davl

Hello
I've purchased a (used) Sapphire X1950Pro. Everything works fine except whenever I play something graphics-intensive the temperature shoots up high... really high. I mean 90-100c. Eventually the computer dies and I have to reboot it. The idle temperature is also high; ATI tool measures 60-65c.

The ambient temp. is pretty ok: around 30-35c. However, I've noticed that the fan on the heatsink is placed upside down. Is it possible that it's been reseated, and if so, should I try to remove the heatsink completely and see if that's the issue?

Another problem is that I have an exhaust fan on the back, but I don't have an intake fan on the front, albeit I plan to get one, but would bad airflow really cause such high temperatures? Also, as stated earlier, the ambient temperature in the case isn't too shabby.

Edit: Could be worth mentioning I am using stock settings and that setting the fan speed to 100% does not help.

saturn_5

First of all....If I were you, I would remove the heat sink and processor and I would carefully remove all of the old Heat grease off of both the processor and heat sink. Most people dont know that this special greas is VERY IMPORTANT. Reaply a generous amount of this and reassemble. This may solve your problem....it did for me! Also google SpeedFan and download this free utiltiy. You can manually control your fan speeds and see your temp. MOSTLY is you fan big and powerful enough and have you cleaned you heat sink with air.

Deleted090308

You should only apply a small amount of thermal paste - the size of a rice grain.
Too much is just as bad as too little or none at all.

Monitoring programs:
Speedfan
SensorsView
PC Wizard

Post a screenshot of one of those programs.

How to post a screenshot.

davl

Ah, okay. Thanks, I'll have to try that, but I have no thermal paste right now. Any will do?

Deleted090308

Arctic silver is best: http://www.arcticsilver.com/

davl

Hello, here are my temperatures in PC Wizard, SpeedFan and ATI Tool. Note that I can't see/control my video card's fan in SpeedFan, I have to use ATI Tool... Anyhow, as you can see they all display quite different readings, especially the core ones. Secondly, there is only one fan reading, this is because the exhaust fan is a 2-pin fan running on full speed, and the CPU fan actually uses the Power fan socket.
These temps are when idle. Whenever a 3D application starts, the GPU temperature rises almost immediately.

temps.jpg

Deleted090308

The HDD is a little warm - not too much, though.
A 120 mm fan at the front of the case blowing cool air in will help.
Make sure the GPU fan is mounted correctly - it should blow air on to the heatsink (of course).
If that doesn't help - reapply thermal paste.

davl

Yeah, I was thinking about adding another fan, one on the front, though my computer already sounds like an airplane... Guess I could turn the voltages down on them. I'll have to try reapplying the thermal paste then.

Deleted090308

The quality 120 mm fans are very quiet.

davl

Hello, I've bought some Arctic stuff.
I smeared some of the cheramic off... I use paper. Does it matter if there is a thin layer still there on the plate?
Also, I touched the fan plate thingy while it was plugged in and got a static shock even though I grounded myself beforehand. :(
Anyway, next to the heat plate there are some soft plates with some goo on them... I smeared some off one of them... What do I replace this stuff with?

Deleted090308

Soft plates? Could you post a picture?

davl

Sorry for the blurring. I'm referring to the chips surrounding the main one:
DSC02551.JPG
Sorry for the blurry pic, lol.
I bought Arctic Silver 5. This means I don't have to smear it, right?

davl

Ok, nothing was fried. I put it back together. The temperatures are largely unaffected... Still almost at 60 idle. I think they are rising slower and it seems to stableize at ~57-58, but it might going up. And it could also be due to lower room temperature perhaps.
I may have applied it badly -- I applied a straight line of it and avoided to get it outside as I've read it's conductive. Perhaps a little too much... and I couldn't FULLY get the old stuff off either. It may be significant but I have nothing to remove it with and I don't feel like spending money.

EDIT: Load: 90+ C and no signs of getting stable. :(

Deleted090308

The other chips are RAM.
90°C is, of course, hot (not extremely, though).

You can remove the old paste with acetone.
Apply new paste on the GPU chip and the RAM chips. Just a little in the middle of the chips.
It will spread by itself when the heatsink is mounted.
Did you check the fan - making sure it's blowing air in the right direction?

davl

Okay, I didn't do it on the GRAM chips but I figure it's not as important. Anyhow, it definitely conducts because the heatsink definitely gets very warm. The fan spins in the correct direction.
The idle temperature is 58°C, which means that it only dropped by 2°C (and possible not even). Maybe lack of an intake fan is the main problem after all.

Deleted090308

An intake fan will only do good.

Check the other temps under load.

davl

After playing Assassin's Creed for about 10 min the mb temp is at 50C, core temps are both at 50C and video card at 105C.

Deleted090308

The temps are too high, especially the GPU (of course).
Take the side off the case and place a small house fan at the side - blowing cool air in.

And - get a (120mm) front fan.

netcat

Hi Davl, I have exactly the same problems as you have, same card, Unfortunately don' t have the solution yet....

Deleted090308

@ netcat: Please create a new thread. Explain the problem and inculde the system specifications (PSU, CPU, video etc).