpowered as Dai rightly points out. I would suggest you use speedfan, or pc wizard to look at what your 12V rail voltages are too.

Done_Fishin

I know it doesn't sound right but in the switch mode power supply design ... when the voltage drops the current has to go higher .. look at your power supply .. it probably says something like 230V ac 5A but 115V ac / 10A .. your card won't be exactly the same but the principle is there .. as you draw more current on your power supply (which may already be struggling) the voltage will try to drop .. which results in a further deterioration of the voltage .. and causes overheating since you are stressing all circuits ..

mtotton

Well, being a humble type I downloaded Speedfan and, if I understand it all correctly, my 12v is rock solid on 11.83V - even after running ProStreet and Orthos. I then ran ProStreet with the side panel off my PC, and lo and behld the temperature stayed below 65C on the GF880 and at around 45C on the cores. So I think the cooling looks like the culprit. However, after all your comments I shall runs some proper stress tests to see if the PSU is holding up and consider an upgrade in the near future!