Graphics Card Advice

[Zenaku]

Hi! So, I installed the little temp gauges as you suggested, and ran the benchmark (all I can run atm!) The card seemed to run at around 65(c) and the CPU 59-62 maybe. Does this seem ok? Also, I wonder if the benchmark is a good indicator, and if the temps continue to rise, or if they simply stabilize and remain the same as you play (all day)....

What would be temperatures of concern? My box is not enclosed in a shelf of any kind nor on the carpet. It has never felt warm around it (not during 1.0 with the 240 card, nor during ....)

My CPU max out at 51-53C at full load and the 450gts like to stay at 65 sometimes 75c which is fine. Been seeing a lot of people saying your CPU goes up that high with box cooling noting you can do about it. If you worry to much i would get other type of cooling.

[Shura]

Hi! So, I installed the little temp gauges as you suggested, and ran the benchmark (all I can run atm!) The card seemed to run at around 65(c) and the CPU 59-62 maybe. Does this seem ok? Also, I wonder if the benchmark is a good indicator, and if the temps continue to rise, or if they simply stabilize and remain the same as you play (all day)....

What would be temperatures of concern? My box is not enclosed in a shelf of any kind nor on the carpet. Neither the box, nor the air around it has ever felt warm (not during 1.0 with the 240 card, nor during ....I cannot say)

Thanks!

If those are the temps while you were running the benchmark then it should be ok, the CPU seems a bit high but considering its a dell case, probably a cheap stock cooler and its 3 years old, its expected.

If you don't mind some extra work, there are a few more things you can do to retrieve some data.
First: If you have GPU-Z, try running the benchmark while keeping an eye on the gpu load, you can check the load on your gpu under the sensor tab; Also find out what your CPU temps are under load.
Second: turn your PC off for an hour or 2 to let it cool down then turn it on and turn off all background programs. Once all unnecessary programs are closed, run the sensor programs again and find out what your temps are when idle.

This will give a better idea on how hot its getting. Once we know more, we can figure out if there is an issue or not and if so, we can come up with a solution. In regards to your question about playing all day; if your PC has been on for a extended period of time and under full load, temps will increase. If the base temps are good to begin with, the increase should not be a problem.

With stock cooler, your CPU should idle around 40C and load should be in between 65-70C (lower the better), If its in the high 70s under full load, then a better cooler is recommend. If it jumps to 90C+ then we may have other issues. There is a program called Prime95 that will let you do a torture test; which technically forces your CPU to run at 100%; you can use this program to find out how hot it gets under full load. If you do use Prime95, make sure to keep an eye on the temps and turn off the test if it hits high 90Cs

[JillyBean]

I changed the driver to the more recommended 306.97. Everything installed properly and it appears better for my system than the newest driver. My max/max benchmark went up over 100 points and one or two whole FPS! GPU still ran about 63-65c and the CPU in the high 50s/60. I'll watch it closely when I ... (well I'm legacy). If I have any concerns I will look into an aftermarket cooler. I'm not comfortable with the idea of giving it a torture test. It does idle near 40, certainly low 40s, and even 38-39 when it's really doing nothing. I appreciate all your input and expertise! Thanks again!

[Shura]

I changed the driver to the more recommended 306.97. Everything installed properly and it appears better for my system than the newest driver. My max/max benchmark went up over 100 points and one or two whole FPS! GPU still ran about 63-65c and the CPU in the high 50s/60. I'll watch it closely when I ... (well I'm legacy). If I have any concerns I will look into an aftermarket cooler. I'm not comfortable with the idea of giving it a torture test. It does idle near 40, certainly low 40s, and even 38-39 when it's really doing nothing. I appreciate all your input and expertise! Thanks again!

NP, if it idles at around high 30s and low 40s then its normal; that is the expected temps for your CPU on stock cooler, im actually amazed its not higher, considering its 3 years old and in a dell case. Your GPU is fine too, its under 70C so your ok; it is a bit high for a non OC but considering the case its in, thats normal. Nvidia control panel should allow you to raise your GPU fan speed, if your worried when playing long periods of time, just manually increase it a bit to drop a few Cs; might sound a bit louder if you go up 30%+ but shouldn't really notice any noise difference if you increase it by 10-15%.

Good Luck with the game, enjoy beta and feel free to ask if you have any other concerns in the future.

[JillyBean]

Well it's over 3 years old, but not heavily used. I played XI on PS2 from 2004-2009, then got this Dell (with the intention to play XIV). Ended up playing XI for a year on the Dell until XIV launched and then only played that for like 3 weeks in 2010. I returned to XIV last May when the free "come back and give it another try" period and legacy was announced (became hooked!) So for about 2 solid years, this computer did nothing but access the internet and do some office type work ^^

[JillyBean]

What model is your Dell? You may be able to fit a better CPU cooler.

It's a Studio XPS 8000

[JillyBean]

Me again! here's a question...

So my Nvidia panel didn't show where I could adjust fan speed, so I searched it, found this: http://www.fanhow.com/knowhow:Change...speed_27843686

which directed me to Nvidia site where to DL the performance part of the control panel
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_...ools_6.05.html

And so I installed it,and it also has a nifty little system monitor of it's own, which I like,although it fills the screen and I'd like to be able to minimize/make it a little box....

Moving on.... but when I go to look into the performance section, it gives this dire warning that you must accept before being able to use the performance section, called Accept End User Agreement which I can't even c&p but basically says the software utility may cause system damage and void warranties, and so on etc....all scarey bad things!

I guess this is warning ppl who plan to go in to overclock, etc.? Idk, you guys know anything about this utility? I really just want to be able to manually increase my GPU fan speed, but now it has me scared ....maybe I'll wait til after this weekend to see how necessary that will be anyway....

Thoughts?

[Shura]

Me again! here's a question...

So my Nvidia panel didn't show where I could adjust fan speed, so I searched it, found this: http://www.fanhow.com/knowhow:Change...speed_27843686

which directed me to Nvidia site where to DL the performance part of the control panel
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_...ools_6.05.html

And so I installed it,and it also has a nifty little system monitor of it's own, which I like,although it fills the screen and I'd like to be able to minimize/make it a little box....

Moving on.... but when I go to look into the performance section, it gives this dire warning that you must accept before being able to use the performance section, called Accept End User Agreement which I can't even c&p but basically says the software utility may cause system damage and void warranties, and so on etc....all scarey bad things!

I guess this is warning ppl who plan to go in to overclock, etc.? Idk, you guys know anything about this utility? I really just want to be able to manually increase my GPU fan speed, but now it has me scared ....maybe I'll wait til after this weekend to see how necessary that will be anyway....

Thoughts?

I'm currently running an ATI card so i have not personally used the Nvidia software but damage from overclocking does indeed void most warranties. In regards to increasing fan speed, that's not overclocking. Fans by default idle at about 20% or so, and usually auto adjust when gpu load increases; You can manually increase it to run higher at idle. While a 10% increase won't make a big difference, forcing it to run at 60%+ constantly will effect the lifespan of the Fan; This applies to all fans though.

Based on the data you provided earlier, 60C+ is normal temps for your card under load, by default your card is probably automatically increasing fan speed when gpu is under load. Keep the Nvidia Panel open and run the Benchmark, see what % your fan goes up to.

[Soukyuu]

nVidia user here. It's just a warning to remind you that if you fry your GPU, you lose warranty. As long as you don't touch the voltage slider, everything will be fine. And since you don't plan to raise clocks anyway, nothing will happen.