Geforce 6800GT Running HOT (125c)

[Fat_bloater_dave]

Hey can anyone help ive just got a new Geforce 6800GT and its running realy hot and i dont know why, ive got a Arctic Cooling NVIDIA Silencer 5 on it but it is still running realy hot, please help.

[TheAtomicKid]

in fact, it's hot enough I'd suspect your reading is somehow swapped to fahrenheit, instead of celsius. If it really is, you're in danger.

Assuming you have the tools, associated items like thermal paste, etc, I'd pull the card, disassemble the heatsink/fan, etc, recheck EVERYTHING, clean it with alcohol, the works. If it still runs that hot afterwards, somethings very wrong.

Note that if the reading is swapped, you're still running a tad on the warm side, assuming that's an idle temp. Apples and Oranges here, but my radeon x800xl with a zalman 700 cooler, idles at 36-40c, depending on room temperature, time of the day, phase of the moon, etc. I'd expect your gforce to run about the same, give or take, based on posts I've read in here previously.

TAK

[Fat_bloater_dave]

Yeh ive just got it out and opened it up and it seems there is a bit of a gap between the Core and the Heatsink which is annoying ive added a bit more thermal paste and its running cooler now, but still a little on the warm side, Idles at 65c and load is about 90c.

[Derek Baker]

Paste is much less efficient than metal. It would really be better to disassemble the cooler and reseat it to get better contact.

[Fat_bloater_dave]

Paste is much less efficient than metal. It would really be better to disassemble the cooler and reseat it to get better contact.

i dont know how i would get it to touch, like how i could make it get closer to the GPU. i could give it a Go but it seems its just built that way.

[TheAtomicKid]

It 'should' mount smoothly to the surface if you have it seated correctly. The thermal paste should be quite thin, actually... you want to use as little as possible... it's for filling the tiny pits in the surface, to increase contact between the two surfaces by removing dead air gaps/improve heat transfer, etc... if you have an 'oreo cookie', you have a problem.

I personally have never installed an arctic cooling silencer... anyone in here that has hands on experience?

TAK

[Fat_bloater_dave]

It 'should' mount smoothly to the surface if you have it seated correctly. The thermal paste should be quite thin, actually... you want to use as little as possible... it's for filling the tiny pits in the surface, to increase contact between the two surfaces by removing dead air gaps/improve heat transfer, etc... if you have an 'oreo cookie', you have a problem.

Yes i understand this, at first i did put a verry small amount on and that was the problem. Maby i should take a look to see if i can get the HS closer to th GPU but im not realy shure how. Thanx for the advice though.

[warriorpoet]

What revision NV Silencer 5 are you using? The earliest version had trouble with GPU contact due to a design flaw. The newer revisions (Rev. 2 & 3) use thermal pads to contact the memory modules rather than the copper base plate itself improving compatibility and ease of use.

I user a NV Silencer 5 Rev.3 on a Leadtek 6800GT and my temps are listed here.

The only other thing I can think of is if the heatsink is not fastened securely enough there will be gaps. Tighten that puppy down!

edit: sorry if I'm not being clear. Here's perhaps a better explanation. The Rev.3 part looks like this. Note that all Rev. 3 models currently sold have had the polarity problem addressed in this review corrected.

[Fat_bloater_dave]

What revision NV Silencer 5 are you using? The earlier revisions had trouble with GPU contact due to a design flaw. The newer revisions (Rev. 2 & 3) use thermal pads to contact the memory modules rather than the copper base plate itself.

I user a NV Silencer 5 Rev.3 on a Leadtek 6800GT and my temps are listed here.

The only other thing I can think of is if the heatsink is not fastened securely enough there will be gaps. Tighten that puppy down!

Im useing the Review 2 i dont think the NV silencer 5 came in rev1 anywho, i dont have thermal pads with mine for the memory modules maby that was just the rev.3 i dont know, i have it screwed quite tight the little rubber thingys are nice and squashed. maby its just this one was made wrong.

[warriorpoet]

See edit above.

From what I gather, some Rev. 2 parts have thermal pads, others have a raised copper interface for the memory chips. The latter were not compatible with a large number of cards, hence the running change and revisions to the basic design for Rev. 2(a) and Rev. 3. Note the differences between the linked coolers.

If you have the raised copper memory interface, you'll have to pull out the sandpaper, or return your cooler for a Rev. 3.

[Fat_bloater_dave]

See edit above.

From what I gather, some Rev. 2 parts have thermal pads, others have a raised copper interface for the memory chips. The latter were not compatible with a large number of cards, hence the running change and revisions to the basic design for Rev. 2(a) and Rev. 3. Note the differences between the linked coolers.

If you have the raised copper memory interface, you'll have to pull out the sandpaper, or return your cooler for a Rev. 3.

Ah right well thanx verry much, well i cant realy return it because i got it off ebay, which is probebly why it is the old vertion, but this helps alot, ill just get the Rev.3 its only another £20 hopefully then it will all be fine.

[TheAtomicKid]

I've had extremely pleasing results with my vf700 from zalman, unless you're needing to exhaust the air from the case. The advantage on the zalman is, they move air around local to the vid card, on the ramsinks (admittedly the flower only blows on the built side of the card, so if yo uhave backside heatsinks your cpufan/case exhaust fan has to do the duty there)

this keeps the entire system cooler, not just the gpu chip. it will also blow on your northbridge, most likely.

the other good news is, unless the fan header on the card is weaker for some reason, you SHOULD be able to mod the fan to run off the card fan header, allowing you to control the fan speed via software/automatic monitoring, however you end up setting your system up. I've had mine running off the card header since day1, with no problems... was originally nervous about it until I realized the sapphire x800xl ultimate edition, literally uses a vf700, modded the same way, but straight from the factory, installed. At which point I realized it wasn't going to be an issue.

newegg carries them, as well as silicon acoustics.

Good luck.

TAK

[TheAtomicKid]

http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/productf ... image1.jpg

[Fat_bloater_dave]

I've had extremely pleasing results with my vf700 from zalman, unless you're needing to exhaust the air from the case. The advantage on the zalman is, they move air around local to the vid card, on the ramsinks (admittedly the flower only blows on the built side of the card, so if yo uhave backside heatsinks your cpufan/case exhaust fan has to do the duty there)

First my understanding is they dont work with the 6800GT because it uses screws insead of push pins, some website i looked at sait it wasnt compatible. Secondly you can use the Artic cooling silenver off the Graphics card fan header just fine, so thats just dandy.

[TheAtomicKid]

Oh well

But that's good to know about the silencer.

TAK