Safe Temperature for XFX 7950

[cameron2134]

Hey guys, so I just started playing Bioshock Infinite for the first time earlier, and thought I'd tab out for a second and check on my gpu temps with HWMonitor after about 10 minutes of play. I was shocked to see that the temperature was almost hitting 90C, seemed to hang around the 87-89 mark.

In most other games, it sits around 60-70 degrees, with the exception of Guild Wars 2 and WoW in which case it hangs around 80, and it normally sits on 40 idle. However, seeing as Bioshock is a new game, this has me slightly worried that temps will be similar in other new games, such as Crysis 3. I looked around a little and read that the highest preferable temperature was 80C.

Normally by now I would have bought an aftermarket cooler, but I don't particularly want to void the warranty after a few weeks of owning the card. What do you guys think? Is the card alright for hanging near 90C, or is that definitely too high for extended periods of time?

 

[alienware]

What cooler does your card have, stock?

I had a XFX 7970 "Core" which was running a stock cooler and I saw temps like that all the time. Kambo does too with his stock coolers.

Have you created a custom fan profile? never leave that down to the drivers.

If you have then the only thing left is to look at your cooling and see if you can improve the airflow using better fans or by flipping them around.

A pic of the inside of your case and fans would help here

Edit. 90c is too hot. ROHS solder is very brittle being mostly tin so ideally you want to keep the card under 80.

ROHS = lead free.

 

[MrKambo]

If you are running stock coolers then 90C is a tad hot, but i do see that regularly but im running crossfire, so top card is 10 degrees warmer!

but if you're only running one card shouldn't really get that warm, id look into a custom fan profile, or check the air flow in your case

your idle temps are high as well, even my card idles at 36

 

[cameron2134]

I downloaded MSI afterburner so I'll set up some profiles and boot up the fan speed, see if that helps cool it down a bit. If not, I'll open the case up and see what I can do to improve airflow, maybe even get another 120mm case fan.

 

[WYP]

i use the xfx 7950, its cooler is easily the poorest of all the hd 7950s.

i also noticed when i added my waterblock it noticed the card didn't even have thermal pads on two of the vram chips. unacceptable

however i found that keeping fans at 40% to 50% kept temps around 70-80 in games.
but that depends on the stock volts of the card as all the different xfx cards have different stock volts.

 

[barnsley]

The main trick with xfx cards is to have a case fan next to the cooler.My 7870 maxes out around 60C on PS2 with a 140mm enermax fan right next to it. In my old case (A nasty cheap inwin) I'd hit around 65C with your bog standard antec 120mm right next to it. While they're not the same card, I think if your card isn't a dud you should see vaguely the same temps with it .

I'm presuming you have the single fan cooler as opposed to the "double D" edition cooler as well?

One final thing, these cards are really affected by dust. I run quite a tight ship in terms of cleaning my rig because of it.

 

[cameron2134]

I'm presuming you have the single fan cooler as opposed to the "double D" edition cooler as well?

One final thing, these cards are really affected by dust. I run quite a tight ship in terms of cleaning my rig because of it.

I've got the double D edition cooler, which is apparently "better". Kinda wish I got a Sapphire instead of XFX, might have been better at fitting a decent gooler onto the gpu.

Also sucks that these cards are affected badly by dust, means I'll have to check on it more regularly than I do for cleaning. But the case fan next to the card sounds like a good idea, I'll order one at some point and see if that can get some better airflow around the card and get the temps down.

 

[barnsley]

I've got the double D edition cooler, which is apparently "better". Kinda wish I got a Sapphire instead of XFX, might have been better at fitting a decent gooler onto the gpu.

The double D is much better at cooling than the single fan. Sounds like you have a dud mate . The cooler is a poor design but the double D one is still more effective than a reference design. I'd make sure you have the fans set to atleast 50% and see if that makes a difference. If it doesn't, I'd RMA it and either get a new one from XFX or get a Club 3D royal king/queen or a saphire 7950 boost.

And I only have the single fan edition so I'd like to think the double D isn't as affected by dust.

 

[s3ns3]

double D one is still more effective than a reference design.

no its not.in some cases is way worse.both temps and noise

 

[barnsley]

no its not.in some cases is way worse.both temps and noise

Not in my experience. I helped a friend build a 8350 based system and he had the msi 7970 with the stock cooler. It is much louder and warmer (around10c if memory serves me correctly) than another friend with a double D 7970 (paired with a 2500k). both are in mid towers with a fan next to the gpu. Unless you're building a mini system, the double D appears to perform better.

 

[alienware]

I Googled XFX Double D earlier and I was met with a tide of complaints.

 

[barnsley]

I Googled XFX Double D earlier and I was met with a tide of complaints.

Never had a problem with them. Heck I've had less of a problem with xfx than evga. Also all I got when I googled it was people complaining about xfx dropping the "double lifetime warranty" .

 

[iBeInspire]

Hmmmm in all honesty if it was my card, I'd be looking at undervolting it to where it would stay under say... 82 degrees under load.
Don't drop the clocks, just use lower volts for the same clocks, thereby loosing the temp issue but keeping your performance.

 

[Crabs]

I used one in a build for my brother and he reports temps of around 65-70 normally. Its better than any reference cooler ive had.
His is drawing air directly from the side panel (cooler Master elite120) so this might help

Another option is to re do the thermal gloop. Check warranty allowances first of course

 

[alienware]

If you repaste the card you will void warranty.

 

[Zoot]

I think the absolute maximum temperature is 100C, so in theory anything less than that should be okay, and the amount of time shouldn't matter either. Obviously, though the lower, the better. And in practice, lower temperatues should mean a longer life, and as a result I too would look into undervolting it if you can.

The temperatues I see on my 7950, which I haven't overclocked are normally in the high 50's/low 60's. Worst case with the room quite warm, and with Furmark running on it I see it running in about the mid 60's.

 

[cameron2134]

Might have to return it, occasionally been seeing artifacts in some games/chrome, although the problem is they aren't consistent, just completely random, and if I return it and they can't find the fault they'll charge me for delivery back, but it is looking like a bit of a dud.

 

[FTLN]

What are the stock voltages on your card (vddc, mvddc)?
Whats is your stock boost clock speed ?
What is your stock mem speed ?
are you overclocking ?

Boost cards run at 1250mv when there maxing out so that explains the high temps but if you got a good chip you can drop this much lower.
Also you may need to set your mvvdc to 1.6

Any chance of a screenie of gpu-z and the sensors tab also whilst under load... To put gpu under load with gpu-z just click on the question mark next to your bus interface..

 

[alienware]

Might have to return it, occasionally been seeing artifacts in some games/chrome, although the problem is they aren't consistent, just completely random, and if I return it and they can't find the fault they'll charge me for delivery back, but it is looking like a bit of a dud.

That just sounds like normal driver issues tbh. A friend of mine had the exact same issues with his 7970.

The browser thing seems quite common with AMD cards.

 

[barnsley]

The browser artifacts are quite common for most amd cards ever since the drivers were updated a while back. The artifacts are an odd beast. For example, I only get artifacts when using facebook and shockwave used to crash alot when I had my old i3...

To OP, I'd reccomend seeing if you can RMA it. If not I have a feeling that it just needs new thermal paste but better safe than sorry.