ASUS GTX 770 Overheating and Making Buzzing Noise

[Akhilcool]

I bought the ASUS DirectCu II OC GTX 770 a couple of days back and I ran both Furmark and Unigine Heaven 4 on it to test the temperature and noise. I have not overclocked the card at all and it's at stock settings for everything.

When I ran the Furmark Burn-in test, my temps top out at 96 C after only 2 minutes until I have to shut it down in risk of damage. I checked the fans and they're running normally and at high temps they do spin near 100%. Even Unigine tops out at a whopping 89 C.

The ASUS site says it has a max running temp of 98 C! I checked the fans and they're running normally, and at high temps they do spin near 100% which is normal.

Also, at the beginning of each benchmark the card makes a pretty loud buzzing noise that starts off faint, gets loud and then disappears after ~15 secs. It doesn't sound like coil whine to me because it's a lower pitched, vibrating noise that goes away and does not reappear throughout the remainder of the benchmark.

On all the reviews I saw, the card maxes out at around 69 C and the ASUS version is supposed to run super cool right out of the box. What should I do?

BTW, I have a HAF 912 case with 2 front 120 mm fans, a side 120mm, a rear 120mm, and a top 200mm so internal cooling shouldn't be an issue.

Any help is appreciated! 😀

 

[Shneiky]

Try removing the side fan. In rare cases - the side case fans interferes with the optimal airflow and it is counter productive. As an owner of a 650TI and a HAF 912 and previously other cards with DirectCU, I can vouch that having a side fan with Asus DirectCU or Asus Dual Fan Cooling inside a HAF 912 is not working for the better. If that does not help - then it is RMA time. Cheers.

 

[Akhilcool]

Try removing the side fan. In rare cases - the side case fans interferes with the optimal airflow and it is counter productive. As an owner of a 650TI and a HAF 912 and previously other cards with DirectCU, I can vouch that having a side fan with Asus DirectCU or Asus Dual Fan Cooling inside a HAF 912 is not working for the better. If that does not help - then it is RMA time. Cheers.

I just tried that. There was no change in the temps or in the noise. Also, would removing the side fan even have any effect on that noise?

 

[Shneiky]

Yes, a side fan can have that bad effect. The best airflow for a PC is linear - air comes from front and front/bottom and vents from back and top/back. Depending on the case, fan configuration and the video card cooling solution - putting a side fan can cause turbulence which produces a lot of noise and affects cooling negatively. Or it can disrupt the airflow to the card, negatively affecting performance.

Side fans are best used with passive video cards. It does wonders over there.

In my HAF 912 configuration, I even removed the 200mm front fan - so now I have just the back and top exhausts - thus having negative pressure in the case and my temps dropped with 1-2c and I have one less fan to make noise. Negative pressure is performance wise better, but it does encourage dust gathering. Even something else - the moment I changed from a blower type cooler to the Asus Dual Fan card - my CPU temps dropped with 3 degrees. it is all about having proper airflow. So "the more fans - the better" is not true at all.

I got carried away a bit, so anyway - I suggest you take a look at the GTX 770's shroud. See if it is sturdily screwed in, do the fans move upwards and downwards, do they bend? If you see any problems in the graphics card's structural integrity - file up an RMA.

 

[Akhilcool]

The replacement card I received solved all of my problems! It turns out that my first one must have been faulty. I think someone must have bought it first and returned it because it was defective. I remember that the box it came in was kind of damaged and everything was already opened before. This new is pristine however and my temps on Furmark max out at 79 C! That's a lot better than the 97 C I was getting before after just 2 minutes of running the program. Also, the new one makes no noise at all. Turns out that the card is in fact a beast!

 

[Shneiky]

Glad you solved your problem. Cheers.