[Hardware] Graphics card stress

[HundertzehnGustav]

okay, here is one...
i finisted my certification as a IT youngster this summer, and have 3 years of solving pooter problems under my belt.
Or User problems. whatever.

here is the situation-
I got SHIII back in 2005, and had it running on an ATI X1650 for 3 years.
I later ran it on a Gforce 9800... i think thats what it was called.
(machines from the past...)

Nowadays i run an ATI6970 with Drivers from October 2012

...and the card heats up to 75°, with the fan spinning like mad making an awfull lot of noise - just the sub somewhere in the sea.
noise is so bad, its completely unacceptable.


I scratch my head:
Why the hell is that so?

hardware
-is the screen resolution to do with this ? (1920 x1200)
-shutting down the second monitor (1280 x 1024) makes 2° of difference
-toning down the quality in the Graphics panel makes no difference

software
-be that GWX, be that a bog stock 1.4b - no difference
-is the resfix responsible? (activated or not... no difference?)

I need to get rid of this noise, because this is deafening.
None of my other games (sailing, [combat]flight sims, psycho shooters a la GTAIV...) heat the GC as much as SHIII.

I don't see a cause, and i don't see a solution.
If you have a clue, please say something...

:(

(edit)
normal temps:
Both Monitors on; surfing the web = 35° / HD video replay = 41° / IL2 1946 modded to death in heavy combat = 50° / GTA 4 = 53-55°

[Troublous_Haze]

Remove GPU cooler with heatsink, carefully wipe the old thermopaste from GPU and heatsink surfaces and reapply thin layer of thermopaste on heatsink and mount everything back together. See if that helps. This should help if you haven't turbo boosted your GPU efficiency in first place.

And of course clean heatsink and cooler from dust.

[Troublous_Haze]

The cooler itself might be counting its last days. The noise can come from cooler vibrating onto its own axis while it turns making bad noise. This happens after some time of heavy duty. Solution - Change the cooler.

[HundertzehnGustav]

gee!
the card has about a year of service...
thought of it, but discarded that idea, because it seems a bit premature.
and also because with other (newer, GPU-heavier) Graphic programs and games i do not have any issues at all...

took it out and dissassembled it last night, but didnt go for the cooling paste.

Might be, might be... even if my mind doubts it.
Hardware was fine on sight, and i was thinking that the harsh workload might be software related somehow...

willl post back!

edit: no the Fan aint vibrating at all, no visible marks of friction anywhere, and the rotation is smooth.
Buut when i show you what the thing si like, it quickly becomes clear why the fan has some heavy duty to do...

http://www.productwiki.com/upload/images/sapphire_radeon_hd_6970_100311bfvsr_1.jpg


i should really really really have gone with a dual fan setup.
something like this:
http://startuptunes.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/sapphire-6970-dual-fan.jpg

more area = less RPM = less noise.

[Troublous_Haze]

Ussually GPU built in coolers not always the best ones the market can offer. I already changed my cooler on GeForce 9500 GT after about one and a half year of service, had the same noisy issue. This was it.

Damn, IIRC this was the issue of my CPU cooler. Never changed GPU cooler myself, can't even tell if these coolers can be easily detached from GPU card or not.

[Troublous_Haze]

I had some bad experiences with ATI graphic card 10 years ago, so from then on, I'm used to stick with GeForce products for a decade now :D

Noise is about always caused from mechanical (moving parts) failures somewhere in the case, unless it's a dieing transistor squeek somewhere on power supply unit or in mainboard, or a buzzing noise from hdd (where it's insides is also a moving parts), you can always be sure it's 99% that one of the coolers is causing the trouble..

[HundertzehnGustav]

nono, this was clearly only fan noise- no squeeks geeks or weird frequencies from anywhere else.

the Leitpaste (thermal paste?) was completely dry...
used a sample from work and some isopropopophwatever wipes to get rid of it, and applied Paste that we used to assemble Servers where i worked before.

Lets see.
well, temps are down already 1° whilst surfing...

[Herr-Berbunch]

Weird that its SH3 making it run so hot, didn't think it was a gpu-busting game.

Do you have any software with the card (or third-party) to check performance (gpu % of use).

[HundertzehnGustav]

50°, and Fan RPMs is down from 44% to 27%

Really one of these big arss "BLUSH" Moments :oops:

I should ve followed my checklist, no matter what my stomach said.

*beer*

Thx!

edit:
the Catalyst Control Center tells me GPU working 85% capacity.
what exactly is causing the workload i don't know...
the rendering can not be the cause, models, textures and effects are really low-tech in the gaming world of today.

screw it... the noise is gone, the card is cool.
and so am i.

:D

[Troublous_Haze]

Fake alarm again :haha:

[HundertzehnGustav]

whatever you say!

i prefer a "fake alarm"...
because this one really deserves a "Volltrottel" alarm!

how's that dude called?
Bernard...:o
i am a Bernard.:stare:
Dafuq.:mad:

55° in the convoy training mission, 30% RPM.
:rock:

[Troublous_Haze]

Sometimes from a dark cloud falls a little rain. Glad the problem was solved :shucks: