MSI R9 280X 3G Gaming Edition Overheating FIX!

MSI R9 280X 3G Gaming Edition
Stock Clocks 1020/1500 1.194v
Bios: 015.040.000.000.003435 (113-C3865000-G77)
Device ID: 1002-6798
Subvendor: MSI(1462)

Steps taken to try and resolve over heating issue and throttling.
Before fix temps:
60c idle
101c load during 3DMark, Warframe and BF4... :flame:

Needless to say at that temp the card would throttle down to 1000MHz or do a random crash, artifact etc...

After much researching, decided to try and update the BIOS to a newer version, after trying every single BIOS and driver combination :bang:

I reinstalled the original bios, removed all drivers....

Then I removed the heat sink and cleaned off the old thermal paste and applied new antec formula 7 nano diamond thermal compound. Made sure the heat sink was tightened down evenly and secure.

Booted up
Installed latest AMD 14.12 Omega Drivers and ran all tests again this time running MSI After burner.

1050/1500 1.194v
+20 Power Limit
Fan 100%
Temps:
Idle: 44c
Load: 62c! :banana:

I have not been pushing the card at this point passed the default OC Mode that MSI uses of 1050/1500 until it gets burned in a little bit, but the temps being 39c lower is a huge plus!!!

If anyone else out there with the same card make sure to apply new thermal paste being careful not to bend any fins or break any fans and that the heat sink is attached securely and evenly.

EDIT:
New Stable Overclock:
1095/1700 1.200v
+20 Power Limit
1.600mv memory
fan 100%
Idle: 48c
Load: 66c

Looking good Lewis, Feeling good Billy Ray! :infinity:

 

Congrats!
And if you put fan @ 70% or auto,what temp you have?

I wonder why they doesnt put cooper on hetsink.
In this picture look like dont have any cooper or has?
http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2013/10/msi-radeon-r9-280x-ge-oc-review/msi280xoc-6b.jpg

 

Nice job, sounds like the heatsink was not applied properly.

 

There is no copper on the heatsink, which is a bummer but allows them to give the products at a lower price. It would be possible to cut a thin piece of copper that could be applied to the heat sink but that would probably be more work than it is worth.

Water cooling with a copper block would be the way to go.

Have not put my fan below 75% but temps seem to stay the same. I usually always run my fans at 100% - 90% to ensure the cooling stays optimal.

 

There actually is copper in the HSF assembly. Lots of it too, it's been nickle plated to protect the finish.

 

excellent job there FookDat

thats around a 20c drop in temps!

Those idle temps are a little high though but those load temps are great. On ym HD7970 (which is basically a 280) at 1150/1650 @ 1.138v I used to get around 66C max load temps with around 80% fan speed and idle temps of around 25-30C. But this was a gigabyte board with the windforce cooler which has more pipes and fans than the MSI one.

Still great temps, maybe you could look into getting better case airflow, make sure cables are routed correctly to allow airflow to pass over the GPU and maybe upgrade the case intake fans at the front for faster better cfm ones with lower noise. Something like the Noctua or Corsair AF series are a good place to start.

 

Check it out now after burning it in a little bit with the new thermal paste!
This is running on air!

MSI R9 280X 3G Gaming TwinFrozr
Bios: 015.040.000.000.03435
1020/1500 @ 1.194v/1500mv

AMD 14.11.2 Beta Driver
MSI Afterburner 4.1.0
GPU-Z 0.8.0
Warframe Update 15.9
Battlefield 4

Stable Overclock: :supercool
GPU Core :1200MHz @ 1300mV
GPU Memory: 1800MHz @ 1700mV
+20
Fan:100%
Idle: 45c
Load: 70c
VRM: 30c
VRM Max: 59c

3DMark
Firestrike w/ Demo
Score: 8431
Graphics: 9677
Physics: 11089
Combined: 3631

Everything seems to be running stable now, no more black screens or artifacts.

I am going to start replacing the thermal paste on my video graphics coolers right when purchased. I had this card for around 10 months before I realized there was a problem that could have really cost me. Extremely pleased with the results!

 

That is a great OC for that card! Glad to hear that you have it running smoothly now, but I'm wondering if you are clear on the why.

Anybody with more knowledge than me can feel free to jump in and correct me, but it seems much more likely that the cooler wasn't seated or attached properly, which would cause your massive temperature problems, rather than a low quality thermal paste. I'm not trying to sound superior or anything like that, I have plenty to learn, but it may save you down the line with a new card that has a warranty you want to keep.

Automatically ripping every cooler off the second you get them may void all warranty because of those little stickers being broken. I do see the irony of my words, seeing how we OC the heck out of everything, but it's just something that came to my mind since I've been able to make warranty claims after OC'ing cards since I had my warranty stickers intact.

 

@ FookDat: Geez 1200/1800 OC.
Congrats!

Could you put a gpuz sceenshot to see how much is the bandwidth and pixel/texture fillrate?

 

The Fook clan?

 

Not sure what you are referring to?

 

Nvm then.

 

I just added some fans...

Case:
Corsair Graphite Series 760T Full-Tower Windowed Case
2x140mm bgears 110cfm top fan
2x120mm bgears 110cfm on CoolIT Vantage ALC blowing out
2x140mm corsair 86cfm front fan
2x120mm bgears 110cfm inside case blowing on video card

Airflow is not a problem anymore



New Temps:


3DMark
FireStrike w/Demo
Score: 8446
Graphics: 9696
Physics: 11096
Combined: 3633

 

Yep,worth it.And the CoolIT Vantage water cooling do a great job.

Well done.

 

The CoolIT Vantage ALC is a great unit, I really like it. Have had it for several years. The LCD screen really tops it off the charts on awesome in my books! With many colors to choose from and performance levels with Temp color changing monitor is my favorite at the moment.

I did have an issue with the cooler when replacing the fans, I on accident let the reservoir hang upside down, which push an air pocket into the CPU block. Which caused the cpu to over heat and and pc to shut off.

Angrily I removed the CoolIT vantage and shaked it rapidly with the res above the water block and I started to hear bubbles going into the reservoir. Reinstalled and all is working as it should be again.

I also installed 2x120mm fans at 96cfm along the graphics card! I will post an updated photo. Extreme air cooling!

 

I made another change to the system today. I went and got another 2x120mm fans at 110cfm.

Then I removed the twin frozr fans from the heat sink.

Attached the two 120mm fans together using zip ties

Drilled holes in the fans to hold zip ties and tied the fans to the fan heatsink holes.

The holes were too small but my drill made them bigger!

I then attached the twin frozr to the back of the video card... here is the result!










6x24"


IDLE

LOAD


Adding the Twin Frozr to the back side of the card lowered the max temps of the vrm 10c!

During testing of:
3DMark-Firestrike w/Demo
Warframe-Max Settings for several hours
Battlefield 4-Ultra Settings 2xMSAA

CPU Temps: 4.1GHz @ 1.275v
Idle: 27.5
Load: 31.5

Average temps in games were 53c GPU and 38c vrm
Not bad for 1200/1800 @ 1.300v/1700mV on Extreme Air Cooling! :banana:

 

I modded the bios which related in a more stable OC.

Using VBE7, I set the 3d clock to 1200 and 1300 mv.

I left the memory at default since it did not give the option to edit the voltage in the bios. Have not found a utility that can do that either.

I also set the TDP limit from +20 to +50.

Resulting in a higher score of 3DMark Firestrike.

1210/1800
Score: 8698
Graphics: 10003 (beat the 10k mark :speed
Physics: 11040
Combined: 3788

15.x driver would not install with the modified bios. No issues with MSI or 14.11.2 beta.

This also allows me to not need any utility running in order to achieve 1200@1.300v on the GPU. It seems to run more smooth with the +50 boost as well.

Another good note is the coil whine is pretty much gone now... was not expecting that. It seems the more boost in voltage helped. Maybe the coil whine was it just needing more power!

Hope more of this helps others out there with the same card. I will keep updating.

Remember, keep modding and grinding!

 

This is pure Powa!
How the heck did you put that coolers over back of the card?dont touch the circuits I guess.

Well I hope you dont keep that settings sooo high,for the sake of health card.