Overheating Fan/Heatsink on Radeon x1950

[Raziaar]

Overnight, my temperatures have increased 10-20 degrees Celsius higher than the previous night, and I think there's something wrong with the fan of the heatsink.

I applied some proper thermal compound, but that hasn't changed the temperature at all.


Does anybody know some relatively cheap but good alternative fan/heatsink combo I can purchase to protect the investment of my video card? Once again it's a Radeon x1950 AGP card.

<sigh>



EDIT: Whoa... I went into ATI Tray Tools... and went into the overclocking settings. I never overclock my video card, and I only touch the fan settings...

Well, the stats weren't overclocked, but I clicked the reset button for the settings in the overclock settings... and even though nothing changed, my temperature just shot down from 75 to 50 while operating at 100% fan speed in just a couple minutes... my fan started sounding like it was at 100% fan speed too rather than almost silent(but still running) before.

Whatever happened to my ATI trools, I think something went wonky and it was affecting my video card... but holy shit, I am so damn relieved! I mean... 75 down to 50 in just a couple minutes... like magic.

And 50 is the coolest my card has EVER idled! I think the thermal compound helped bring it down a few degrees.

Here's hoping it sticks this way now. As I type it's still falling... at 49 degrees now. Soon I will set it back on normal temperature controlled span feed settings to get it off 100% usage, but still, this is huge.


EDIT: Going back to dynamic fan speed changes... the temperature is ramping up again... 65 now... it should have started back to like 55.. What's going on? <cries>

My temperatures keep wildly fluctuating, quite frequently... going from like 70 down to 55, up to 68, down to 62, up to 72, down to 53.


EDIT AGAIN: Ran a benchmark and some stress testing with ATI Tray Tools... scanning for artifacts. It usually gets it real hot, and in the past it's brought my temperature up to the low 80's doing it. It didn't seem like it could break past 75, which is a good thing.

Also, the temperature, as of now, has seemed to settle at low 50's. Here's hoping it stays that way.

Man, this has been one hell of a rollercoaster of emotions the past hour. It's like i was seriously freaking out... and depressed at having to buy a new heatsink... then it goes down to super cool temperatures(where it's at now)... and then it ramps back up into the 70's and I'm freaking out again... and then it starts fluctuating as if it can't make up its mind.

As I type this, the temperature is starting to ramp up again... 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 and still rising... WHAT THE **** IS GOING ON?


Reinstalled ATI Tray Tools... currently idling at 50 celsius. Quite good. Here's hoping it was a fluke with my installation of ATI Tray tools and it doesn't go back up again beyond 60 for idle.

 

[blahblahblah]

Wow that's a lot of info...

If/when the next time your GPU starts elevating in temperature, try to watch / listen to the fan while it is running to see if the fan is varying in RPM speed or having some other problem. If you don't notice any change in fan speed/noise and you are not running a more visually intensive program, it probably means your thermal diode is either in a bad position or faulty.

I haven't had to buy a video card in quite some time, but most video cards are designed to handle a healthy dose of heat. So unless you know there is a problem with your HSF or you voluntarily want to replace it, I wouldn't worry about a replacement just yet.

 

[Raziaar]

Where exactly is the thermal diode anyways? is it in a place I can see it?

My temperature is skyrocketing again to the low 70's.

It was staying at 50 for the longest time too!!


Just did another stress test... and it steadily rose to 105... until I decided to stop it.

The actual card heatsink is getting real hot too... I've never seen it go to 90 before doing the stress testing... but 105? geez.


I just took apart the entire heatsink assembly, and it appears to be perfectly fine. The fan appears to be fine. It's one of those types that are magnetically held in place.

 

[VirusType2]

my x1900 GT always got really hot and eventually died. 105 degrees Celsius? That is way too hot. Mine would lock up and reset at about 75 degrees.

 

[Raziaar]

No artifacts at all at 105 celsius when it got there that time...

But the thing is actually getting really hot, since I touched the hetasink.

I'm going to probably get some Arctic Silver 5, and this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106112

I hope it'll work well.

 

[(SGA) Doctorwho]

GPU's in the X1000 series do tend to run hot but you don't need to buy a new heat sink.

Download the program RivaTuner from 3Dguru.com and install it. Click on the button labeled "customize" and select "enable low level tweaks" in that panel there is a fan speed control tab
click on that and you will see a slider, click on it and slide it to the right until the number reads 100% of duty cycle. Then click save and restart your computer, your card should now run much cooler.

 

[VirusType2]

^ He is already running tray tool fan control

Raz, I'd think about spending $130-$180 for an awesome new card rather than buying something for a questionable card. Those cards are shit anyway. It was disappointing when it was first released. And there are a number of members just here at HL2NET that have had theirs X19xx die.

 

[Raziaar]

^ He is already running tray tool fan control

Raz, I'd think about spending $130-$180 for an awesome new card rather than buying something for a questionable card. Those cards are shit anyway. It was disappointing when it was first released. And there are a number of members just here at HL2NET that have had theirs X19xx die.

I can't buy a new card. I'm on a system that only supports AGP... and that card is pretty much the latest, greatest, best possible solution that I can buy for this computer. And I bought it not too long ago. I want to protect that investment for quite a few more years out.

There are simply no other cards I can really purchase for AGP for my system.

I'll have to wait until I can afford a new system for that.

But I might as well protect this system while I can, especially since I have new memory and this new video card, relatively speaking... best I can really buy with this archaic technology.

 

[VirusType2]

I'm pretty sure there are much better AGP cards. possibly an 8600 even

*cue Asus

 

[Raziaar]

I just bought this thing not too long ago... and it's completely not worth it for me to upgrade. I mean, this is a 5 year old computer. 5 years old. I've been keeping it alive with more ram and memory, but this thing is ancient.

I don't want to spend 150-200 dollars on it just to keep it alive longer than it has been. What I have in now should keep it going.

I also don't have that kind of money. I only have 50 bucks, and so that'll go towards what I just bought.

If I was going to bother spending 150-200 dollars on a new video card, I would rather just save that up and A: use it for my bike fund(which now thanks to this overheating is gone... was at 100, but 50 was my brothers)., or B: use it towards a brand new computer eventually.

Oh well. Hopefully this new heatsink will work like a charm.

I was going to be getting copper VRM sinks as well, but they didn't have any in stock. So I might have to browse around at a radio shack to get those before the thing arrives. I'd rather have copper than the aluminum ones it'll come with in the package.

 

[Asus]

The diode for temp would probably be in the chip package. Not something you can mess with.

Should be fine since it is well under the stress point for GPU temps. Even if it is going up and down. Do you think it is going up and down because the fan is slowing down randomly or because there is an increased 3d/2d load on the card every once in a while? The 4800 cards did 70-80 with stock cooler at idle AND load because they set the fan speed so low at idle.

If you actually do want to get a new card (no point yet, not unless it actually overheats and you get artifacts) then I think they made 3800 cards in AGP. The 3870 is similar to a 9600GT/8800GT. The 3850 is just a little below. Like maybe a 8800 GTS 320MB.

 

[Raziaar]

The diode for temp would probably be in the chip package. Not something you can mess with.

Should be fine since it is well under the stress point for GPU temps. Even if it is going up and down. Do you think it is going up and down because the fan is slowing down randomly or because there is an increased 3d/2d load on the card every once in a while? The 4800 cards did 70-80 with stock cooler at idle AND load because they set the fan speed so low at idle.

If you actually do want to get a new card (no point yet, not unless it actually overheats and you get artifacts) then I think they made 3800 cards in AGP. The 3870 is similar to a 9600GT/8800GT. The 3850 is just a little below. Like maybe a 8800 GTS 320MB.

Well, judging by frequently monitoring the temperature ever since I bought the card, I'd say what just happened in the span of one day is unusual... there are almost no system processes running... no 3d or 2d elements that would spike the temperature(at least have never before in the past) like that running. Now, it doesn't even stay in the low 50's... it's idling at mid 60's... which is way higher than normal still too.

I think it's the fan, honestly. Even though I took it apart and everything looks fine, the fan just doesn't sound the same anymore. It no longer whirs up louder when I set it at 100%, and it no longer lowers when I reduce it... so something tells me it's having trouble reaching the speeds it's set to reach... and is fluctuating somehow. I've looked around, but I can't seem to find any way to get the fan replaced for it.

So I'm just going to enjoy the new heatsink/fan that I just bought when it gets here... supposedly it runs the card way cooler than the stock cooler ever hoped to, so that'll be really cool to see.

And the arctic silver 5 should be a good investment. Thought I had some before, but I just apparently have crappy compusa thermal grease.

 

[Asus]

What cooler did ya get? That sounds like the best option. Coolers are not that expensive.

 

[Raziaar]

What cooler did ya get? That sounds like the best option. Coolers are not that expensive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106112

 

[No Limit]

I see you already got the cooler but are you sure you didnt have dust built up in the heat sink? That will increase the temp by a lot.

 

[Raziaar]

I see you already got the cooler but are you sure you didnt have dust built up in the heat sink? That will increase the temp by a lot.

I'm sure. I completely took apart the entire heat sink assembly to examine the fan and the inside of the heatsink. That thing is spotless other than dust that requires an actual wipedown to remove. Just traces of it.

Had to tear through the sticker to find some of the hidden screws, and damn were those things tiny!

 

[CyberPitz]

Sounds from your explanations that your fan is being a POS. With that new cooler, you should be A-OK. *crosses fingers*

 

[Raziaar]

I just can't believe it was being such an indecisive bitch... getting my hopes up and dashing them many times per hour.

"Hey Razi, I'm cooling down, I'm cooling down... I'm cooler now than I have ever been befo... now I'm heating up, I'm scorching hot baby... but that's before I just received a chilling br... HOT AGAIN!"


And funny enough, as I type that, it's cycling around quite sporadically in the 60's.

 

[Raziaar]

My fan/heatsink will arrive today.

Here's hoping it does well. :|

I hope the VRM heatsinks don't give me any trouble... and I hope they're stickier than a barroom floor.

 

[Raziaar]

Okay. I sat down and did everything religiously. I cleaned off all the Video Ram Memory, cleaned the GPU, applied a fresh coat of arctic silver 5(different color than what I'm used to... much darker, and stickier).

Got everything installed and hooked up.

From the start it's idling at 40 degrees celisus... about 20 minutes later it's at 42 degrees celisus. Rising a little bit more to 43/44, but if I'm not mistaken thermal compound takes a while to settle in and reach optimum performance.

Right now I'm stress testing things with ATI tray tools, going to run it for a solid 15 minutes checking for artifacts and get it as hot as it'll go.

About 2 minute in, it's at 60 degrees Celsius under this extreme load, when normally it'd idle at this temperature. At load before, it'd reach up to 70-80 under these extreme loads.


So far everything appears to be working beautifully. There is no speed control on the thing, but that's okay as it's very quiet and I'm sure much more durable fans than the stock coolers.

3 minutes in, 62 degrees Celsius under this extreme load.. and dropping a bit and coming back.


I'd say everything is holding beautifully. I wonder how much of a change I'll notice when the thermal compound settles. Do you think I'll see any temperature drops, maybe staying a steady 40 degrees Celisus?




EDIT: It seems that this thing is holding rock solid against whatever ati tray tools can throw at it, which is usually a ton. It's only reached a maximum of 63 so far, and keeps dropping down back to 62 and 61. I stopped it and in that split second, it drops down to 56 degrees. A couple seconds later, it's down to 50 degrees. And now it'll keep dropping back to whatever idle temperature it'll stay at.

I'm VERY pleased with this purchase! WOOOO!


Doh, didn't realize I had a triple post going. Sorry.


EDIT: Seems to be idling after that stress test, around 45 celsius... still very good.

I just wonder, why it is that some people with the same card and same cooler and same thermal compound seem to get down lower, some higher... really bizarre. I would think they are all roughly the same.

 

[Raziaar]

Welp... The fan/heatsink is working great...

but I'm running into issues where my computer is crashing constantly due to my video card. Something with the VRM voltages. It turns out, after monitoring the VRM temperatures, it's not a VRM temperature issue.

So here I am with no working good video card. Great, just ****ing great.

I'm using my 7 year old geforce 3. This thing is still going strong. Loud as ****, but it'll let me get stuff done on my computer, and if I want to play TF2, it will actually let me play it, or half-life 2.

How ****ing crazy is that?

I can't believe I paid 185 dollars, and then 35 more dollars on a cooler, on such a shitty video card.

I'm never buying ATI again. With 3 failed Radeon 9800's(mine, my brothers, and one we got our cousins for christmas), and this failed x1950... Never again.

**** YOU ATI. **** YOU.

 

[VirusType2]

same here. I paid $240 for my X1900GT and it wasn't worth $50

That's what I tried to tell you.


Maybe you can get yours working. Mines borked.

 

[unozero]

you can get a 8800Gt for under $120

 

[Raziaar]

you can get a 8800Gt for under $120

Doesn't sound like an AGP card to me.

 

[Vorac1ous]

Get the 7600GS, about $85-90 US.

But I really think you should reconsider not buying ATI cards again. The new cards are great, not like the old cards. Those cards are only PCI-E though. Maybe you could even get the HD3650, which actually is an AGP card.

 

[Asus]

I never like the idea of not buying a brand when basing it off of just your own experiences since it has no statistical importance. Same with hard drives. Now if MANY people had issues with their cards dying (like Nvidia mobile GPUs) then that is a reason to stay away.

Besides, your best AGP card to buy from is an ATI one. 3850 AGP.

 

[Raziaar]

I just get so mad. 3 9800 pro's that died... this card that died I even bought aftermarket coolers to try to save each one, to no avail.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

go to nvidia! Thread is mostly tl;dr but what's the rest of your system, for recommending an appropriate card.

 

[Raziaar]

You know, I can't even justify spending more money on this ancient system.

The bulk of my computer is really old, from back in 2003. I'm just going to use this noisy ass Geforce 3(which I use earplugs because it has a whiney pitch which drives me insane) to use my computer for study related things and then get a new computer next year sometime probably when I have a job.