Higher idle temperature with newest drivers (AMD)

[Justin Boyce]

Hi, I recently updated my AMD video drivers to version 13.12 Catalyst from 13.9. My video card is the Sapphire Radeon 7950 Dual-X version that is factory over-clocked.

Anyways, the temperature now idles around 40 degrees Celsius, and before would idle around 30 degrees on the older drivers. I'm just curious if their is a reason behind this, under a full load it only hits 60 degrees while gaming, I have a big case with large fans and have never had a problem. I realize these are safe temperatures for video cards, but I'm curious if their is any explanation for why the idle temperature is higher than before, or if anyone would have any feedback on that. I have my GPU clock up to 1100 from 925 and the memory clock up to 1500 from 1250, which were my setttings on the 13.9 Catalyst drivers, and like I said the idle temperatures were lower than they are now.

Here is my case: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197

And my video card: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202026

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[smorizio]

it culd be that they changed the default fan speed again for the r line of cards. toms found that the retail fans were not working as well as the test cards shipped to amd. amd sent an updated to fix some fan speed issues and temps. may be that the newer driver has the fan running lower for noise then it was before. I would try msi afterburner or gpu-z see what the fan speed is. then speed it up a bit.

 

[Justin Boyce]

it culd be that they changed the default fan speed again for the r line of cards. toms found that the retail fans were not working as well as the test cards shipped to amd. amd sent an updated to fix some fan speed issues and temps. may be that the newer driver has the fan running lower for noise then it was before. I would try msi afterburner or gpu-z see what the fan speed is. then speed it up a bit.

I had a look but everything is the same as it was on the 13.9 drivers, just about 10 degrees higher idle temperature on the latest 13.12 driver. The fan speed is the same as before, I checked with Afterburner and GPU-Z.