'Normal' temperature of 8800GTX & 'system'...

Hi there,

I finally got my 'game-system' together yesterday-afternoon when I picked
up my Club3D 8800GTX, an air-cooled reference design as far as I can
determine. The rest of the system consists of an MSI P6N Diamond NVidia
680i mainboard, Intel Q6600 CPU, Western Digital 300 GB SATA2 RE HDD, an
AOpen H500 case and an Antec NeoHE 550 power supply.

When mounting it in the case, I had some problems: in the topmost PCI-E
x16 slot it would be quite tight against the metal drive-bay housing, so I
finally decided on sticking it in the bottom PCI-E x16 slot. The system
indicated the card was in x16 mode, but when monitoring the temperatures
via the NVidia monitor (but the BIOS gives the same readings) I noticed
the following temperatures:

CPU idle: ~25 deg Celsius/loaded ~40 deg Celsius (looks ok to me)
System temperatu in both cases: ~50 deg Celsius
8800GTX: ~80-85 deg C loaded/~82 deg idle/2D

Opening the case, it seems the cpu-fan of the 8800GTX was too close to the
bottom plate, not allowing it to suck in enough air. So I put it back in
the top-slot (I will probably have to replace the drive-bay with a shorter
one, or cut out some metal-sheeting).

Power up again, and this time:

CPU: Same as before
System temp: still at ~50 deg Celsius
8800GTX: ~63..64 deg C idle, ~85 deg loaded

So CPU still looks ok, 8800GTX seems to be fine at ~62 degrees idle (I
googled around a bit). Does the group agree?

However, but this is where my questions become a bit off-topic, the
'system' temp seems a bit excessive, although I did find some reports of
people with NVidia nForce based mainboard having 'high' temps of around 50
deg C.

Does anyone here know where the 'system' temp is measured on nForce 680i
boards, and what a 'good' value is?

Regards,

Patrick.

"Patrick Vervoorn" wrote in
message l...

Hi there,

I finally got my 'game-system' together yesterday-afternoon when I picked
up my Club3D 8800GTX, an air-cooled reference design as far as I can
determine. The rest of the system consists of an MSI P6N Diamond NVidia
680i mainboard, Intel Q6600 CPU, Western Digital 300 GB SATA2 RE HDD, an
AOpen H500 case and an Antec NeoHE 550 power supply.

When mounting it in the case, I had some problems: in the topmost PCI-E
x16 slot it would be quite tight against the metal drive-bay housing, so I
finally decided on sticking it in the bottom PCI-E x16 slot. The system
indicated the card was in x16 mode, but when monitoring the temperatures
via the NVidia monitor (but the BIOS gives the same readings) I noticed
the following temperatures:

CPU idle: ~25 deg Celsius/loaded ~40 deg Celsius (looks ok to me)
System temperatu in both cases: ~50 deg Celsius
8800GTX: ~80-85 deg C loaded/~82 deg idle/2D

Opening the case, it seems the cpu-fan of the 8800GTX was too close to the
bottom plate, not allowing it to suck in enough air. So I put it back in
the top-slot (I will probably have to replace the drive-bay with a shorter
one, or cut out some metal-sheeting).

Power up again, and this time:

CPU: Same as before
System temp: still at ~50 deg Celsius
8800GTX: ~63..64 deg C idle, ~85 deg loaded

So CPU still looks ok, 8800GTX seems to be fine at ~62 degrees idle (I
googled around a bit). Does the group agree?

However, but this is where my questions become a bit off-topic, the
'system' temp seems a bit excessive, although I did find some reports of
people with NVidia nForce based mainboard having 'high' temps of around 50
deg C.

Does anyone here know where the 'system' temp is measured on nForce 680i
boards, and what a 'good' value is?

Regards,

Patrick.

I run two GTXs in SLI and had the same issue with the bottom card. I did
some research and finally put the second card into the 8x PCI-E slot and
there is absolutely no difference in SLI performance and a big difference in
the temps of the cards. I also use the 680i chipset and have a quiet fan
blowing on the HSs of the heatpipe system. This keeps my temps down in the
40-45C area rather than the 50+C it was before. It doesn't take much air
moving over the HSs to cool them down a bit better.

Ed

In article ,
Ed M. wrote:

"Patrick Vervoorn" wrote in
message l...

[snip]

CPU: Same as before
System temp: still at ~50 deg Celsius
8800GTX: ~63..64 deg C idle, ~85 deg loaded

So CPU still looks ok, 8800GTX seems to be fine at ~62 degrees idle (I
googled around a bit). Does the group agree?

However, but this is where my questions become a bit off-topic, the
'system' temp seems a bit excessive, although I did find some reports of
people with NVidia nForce based mainboard having 'high' temps of around 50
deg C.

Does anyone here know where the 'system' temp is measured on nForce 680i
boards, and what a 'good' value is?

I run two GTXs in SLI and had the same issue with the bottom card. I did
some research and finally put the second card into the 8x PCI-E slot and
there is absolutely no difference in SLI performance and a big difference in
the temps of the cards.

OK, I'll keep that in mind. I've kept the thing up for a day now, and
temperature has remained unchanged; CPU at ~40 deg C busy, System ~50 deg
C and the 8800GTX at ~63 deg C idle.

So what do your 8800GTXes idle at in the above setup?

I also use the 680i chipset and have a quiet fan
blowing on the HSs of the heatpipe system. This keeps my temps down in the
40-45C area rather than the 50+C it was before. It doesn't take much air
moving over the HSs to cool them down a bit better.

How did you get the quiet fan to blow over it? I have one case fan which
blows air out and which is mounted at the height of the Northbbridge fan
in the backside of the casing.

I've also this evening mounted the small MSI-provided fan on top of the
Northbridge heatsink-assembly, but this does nothing for the temperatu
the 'system' temperature is still at ~50-51 deg C. Still not sure what to
think of this... If this is an internal sensor to the 680i Northbridge
chip, I suppose 50 deg C is pretty ok. If it is, however, the air
temperature somewhere near or on the mainboard, 50 deg C would be a bit
much I suppose...?

Thanks for the reaction in any case!

Regards,

Patrick.

"Patrick Vervoorn" wrote in
message l...

Hi there,

I finally got my 'game-system' together yesterday-afternoon when I picked
up my Club3D 8800GTX, an air-cooled reference design as far as I can
determine. The rest of the system consists of an MSI P6N Diamond NVidia
680i mainboard, Intel Q6600 CPU, Western Digital 300 GB SATA2 RE HDD, an
AOpen H500 case and an Antec NeoHE 550 power supply.

When mounting it in the case, I had some problems: in the topmost PCI-E
x16 slot it would be quite tight against the metal drive-bay housing, so I
finally decided on sticking it in the bottom PCI-E x16 slot. The system
indicated the card was in x16 mode, but when monitoring the temperatures
via the NVidia monitor (but the BIOS gives the same readings) I noticed
the following temperatures:

CPU idle: ~25 deg Celsius/loaded ~40 deg Celsius (looks ok to me)
System temperatu in both cases: ~50 deg Celsius
8800GTX: ~80-85 deg C loaded/~82 deg idle/2D

Opening the case, it seems the cpu-fan of the 8800GTX was too close to the
bottom plate, not allowing it to suck in enough air. So I put it back in
the top-slot (I will probably have to replace the drive-bay with a shorter
one, or cut out some metal-sheeting).

Power up again, and this time:

CPU: Same as before
System temp: still at ~50 deg Celsius
8800GTX: ~63..64 deg C idle, ~85 deg loaded

So CPU still looks ok, 8800GTX seems to be fine at ~62 degrees idle (I
googled around a bit). Does the group agree?

However, but this is where my questions become a bit off-topic, the
'system' temp seems a bit excessive, although I did find some reports of
people with NVidia nForce based mainboard having 'high' temps of around 50
deg C.

Does anyone here know where the 'system' temp is measured on nForce 680i
boards, and what a 'good' value is?

Regards,

Patrick.

For a system with such great components inside, the case choice was not the
best. It only allows for 1 exhaust fan at the rear, and no intake fans at
all, according to AOpen's site. That may prove to be inadequate, and might
be the cause of the ambient and 8800's temperatures getting so high.

I always recommend having at least 1 exhaust and 1 intake fan in a case.
That way, you get air moving right through the case. A single exhaust fan
just can't pull air in the front very well at all.

With only 1 exhaust fan, cable routing and component arrangement becomes
even more important. What little airflow there is can easily be impeded and
affected by cables.

RF.

I use this to cool the NB of a mobo where a fan cannot be mounted on the
NB...it attaches to almost anything... in my case a mobo screwdown
The arm is flexible and the fan has 3 settings....
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=75018

Zalman makes one that can be attached to a PCI opening and adjusted
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/...dx=15&code=016

peter
"Patrick Vervoorn" wrote in
message . ..
In article ,
Ed M. wrote:

"Patrick Vervoorn" wrote in
message l...

[snip]

CPU: Same as before
System temp: still at ~50 deg Celsius
8800GTX: ~63..64 deg C idle, ~85 deg loaded

So CPU still looks ok, 8800GTX seems to be fine at ~62 degrees idle (I
googled around a bit). Does the group agree?

However, but this is where my questions become a bit off-topic, the
'system' temp seems a bit excessive, although I did find some reports of
people with NVidia nForce based mainboard having 'high' temps of around
50
deg C.

Does anyone here know where the 'system' temp is measured on nForce 680i
boards, and what a 'good' value is?

I run two GTXs in SLI and had the same issue with the bottom card. I did
some research and finally put the second card into the 8x PCI-E slot and
there is absolutely no difference in SLI performance and a big difference
in
the temps of the cards.

OK, I'll keep that in mind. I've kept the thing up for a day now, and
temperature has remained unchanged; CPU at ~40 deg C busy, System ~50 deg
C and the 8800GTX at ~63 deg C idle.

So what do your 8800GTXes idle at in the above setup?

I also use the 680i chipset and have a quiet fan
blowing on the HSs of the heatpipe system. This keeps my temps down in the
40-45C area rather than the 50+C it was before. It doesn't take much air
moving over the HSs to cool them down a bit better.

How did you get the quiet fan to blow over it? I have one case fan which
blows air out and which is mounted at the height of the Northbbridge fan
in the backside of the casing.

I've also this evening mounted the small MSI-provided fan on top of the
Northbridge heatsink-assembly, but this does nothing for the temperatu
the 'system' temperature is still at ~50-51 deg C. Still not sure what to
think of this... If this is an internal sensor to the 680i Northbridge
chip, I suppose 50 deg C is pretty ok. If it is, however, the air
temperature somewhere near or on the mainboard, 50 deg C would be a bit
much I suppose...?

Thanks for the reaction in any case!

Regards,

Patrick.

"Patrick Vervoorn" wrote in
message . ..
OK, I'll keep that in mind. I've kept the thing up for a day now, and
temperature has remained unchanged; CPU at ~40 deg C busy, System ~50 deg
C and the 8800GTX at ~63 deg C idle.

So what do your 8800GTXes idle at in the above setup?

The 8800GTX, like most contemporary video cards, has temperature-dependent
fan speed. At idle the fan speed is by default set very low to reduce noise.
63 C is a fairly comfortable temperature and will not cause any damage to
the card over the long term.

How did you get the quiet fan to blow over it? I have one case fan which
blows air out and which is mounted at the height of the Northbbridge fan
in the backside of the casing.

Does your northbridge have that funny-looking "roller coaster" heat pipe
system on it? Those passive coolers were designed to receive some direct
airflow, either from a case fan or from the CPU fan's downdraft. Try
reverse-mounting the case fan so it becomes an intake fan, which will blow
cold air directly on the northbridge. (Exhaust will be handled by the power
supply.)

I've also this evening mounted the small MSI-provided fan on top of the
Northbridge heatsink-assembly, but this does nothing for the temperatu
the 'system' temperature is still at ~50-51 deg C. Still not sure what to
think of this... If this is an internal sensor to the 680i Northbridge
chip, I suppose 50 deg C is pretty ok. If it is, however, the air
temperature somewhere near or on the mainboard, 50 deg C would be a bit
much I suppose...?

All the components in your case except the hard drive can survive in 50 C
air without issue. So 50 C is okay, regardless of whether it's the
northbridge chip temp or ambient air temp... unless you plan on overclocking
and increasing voltages.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."

In article ddVOi.6952$Da.3797@pd7urf1no, peter wrote:
I use this to cool the NB of a mobo where a fan cannot be mounted on the
NB...it attaches to almost anything... in my case a mobo screwdown
The arm is flexible and the fan has 3 settings....
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=75018

Zalman makes one that can be attached to a PCI opening and adjusted
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/...dx=15&code=016

Thanks for the tips, but... At what temperature does your 'system'
temperature stay? And, is this a 680i based mainboard?

I've Googled around a lot, and it seems Intel boards have the 'system'
temp at around 35-40 deg C. However, whenever people reported their
temperatures of an NVidia based mainboard, the system temp was usually a
lot higher.

This indicates to me the location of the sensor in both cases is quite
different.

So, if anyone has some specs on their 'system' temperature with an NVidia
680i based mainboard (or something else from the nForce 5xx or 6xx
series), I'd be most interested.

Regards,

Patrick.

In article ,
First of One wrote:
"Patrick Vervoorn" wrote in
message . ..
OK, I'll keep that in mind. I've kept the thing up for a day now, and
temperature has remained unchanged; CPU at ~40 deg C busy, System ~50 deg
C and the 8800GTX at ~63 deg C idle.

So what do your 8800GTXes idle at in the above setup?

The 8800GTX, like most contemporary video cards, has temperature-dependent
fan speed. At idle the fan speed is by default set very low to reduce noise.
63 C is a fairly comfortable temperature and will not cause any damage to
the card over the long term.

It's also been my impression an 8800GTX at ~63 C is pretty common and ok.
So thanks for confirming that.

How did you get the quiet fan to blow over it? I have one case fan which
blows air out and which is mounted at the height of the Northbbridge fan
in the backside of the casing.

Does your northbridge have that funny-looking "roller coaster" heat pipe
system on it? Those passive coolers were designed to receive some direct
airflow, either from a case fan or from the CPU fan's downdraft. Try
reverse-mounting the case fan so it becomes an intake fan, which will blow
cold air directly on the northbridge. (Exhaust will be handled by the power
supply.)

The following link should also provide a picture of the mainboard:

http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?f...maincat_n o=1

It has a (passive) heatpipe cooling attached to it. While I certainly
don't mind reversing a case fan, I was a bit surprised the mounting of the
small NB fan MSI provided made no difference at all.

You can confirm the 'system' temperature I'm reading is the (internal?)
temperature of the Northbridge chip?

I've also this evening mounted the small MSI-provided fan on top of the
Northbridge heatsink-assembly, but this does nothing for the temperatu
the 'system' temperature is still at ~50-51 deg C. Still not sure what to
think of this... If this is an internal sensor to the 680i Northbridge
chip, I suppose 50 deg C is pretty ok. If it is, however, the air
temperature somewhere near or on the mainboard, 50 deg C would be a bit
much I suppose...?

All the components in your case except the hard drive can survive in 50 C
air without issue. So 50 C is okay, regardless of whether it's the
northbridge chip temp or ambient air temp... unless you plan on overclocking
and increasing voltages.

I wasn't planning on doing that. I'll try reversing the case fan this
evening, and see what effects that has on the 'System' temperature.

Regards,

Patrick.

In article , RF wrote:

For a system with such great components inside, the case choice was not the
best. It only allows for 1 exhaust fan at the rear, and no intake fans at
all, according to AOpen's site. That may prove to be inadequate, and might
be the cause of the ambient and 8800's temperatures getting so high.

Well, as mentioned else-thread, the temperature of the 8800GTX at 63C at
idle isn't a 'strange' temperature. And, I'm still not sure one can do a
1:1 comparison of the 'system' temperature on an NVidia nForce 6xx board
vs the 'system' temperature on an Intel based board: I have the feeling
the sensors providing these temperatures are located in different
locations in both cases.

Another indication for that: if the ambient temperature of the machine is
indeed ~50C, I would notice this very clearly when touching the casing,
since 50C would be quite uncomfortable. However, the case is about body
temperature at most.

I always recommend having at least 1 exhaust and 1 intake fan in a case.
That way, you get air moving right through the case. A single exhaust fan
just can't pull air in the front very well at all.

With only 1 exhaust fan, cable routing and component arrangement becomes
even more important. What little airflow there is can easily be impeded and
affected by cables.

I'll recheck this, but as I said: CPU and GPU temperatures are not
worrying me at all, and I'm still trying to find out what/where exactly
the 50C 'system' temperature is measured. Also, all cables seem to have
been tucked away quite enicely.

Thanks for the input.

Regards,

Patrick.

I run two GTXs in SLI and had the same issue with the bottom card. I did
some research and finally put the second card into the 8x PCI-E slot and
there is absolutely no difference in SLI performance and a big difference
in
the temps of the cards.

OK, I'll keep that in mind. I've kept the thing up for a day now, and
temperature has remained unchanged; CPU at ~40 deg C busy, System ~50 deg
C and the 8800GTX at ~63 deg C idle.

So what do your 8800GTXes idle at in the above setup?

Mid/upper 50sC.


I also use the 680i chipset and have a quiet fan
blowing on the HSs of the heatpipe system. This keeps my temps down in the
40-45C area rather than the 50+C it was before. It doesn't take much air
moving over the HSs to cool them down a bit better.

How did you get the quiet fan to blow over it? I have one case fan which
blows air out and which is mounted at the height of the Northbbridge fan
in the backside of the casing.

Tie-wraps or Velcro can be used to put a fan just about anywhere you want
one........:-). They also can be used so that everything stays looking good
and neat too. I used Velcro to mount it to the top of my P180 case so that
it blows over the NB/SB heatsinks. It is a 120mm 3-speed fan set on low and
is completely silent. Just keeping some air moving around those HSs makes a
big difference. My ambient case temp (measured with a thermistor in the
physical center of my case) is 30C. Room temps are cool (wife says we could
hang meat here....:-). I keep the thermistat at 68degF year round. I also
use the small fan that Asus included for the NB and am also leary about
whether it makes a difference or not since I added the other 120mm fan. It
did help a little before, so I will just keep it there since it is virtually
silent.


Ed