Graphics card overheating on Aliens vs Predator 3

[Loud_Silence]

I bought Aliens vs Predator 3 yesterday. The game runs very smoothly on my computer, but it makes my GPU overheat like no other game does!

My system specs:
CPU: Athlon X2 4800+
GPU Geforce GTS250 by Point of View
Mobo: ASUS M2A-VM
RAM: 2GB DDR2
OS: Windows XP SP3

While in that game, the GPU temperature is about 85º, sometimes peaking at 90º. The highest temperature I ever got was 93º. Nvidia's website states this GPU's max temperature is 105º, but I don't want to risk.

The game runs very smoothly at my monitor's native resolution of 1280*1024, but I have to lower it to 1024*768 to keep heat under control, which is very unfair

I've tried different driver versions, but the results are the same with all of them. Right now I'm with 266.58 (the latest for this card).

The fan and the heatsink are clean. The fan is working correctly, although it's very loud when it goes past 80% speed.

The card is a year and a few months old, so the guarantee has expired.

[the_tyrant]

first of all, be assured that this sometimes happens
when Empire Total War came out the exact same thing happened to a lot of us

Now your best bet is to wait for a patch for the game

[HunterICX]

Originally Posted by the_tyrant

Now your best bet is to wait for a patch for the game

Game was released Feb 2010 so I doubt any more updates will be released for it considering this game is a Console Port.

Anyway,

first, what are the temperatures of the GPU with the games you normally run?

You're not forcing AA and AF throught the Nvidia control panel overriding the Application's settings are you? perhaps you might want to look in that.
And also in the AvP settings you might want to drop the AA settings a step down and then try.

HunterICX

[Feuer Frei!]

Also what PSU are you running?

[Loud_Silence]

I don't remember the PSU manufacturer, but it's 450W with something like 14 amps on the 12v circuit.
It might sound small, but it's powering my computer pretty well. However I will buy a more powerful one when I next upgrade my computer or build a new one.

As of AA and AF, I have AF set at 1x on the game video settings, and AA is disabled.

[Arclight]

14A? That's not enough. 14*12= 168Watts on the 12v line. The card on its own, according to Nvidia, draws 150W max. That leaves 18W for everything else.

At the very least, that unit will die soon since it's running at 100% all the time. If it's a cheap unit (it is if that Amperage is accurate), it's possible it'll take out everything else along with it. Might even burn down the house.

[Loud_Silence]

Or it might start a nuclear chain reaction that will burn up the earth's atmosphere....

[Arclight]

If you think I'm kidding, you're sorely mistaken.

First corner they cut on PSU to keep the cost down is safety. People die all the time in fires started by failing electronics, though most often shoddy wiring in the homes themselfs.

Said it 100 times, noone ever takes it seriously: PSU is the most critical part in a PC. It's the only component capable of destroying everything it is connected to, including your home.

[Feuer Frei!]

One of a few reasons why i'm about to buy a 1200W PSU.

[Loud_Silence]

Originally Posted by Feuer Frei!

One of a few reasons why i'm about to buy a 1200W PSU.

1200W!!!! Omg.... that WILL set the earth's atmosphere on fire. You must have Quad SLI and an 8-drive RAID....

Don't worry. When I build my new PC (which I hope to do soon) I will get a PSU with at least 600W, I promise.

Back to temperature issue...

My case is well ventilated, with two fans blowing air inside and another two blowing out.

Right now, the GPU temperature is 47º idling.

And finally, I havent seen any artifacts or glitches when the GPU is hot. But maybe they only appear when the GPU is overheating and taking damage...

[Weiss Pinguin]

Well if the card is rated up to 105°, then you probably won't start to see artifacting or glitches until you start approaching 100°, I'd imagine. 93° is 12° below the max stated temperature, so in theory the card should be okay, but the rest of the computer might not

Originally Posted by Arclight

14A? That's not enough. 14*12= 168Watts on the 12v line. The card on its own, according to Nvidia, draws 150W max. That leaves 18W for everything else.

At the very least, that unit will die soon since it's running at 100% all the time. If it's a cheap unit (it is if that Amperage is accurate), it's possible it'll take out everything else along with it. Might even burn down the house.

SORRY I'm taking the thread a little off topic, but this got me thinking... I'm looking at getting a GeForce GT 430 (49W max power according to nVidia, max usage≈85W according to Guru3D), and I'm looking at this 300W power supply, which, if I'm reading the specs right, has 32 amps total on both 12v rails (16 on each). Using your equation, (16*12)+(16*12)=384W on both rails. 384W-85W≈300W left over for everything else. I'm running an HP slimline, stock parts except for upgraded RAM, not sure what the power consumption for all the parts is. nVidia recommends a minimum system power of 300W, but according to the Guru3D review, their according-to-them hefty system maxed out at 242W with the GPU at full load Just wanted to see what you thought.

/hijack

[Arclight]

There are huge differences in how PSUs deliver their power. For the earlier example, with 14A on the 12v rail, you only get 168W of the rated 450W.

Now lets look at my previous PSU, a Corsair HX520W. It has 40A on the 12v rail, making 480W of the rated 520 available where it's needed.

My current PSU is a 650W Antec, with 4 12v rails, 2x22A & 2x25A. This PSU is actually capable of delivering it's full, rated 650W on the 12v. (in fact, they could use the same rail system on a 1200W PSU without modifying it)

See the differences? Cheap units simply can't provide the power where you need it. Also, they often lack quality protection, making them more liable to die with a flash and a bang, possibly taking other things along with them.


Anyway, to actually answer your question, normally I'd say 18-20A minimum per rail for any kind of gaming system. But considering the card, it shouldn't give you much trouble.*

One thing to note though, is that you can't exceed the rated Wattage. My current PSU is capable of delivering 1128W on 12v, but the unit is rated for 650W so that's the maximum power it can deliver. It just is extremely unlikely that I'll ever manage to overload any individual rail: that's why they build them with the extra leeway, and that's one of the reasons a good unit is expensive.


*Ah, and that brings me to another point: a lot of multi-rail designs use 1 or more rails for the graphics card(s), while loading everything else on the rail(s) that is left. Have a look at this table: http://www.pcpower.com/technology/power_usage/

So, lets assume 30W for the hard drive, 50W for the board, another 30W for the RAM (2 modules), 80W for the CPU and another 10W for 3 fans. That makes 200W needed on 1 rail, still assuming the graphics card has it own rail and ignoring optical drives, additional hard drives, fans or memory modules.

With that example, that PSU you suggested would fall short. Granted, we're talking peak usage here: the PC should only actually draw that much power when every component works at 100% capacity, which technically never happens. But you really want to be prepared in case it does happen. Also, capacitors age: a PSU will lose power over time. Lastly, a PSU loses efficiency and can start to deliver less stable voltages if you push it to its maximum capacity. Personally I wouldn't advise loading a PSU beyond 80% of its capacity. (that's why people buy big units: keeping the relative load low extends the lifetime of the unit and avoids any issues with unstable voltages due to high loads. No one actually needs 1000-1200W units)

(that is assuming a fairly hefty setup by the way: a fast quad-core, a motherboard with ample features, fast hard drive, etc. Considering it's a slimline tower, power draw would likely fall quite a bit lower than the listings in that table)


edit: I'm only seeing 13A per rail on the unit you linked to.

[Loud_Silence]

Alright, you made me open my case. Are you happy now?

My PSU has two 12v circuits. +12v1 is 14A, and +12v2 is 13A. It's still looking so bad?

[Arclight]

Not bad, but it doesn't have much leeway, if any at all. I'm just... really demanding on what goes in there. Last thing I want is a hard drive or something to fail , or constant inexplicable CTD and BSOD, because the PSU can't quite hack it.

It gets overlooked by a lot of system builders, especially the companies like Dell and such that are more concerned about hitting a specific price point and profit margin than building an actually half-decent machine.

[Weiss Pinguin]

Originally Posted by Arclight

edit: I'm only seeing 13A per rail on the unit you linked to.

Bugger, that's the second time I've tried to link to that PSU and messed up

Here we go: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-032-_-Product

300-85W still leaves me with 215W to play with. This slimline comes with a 160W PSU, but I'm assuming that's probably the bare minimum needed to run this system during normal operation. And obviously a new graphics card will draw a lot more than the card that's in there. I guess with a 300W power supply I'll be cutting it close when I'm playing a game.