Unstable Factory OC Graphics Cards.

[SubTract]

I recently bought a VTX3D Radeon HD 6970 X-edition to put in Crossfire with my current sapphire reference design 6970.

The card out of the box had quite a high OC of 940/1425 rather than stock 880/1375

The card was very unstable out of the box once it got put under anyload instant blue-screen. I have since flashed the 2nd Bios to stock frequencies and the card works fine. I then realised that it was running extremely hot. 105degrees C when my reference design cooler on the sapphire was maxing out at about 80Degrees.

The VTX3D card has a dual fan cooler that looks very similar to the twin frozrII.

I then removed the cooler and for that it had more thermal paster then it did cooler (I exaggerate) but a lot of thermal paste. After re-applying a realistic amount of thermal paste it now is down to 80 again.



I do realise that I did buy a cheap brand but I would assume that if it came out of the factory Overclocked it wouldn't have Cooling problems and would be stable.

I have not put the clocks back up since I re-applied the Thermal Paste on the cooler.

Has anybody else had issues with factory OC Graphics cards?

If so what?

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

Terrible TDM was not uncommon on the 6xxx series line. Hell you could not even run a 6990 with a stock cooler playing a game for more than 30 seconds before it hit 100c. if unstable just bump the wattage in CCC to 5%.

 

[Rastalovich]

I've never bought a factory oc of that amount, but tbh with you, with the problems you initially had, whether it was oc'd or stock, I would have sent it back.

If it's sold factory oc'd - it should work 100% at it's ootb settings.

Sounds to me like the cooling was just plain iffy, which can happen with any card to be fair.

 

[proffesorDub]

no, but as a rule of thumb i personally stay away from cheaper brands on any components. Me personally i would have strayed away from a OC card from a cheap brand, its cheap because somewhere they've cut corners or sacrificed on quality.

advice is to either not OC or buy some AM cooling for it, maybe wc them

 

[SubTract]

I live in Australia, It is almost impossible to get a 6970 these days nobody has any left so the second one became available I Nabbed it. I am pretty happy with it now though. Temps are reasonable now and perfectly stable. Crossfire has come such a long way since my 4870x2 scaling is so so soooo much better these days. almost 100% in some cases its incredible.

 

[Pr3d4t0r]

th paste looks fresh but whoever applied it should not do it again.

try with turning volts down, so the card runs cooler also a after market cooler would not only look better but perform better and quiter

 

[proffesorDub]

quick google of other forums, maybe this: http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/376/accelero-xtreme-plus-ii.html?c=2182 would be good

looks much better than the piece of junk OEM cooler

 

[SubTract]

@Pr3d4t0r: When I took the cooler off I was like WTF Happened here. It was like somebody went to put the thermal paste on then somebody walked up behind them and scared the crap out of them, they jumped and pushed the plunger right down. xD

@Supreme: I would love to see that cooler with interchangeable fans.

 

[proffesorDub]

from what i've heard they are really nice fans, but then the colour might not suit your whole rig and clash with the white PCB

Tis a stupid amount of thermal paste used in the factory

 

[SubTract]

whole rig is black and red. Black Mobo, red Ram, Red graphics cards, red and black PSU.... lol and green LEDs

I am getting red ones soon though. But the cooler would probably look cool. Black frame and led's would light up the white fans.

 

[proffesorDub]

you probably wouldnt see em in your case, but if your interpiud you could dissmantle and dye them maybe?