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Soulblood33x
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16 Nov 2013, 6:35 pm

I just recently built my first gaming "rig", and I noticed something seemed a tad off. The graphics card(Nvidia GTX 650 Ti boost) is always somewhat on the hot side, especially when I'm playing a game (duh) but even when it's idling it's still a good 20-25 degrees hotter than the rest of the system.
It hasn't given me any problems and it actually works beautifully (I can play Battlefield 3 and Far Cry 3 on ultra and get a good 50-60 FPS out of it), but is this something that I should be on the lookout for? And is there a way I could cool down my card somewhat (preferably w/o resorting to liquid cooling)?



Kurgan
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16 Nov 2013, 6:44 pm

Which manufacturer did you choose, Nvidia itself or one of it's partners that also use the GeForce technology? The boost version is an overclocked version of the regular Nvidia GTX 650 Ti—and not everyone offers an equally good cooling solution.

In any case, while a GPU can handle more heat than a CPU, the GPU is not supposed to be 20 degrees hotter than the rest of the computer, so it may be a warranty issue—or it may be an inappropriate combination of hardware.



Soulblood33x
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16 Nov 2013, 7:48 pm

EVGA manufactered my card. They seem to have a pretty decent reputation so I don't think that's an issue. I think I didn't really notice until nowis that they superclocked it was well, so pretty much we're looking at an overclocked version of an already overclocked card. That might be doing it.
What do you mean by an inappropraite combination of hardware? Do mean I'm trying to use it with a weaker CPU(effectively bottlenecking the system)?
Something else: We are talking degrees Fahrenheit here. Wasn't sure if that was clear or not



Kurgan
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16 Nov 2013, 8:34 pm

If we're talking fahrenheit, then it seems that nothing's wrong after all. A GPU can run at 175-190 degrees fahrenheit for hours everyday without any noteworthy problems. The EVGA cards know themselves when they get overheated and if they are, they'll automatically adjust their speed down--which is generally the case with any GPU in the same price range.



nopenope
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16 Nov 2013, 10:04 pm

The card's own BIOS has a target temperature that it uses to control the fan speed and thermal throttling. Because the GPU can tolerate more errors if it is just being used for graphics display (most errors only effect one pixel or object for one frame), the temperature can be much higher than the CPU (which usually can't tolerate ANY error).

Unless it is overheating to shutdown or you are using it for GPGPU number crunching with a low error tolerance (climate models or whatever), don't worry about it.



Spudz76
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19 Nov 2013, 2:11 am

The usual making sure the fans are working (in the case, and on the card), and clearing out dust bunnies and the like, may help. Some cases have horrible ventilation so once they get warm internally it is difficult for them to expel enough heat (and suck in more relatively cold air from the room) to keep everything cool. Heatsinks get less efficient as the ambient (internal case air temperature) gets hotter, as the already warm air can not accept the heat energy as it is already "full" (heat soaked). If you've got a bunch of wads of cables everywhere inside, try dressing them a bit more out of the way of air flow (figure out where your case brings air in, and where it blows it out) you may also see a decent reduction in overall temperatures as the heatsinks are able to transfer heat more efficiently. Or, add more case fans to force more air in and out (many cases do not come with much, if any, in the way of extra fans and rely on the one built in to the power supply).

However if you do not have lockups or issues during hard GPU use (gaming) then I don't think you have a problem. Cooler chips live longer, but the way things are speeding ahead the card would likely be "old and slow" before it burns out anyway.