7950 Crossfire heat issues

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon' started by jackliu913, Jun 2, 2013.

  1. jackliu913

    jackliu913 Master Guru

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    Hi,

    I've noticed that my cards run at two very different temperatures. I just got a system back in last november so it's in great condition, all parts are new.

    The first card (on top) is the MSI twin FrozrIII 7950
    bottom card is Gigabyte Windforce3 7950

    When running intensive games such as Metro Last Light
    the first card was running crazy hot, 89C at peak. The fans are already set to increase speed gradually as temperate rose
    my 2nd card only hit about 65-70C, makes no sense

    The Msi card's fans are already blowing like a jet engine, well over 90%
    Gigabyte card is at a calm 70% fan

    GPU usage on both cards when running Metro LL was about 81%. I'm afraid 90C is way too hot and will fry the card, so I stopped the game after 15 minutes or so.

    I'm using the 13.6 Cat Beta drivers, other drivers yield roughly the same temperature. I'm also running games at a very conservative overclock @
    1035/1488 -- 1106mv voltage.

    what should i do?
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2013
  2. jackliu913

    jackliu913 Master Guru

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    anyone?

    cuz the temperate for the cards are like close to 20 degrees apart.
     
  3. eclap

    eclap Banned

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    The MSI cooler runs a fair bit hotter and louder than the Gigabyte one. Not much you can do apart from swapping their positions and/or lower your core voltage if you can.
     
  4. jackliu913

    jackliu913 Master Guru

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    yeah, i regret getting this POS
    so loud and hot. I would love your vapor-x, but they dont have them in my local stores (NCIX, memory express)
     

  5. Lowki

    Lowki Master Guru

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    Yeah first off always run the hotter card as the bottom card. Its funny cause I have that same card and its my cooler card other one is a reference card. my card doesn't get nearly as hot as yours.
     
  6. Fox2232

    Fox2232 Guest

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    89°C at that cooling with not so high voltage. I would guess that cooler moved during card installation and air bubbles got between heat sing and GPU.

    Based on this assumption I would advice easiest thing which you can do, and that is repaste.
     
  7. Lowki

    Lowki Master Guru

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    op also just out of curiousity what games do you play at what res. Single monitor or eyefinity. If its just a single monitor at 1080p. 60hz or 120hz?
     
  8. jackliu913

    jackliu913 Master Guru

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    I play all games with single 24inch monitor 1920x1200 res, 60Hz I believe.
    I play starcraft 2 like 70% of the time, some BF3, some CS:GO
    But once in a while I play graphic intensive games such as the aforementioned MetroLL, Far Cry 3, Hitman Absolution.
     
  9. Titan29

    Titan29 Master Guru

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    I had 2 MSI TF3 7950s in CF before I gave one to my brother. I too noticed that top card will run hotter than the bottom one because the top card will intake the hot air that is exhausted by the bottom card. This is normal. However, the temps for my top card would go about as high as 80 C but not more than that. Also, this was using FurMark, in games it would actually be below that ~70-75 C. I ran both at default voltage overclocked to 1050/1575.

    The MSI card is known to have a bad TIM (even though mine were ok). You can try taking off the cooler, removing the TIM and applying a good brand (I used AS5). See if that helps.

    Other factors that affect top GPU temps are distance between both cards (Mine was 3 slots), Case cooling (I have 2 12 CM bottom intake, 2 12 CM side intake blowing directly over the GPU).

    I noticed with a single card, the max temp I have seen is 63 C with furmark, with games even less. Mine are the original batch TF3s that had 7970 PCB and 6+8 pin power.

    I have a single Dell U2412M (1920x1200) @60 Hz.
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2013
  10. jackliu913

    jackliu913 Master Guru

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    how do i take off the cooler? and how to u remove the thermal paste
     

  11. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

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    Friend has 2 7950s and they had bad thermal paste as well.

    Just remove the screws, take off the metal heatsink, and apply new thermal paste. Loads of guides online. You need to buy a tube of thermal paste before. MX-4 is a good inexpensive option that I generally use.
     
  12. eclap

    eclap Banned

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    yasa actually has a good point there. Although the MSI Twin Frozr is known for slightly higher temps, it's worth doing what he suggested. I would almost guarantee that the temps will drop slightly if you repaste with a decent paste. MX-4 is a popular choice, costs peanuts and is definitely worth giving a go.

    So, stick the MSI in the bottom slot, re-apply paste and your temps should drop a fair bit. Let us know how it goes.
     
  13. eclap

    eclap Banned

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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jExfK6_zZRU

    just wipe the paste off with whatever you have handy, I usually use bog roll, just like the guy in the video above lol. make sure it's nice and clean before re-applying new paste.

    EDIT: as opposed to that video, I always spread out the thermal paste evenly across the heat spreader. but some don't. Make sure you unscrew/screw the cooler off/on diagonally.
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2013
  14. yasamoka

    yasamoka Ancient Guru

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    I've asked MSI about removing the cooler to apply a waterblock and they said that warranty is void only if damage occurs to the card when doing such procedures.

    I'm guessing this applies to your cards. If there is any problem with your cards later on, you will not have lost your warranty.

    If you would like to make sure (and I suggest you do), then send MSI an email and they should respond promptly. Alternatively, you might want to call them on a local number. Always pays to be sure.

    No need to buy more than a 4g tube if you're only going to use thermal paste for those two cards and a few other applications maybe.

    Friend had the 70s-80s temps issues and then they dropped to 60s eventually.
     
  15. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

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    Theres nothing wrong with the MSI card. If anything paste on it isnt put on well enough, tf3 cooler is as good as the windforce. As for your temperature problem, im guessing you have no space between the cards, a single slot is not adequate and no slots in between its going to get toasty. You need 3/4 empty slots with good airflow between the cards to get decent temps. The top card is sucking the hot air from the bottom card, the gigabyte will be just as hot if you swapped them. Thats why its better to get reference cards for multigpu as they blow heat out of the computer instead of into the case like your two cards do. It doesnt matter what kind of cooler you get, they will all run hot when in multigpu configurations without adequate space and airflow.
     

  16. Lowki

    Lowki Master Guru

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    You have a good point with the reference coolers. My 7970 is reference and I sit it at the bottom so it doesn't suck hot air. Keeps the top card cooler aswell.
     
  17. jackliu913

    jackliu913 Master Guru

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    OK i took out all cards and installed back them again. I put gigabyte card on top and MSI card on bottom. This time i connected my monitor via HDMI, before I was the white big adapter... DVI?

    I ran metro last light for an hour, temps seems better. running stock voltages/
    1035/1500 conservative overclocks. Max temp was about 78/77. Both cards are much more matched up in terms of temperature, only a 2-3 degrees apart as oppose to before.

    Ran battlefield 3 for a couple of rounds, max temps hit about 75C, approximately for both cards.

    Altho these temps arent great, but still bearable. I would love to hit mid-60's but I dont think that's possible.
     
  18. Lowki

    Lowki Master Guru

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    Those temps seem normal. I don't know too many hi end cards that stay within 60 c while gaming. If you want those temps might look into water blocks.
     
  19. Noufel

    Noufel Guest

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    hi, do you have your side panel's fan instaled ??
     
  20. BBN

    BBN Master Guru

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    TS you should try the open case scenario. Doing so will certainly reduce your temperatures significantly!

    EDIT: Just to give you an idea, my cards run at 59-61 Celsius with fans at 50%..all that with 100% GPU usage
     
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2013

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