Possible Video Card Over Heating Advice

[dpeel]

I experienced my monitor going black on and off yesterday after playing Kingdom Come Deliverance with video set at high. I suspect it's the video card overheating.

Main System Components :
Sapphire Nitro Radeon R9 380 4GB
Intel I7-860 CPU
Asus P7P-55D MB

The first thing I did was check to make sure my video driver was up to date. I will next open my box and remove the video card and blow the dust out and reseat in the pci slot.

I've been trying to milk this almost 10 year old system I built in 2009 until Intel and AMD come out with new CPU's that fix the Meltdown and Spectre Hardware bugs.

I will leave the side off after I put it back together so I can visually watch to make sure the 2 video card fans are coming on. I will also possibly turn the video quality setting down to medium in 1080p which is the native screen resolution.

I was thinking about installing a program to monitor the cards temperature.

I would appreciate your input as to my conclusions and what program I might install to monitor the temperature. Also, at what temperature the card should be running at and what temperature would cause it to start causing it to black out the monitor with no video signal?

 

[Unolocogringo]

Iuse MSI Afterburner or EVGA precision to monitor cards and set custom fan curves.
90c is the max temp for your card.
But setting a custom fan curve will lower temps without too much excess noise.

 

[Greeko85]

It could be hardware related but I suspect the game itself could be the culprit. I myself have had black screen crashes with that title with both an r9 fury and a 1080 strix. Does the issue occur on other games? What kind of temps are you reaching?

 

[dpeel]

Thanks for the fast response guys. I haven't installed a program to monitor the temperature, yet. Cleaning and reseating the card and watching to see if the 2 fans on the card are working is my next step which I will do shortly. Setting the video quality to medium and installing a program to monitor the temperature is next. I haven't had this problem with any other games.

 

[Adams_89]

it doesn't sound like an overheating issue to me. At least that's not the first thing I would think of; I would lean towards the game being the culprit.

Definitely start with downloading a GPU software, like Afterburner.

 

[dpeel]

After I experienced this problem, I rebooted my Windows 7 64 bit operating system and tried to start trouble shooting. I used my Web browser to start looking for possible info and it blacked out the monitor again. I then tried to watch a video with sound to make sure the video was the problem and not the system rebooting. While watching a video with audio, the screen went black but the audio was still playing which confirmed to me that the problem was either the video card or monitor. I might mention that this was shortly after I had exited the game and not sure if the card was still too hot. A little later, the black screen problem seemed to dissappear so I started the game back up and noticed that the menu screen in the game had graphics that were loading slowly.

 

[Adams_89]

did you check all your plugs connected snugly? It could be a loose plug.

 

[dpeel]

I don't think a loose cable was the problem but since I've taken the system loose and outside to blow the dust out, I will be reattaching all the connections. I've removed the video card and blew it out. It didn't really look that dirty. I will be reseating it in the pci slot next. Then I'll reconnect and leave the side panel off to monitor the fans.

 

[dpeel]

Well, I have it back together now and turned on. I have the side off so I can watch the fans. The video card fans are cycling on and off so they are working. I guess the next thing is to install software to monitor my temperature.

 

[dpeel]

I assume the MSI Afterburner or EVGA Precision software will work for my Sapphire Nitro R9 380 card?

 

[Adams_89]

Yes, that should work.

 

[dpeel]

I have the MSI Afterburner software installed now and adjusted the fan speed to go up with temperature. I have it set with an overlay in game to show gpu temp, fan speed, And gpu usage. I haven't changed the video quality so it's still set at high in 1080p. So far it's showing 62c, 62% fan speed, and 100% gpu usage.

 

[Adams_89]

Those are great temps.
I think it might be your HDMI cable (if that's what you're using) or the power cord to the monitor.
When the screen goes black you say you still hear it, right? Take note to see if the power light on the monitor is still on, next time.

 

[CelicaGT]

"I've been trying to milk this almost 10 year old system I built in 2009 until Intel and AMD come out with new CPU's that fix the Meltdown and Spectre Hardware bugs."

You're going to be waiting awhile, the Intel 9 series will be more of the same, with only the microcode fix, and AMD while being more resistant partly to do with a different cache setup and using SMT vs. HT is still vulnerable to some of these side attacks. And it is unlikely to do a full rehash of a just released core design. Besides, as soon as these holes are patched others will be found in rather short order I expect, and gaming performance is barely affected by the current microcode fixes. So, if your workload is gaming or mostly gaming I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a system upgrade, as 9 years is getting to the point where component failure, more specifically capacitor failure, is becoming a real risk.

 

[dpeel]

I use a DVI cable to my monitor. Where would I find the normal temperature rage for my video card under load and the maximum operating temperature?

 

[Adams_89]

If you're not even hitting 70 under load, then your temps are great.
What are your temps when not playing a game?
As far as what it should be, Here's a PCGamer review of the card:https://www.pcgamer.com/sapphire-radeon-r9-380-4gb-review/

 

[dpeel]

Looks like the temp is 38-40c just using a browser. The temperature dropped in a few minutes when I shut the game down.