Overheating graphics card

[Zeus[BTY]]

I have a Sapphire Radeon X850XT-Platinum Edition which runs Civ IV fine on the highest settings.

However, often while playing Civ IV, I get a message from the ATI driver saying that the card is running above a safe temperature, and that it's going to run at a lower frequency.

This happens only with Civ IV, and not with any of the other games I play, most notably BF2 which I play even more often, and which I would estimate to need a lot more graphics power.

I did try to run Civ IV with AA off, but that didn't help. I'm loath to turn down more settings for fear of coming to dislike the game...

Has anybody else here experienced this problem, and/or knows how to fix it?

Thanks !

 

[Zydor]

As you are aware thats a great card, dont change it

Civ IV pushes hardware to the limits, its like anything else there is no free lunch, more features in game means more work means more heat. Cards in general were not pushed to their limits by games in the past, this is changing (has changed) as more and more games also start to push the limits of 3D on cards. The complexity is not necessarily indicated by 'flash bangs' on screen - the infamous Harkonen thread expands those reasons, and is an interesting read if you have the time and inclination to dig deeper.

Its going to be an increasing issue with the average User not previously used to paying attention to cooling (and PC hardware manufacturers who knew perfectly they were taking cooling risks in hardware design because they knew current use for the average user did not push cards to the limit). As always its not just one symplistic factor behind it all

The only thing you can do - apart from the obvious load reducing measures you indicate is to boast internal cooling with additional internal case fans, and other cooling measures.

Clearly the simple things should be done first:

- reduce video load by reducing resolution and various graphics features. That includes reducing the color depth (aka 32bit to 16 bit) and the resolution of the backgound desktop if running a game in a Window. Individually all are relatively small, but collectively can add up to a fix in many cases as they all reduce the workload on the card
- Air_Blow clean the inside of the PC in the areas of Fans both Case and individual cards (this is very common, many have not opened up the PC - ever - then when they do, they see the accumilation of dust & detrius around the card, CPU and Case fans). A can of compressed air from the local PC store for a few £/$ sorts that easily (dont use a hair (etc) brush !)
- Do not keep the side of the PC case open. It invites dust to enter, but more important it ruins the airflow inside the Case that the hardware designer has (usually) carefully designed for optimal air flow/cooling with the fans he/she has built in.. Keeping it open can more often than not actually increase the card temperature.

If all thats done, checked and rechecked, its time to fit another case fan or one of the proprietory cooling solutions - the latter is a big topic for a another thread on another day should the need arise.

Regards
Zy

 

[Smidlee]

I have a Sapphire Radeon X850XT-Platinum Edition which runs Civ IV fine on the highest settings.

However, often while playing Civ IV, I get a message from the ATI driver saying that the card is running above a safe temperature, and that it's going to run at a lower frequency.

This happens only with Civ IV, and not with any of the other games I play, most notably BF2 which I play even more often, and which I would estimate to need a lot more graphics power.

A new tropical map will run the GPU as hot (as hard) as a game like FEAR with max settings. So trees and jungle will run put a load on the GPU. When the map starts getting loaded with cities the I've notice the GPU will run cooler since a lot of trees and jungles get chopped.

I did try to run Civ IV with AA off, but that didn't help. I'm loath to turn down more settings for fear of coming to dislike the game...

Has anybody else here experienced this problem, and/or knows how to fix it?

Thanks !

Did you checked to see how hot your GPU is running? Have you checked your graphic card to see if it's filled with dust or to see if the fan is working. Do you have something plug in the PCI just below your graphic card? (7800 gt is so big that I actually lose a pci slot. While I could plug something in this slot it will block air from entering the fan to cool the GPU.)

You got a serious cooling problem that if you don't get it fixed it will shorten the life of your GPU.

In my case the GPU will run 80*c (maybe a little hotter in huge topical map) with both new civ4 maps and FEAR with max settings. My 'Core slowdown threshold' is set to 115*c. If your GPU is set this high and it's overheating then that's seriously hot.

 

[Zeus[BTY]]

Thanks for your replies!

I will go ahead and lower the resolution and color depth for a while, and see how that works out.

In my case the GPU will run 80*c (maybe a little hotter in huge topical map) with both new civ4 maps and FEAR with max settings. My 'Core slowdown threshold' is set to 115*c. If your GPU is set this high and it's overheating then that's seriously hot.

The highest I saw it using the Catalyst Control Center is 89*c, but I'm not sure how fast the temperature goes down when I get switched to the desktop to see the message. Where can I check and/or set that slowdown treshold?

 

[Calder]

I had a graphics card (7800GTX) temperature reading of 70C taken immediately after a fatal error ctd during playing the game. It'll be interesting to see whether my new extra fan or two to improve airflow will stop these random crashes. It'll certainly help extend and maintain my hardware lifespan!

 

[Smidlee]

I had a graphics card (7800GTX) temperature reading of 70C taken immediately after a fatal error ctd during playing the game. It'll be interesting to see whether my new extra fan or two to improve airflow will stop these random crashes. It'll certainly help extend and maintain my hardware lifespan!

From the Tom's hardware tests 7800 GTX normally runs around 78*c when the GPU is been heavily used so I seriously doubt this is the cause of your problem. A graphic card that use over 100W will run a little warm. I agree though in trying to keep them as cool as possible since I wonder how long these 100W+ cards will last.

@Zeus
I can change this core slowdown setting where I read my GPU temperature. I got a 7800 GT s0 I don't know about ATI cards. Still that's sound a little high. The only reason you really want to change this setting if you feel your guage is reading wrong. I got a guage on my motherboard which always reads 120*c+ even from a cold start.