Sapphire HD 7770 Gz Edition - Too Hot?

[turboedpickup]

I recently picked up a Sapphire HD 7770 Gz edition (1GB DDR5, 1Gz) and installed it along with a Corsair 430W ps into my Pavillion 6510f. It came with Far Cry 3 so I naturally was playing that. What seemed to happen was that after ~1 hour of playing, the game would freeze - and quit on me. Since then I've installed GPU monitor (like the CPU monitor) to check the temps as well as removed the case cover when I play. So far that has brought the temps to 65C under full load. It loses a little bit of frame rate at these temps. But it's definitely still playable.

I also found that the only fan for the tower was an exhaust fan (not an intake fan like I thought) on the bottom of the tower. The PS is located up top. The video card is located ~ 2-3" below the power supply with the fan pointing towards the PS fan. Both of these fans are intakes exhausting out the back of the tower. Knowing this - I flipped the fan on the bottom of the tower to be an intake fan. When I put the cover on, it gets to about 73C under full load and the game starts to lose frame rate (whereas it's really smooth at first). But I was still able to play for a while. I can only assume that when the fan was not flipped over, and the case cover was on, temps were going >73C causing some internal safety mechanism to stop the game...? Current game settings are a mix of high/very high at 1080 res.

A little more info on my PC - HP 6510f, Athlon II X4 630, 4GB ram... PCIe 1.0.

My question is... is this normal? Or should I be worried? I was thinking of installing a sidefan (cutting up the HP cover to install it) blowing directly into the GPU and PS intakes - and then making the bottom intake fan into an exhaust (which is the factory position). I understand that this is not ideal (intake at the top, exhaust at the bottom) - but that's all I can think of for now. Thoughts?

PC specs.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=c02153181

The motherboard in this picture needs to be rotated clockwise by180 degrees. The intake/exhaust fan is located directly to the right of the CPU (bottom right of motherboard). The PS is located on the top/right.

 

[markwp]

The gpu temp is not that bad. What are your cpu temps when playing.

That case has zip for airflow - combined heat from the cpu and gpu may be your issue. The stock cooler is okay for everyday use, but when you push it, it cannot keep up.

Your easiest solution may be to get an inexpensive aftermarket case and an EVO 212 cpu cooler.

Mark

 

[turboedpickup]

The gpu temp is not that bad. What are your cpu temps when playing.

That case has zip for airflow - combined heat from the cpu and gpu may be your issue. The stock cooler is okay for everyday use, but when you push it, it cannot keep up.

Your easiest solution may be to get an inexpensive aftermarket case and an EVO 212 cpu cooler.

Mark

Zip for airflow - ok that's good...that's what I was thinking but not sure of due to lack of experience with these things. The CPU temps are around 45-47C under full load with the case open. I haven't looked at it yet with the case closed.

I recently found how to put the game into windowed mode by pressing the "windows" button in game. But now I don't know how to get it back to non-windowed mode.

 

[smeezekitty]

Most games can be shifted in and out with ALT+TAB. In any case the GPUs should be fine up to 80-85c. It shouldn't be throttling in the 60s for sure.

 

[markwp]

Those cpu temps are fine. If you can live with the case being open and that dissipates the heat sufficiently to allow gaming, go for it. Just be sure to keep the dust bunnies out as they will accumulate quickly with the sides open.

You can pickup an inexpensive mid-tower like a Rosewill Challenger (comes with three fans @ $50) and a Cooler Master EVO 212 ($30) from Newegg and move the rest of your rig into that. Great cooling, room to upgrade and not a bad case.

Somewhere in your settings menu for the game, there should be a checkbox or option to run full screen mode.

Mark

 

[turboedpickup]

Sounds good. Thanks guys. GPU temps ~60-75C are ok? The temp usually stays within 5degrees while playing FC3. But yeah, the throttling of the game. It's smooth at first and slowly gets choppier. Is there a solution for that - seeing that it gets choppy @~75C? Another thread has said to increase the fan speed - but I can't seem to find it in the vision control center. Also - I can't find catalyst control center even though I installed it.

I'll save up for a new case in the mean time.

 

[markwp]

Yup - gpu temps are ok.

CCC doesn't show in your start>all programs? You can reinstall just ccc without messing with the drivers, or you can try MSI afterburner. Under settings on MSI you can set a fan curve that will ramp up the fan as heat increases. Personally, I prefer the MSI program.

Mark

 

[turboedpickup]

MSI afterburner will work with a sapphire card? Also...will this mobo fit into the rosewill challenger? I was looking at the ports on the aloe mobo - and the opening on the back of the challenger - what do you guys think?

 

[smeezekitty]

MSI afterburner works with all AMD and NVidia GPUs.

 

[markwp]

Your m/b will fit no problem. The i/o opening (where the m/b ports come out) is standardized. Just remove the i/o shield on your hp and move it to the new case.

 

[turboedpickup]

Installed MSI afterburner and that's definitely helping for now. Apparently the stock fan settings are ~30% fan at idle, and 40% at higher temperatures...AKA even at 70C, the fan was only 40%. Bumped it up to be around 55% at 60C and 70% at 70C. So far the temps are around 60-63C at full load with case open. I haven't tried it case closed - but I like the temps staying low. I also found that FC3 became VERY fluid when I changed it from 1080p to 720p - even on "ultra settings." Bioshock 1 can run at max settings with max temperatures being 50C. So it definitely just seems to be a game thing (probably obvious, just new to me). I'll be moving everything to a Rosewill Challenger and get that air moving.

Even now I'm sure to get the temps down with a fan pointed towards the area between the RAM and the GPU - that part gets a little warm even with the case opening off. It's just stagnant air sitting there.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[markwp]

Good deal. Play with the fan curve and you will find the sweetspot that keeps your temps at a constant you can live with. It takes a little time, but it's worth it.

Glad it worked out.

Mark

 

[turboedpickup]

Just an update... I got a NXZT 220 - added another 3speed 120mm fan. My motherboard only really supports 1 chassis fan. So the other two are directly connected to the PSU running at max (except the controllable one which is running at speed 1 - of max). FC3 runs at 51C average - peaking at 54C. The other games have yet to make it go over 45C.

My CPU is still pegged at 44C. Probably have maxed out the efficiency of the heat sink. Again. Thanks for all the help!

 

[markwp]

Good temps - glad you got it worked out.