Temp in GF2 Ti

My Leadtek GF2 Ti 64MB card shows a default "critical temp" at 172F/78C. Don't know if this is the right temp to start worrying.

I was wondering how much can I OC without changing the card...

I'm running it at 270/450. Temp is 123F/51C. Hope this is ok.

Anyone?

That temp is not too high but i'd try to keep it a bit lower .Is that speed overclocked or not?
How good is your case cooling?

170F is the temp that was set as default. The chip surface temp is at 125F and chip edge is at 107F.

The card is overclocked using the OC program it came w/ to 265/455 from 250/405 i think.

I was wondering if the card ever reaches 170F, is that too late or is it just a "red light" warning?

Leadtek card

Any cooling mods with your card?

I have the same card and I just modified my Blorb into a Slorb. I also have cheapo radioshack ramsinks, and some 80mm fans blowing fresh air near the card. I run it at 276/524 most of the time, but I can benchmark it as high as 281/535.

Ramsinks and a good GPU cooler don't have to be very expensive, and you can transfer them if you get a new card.

OC'ing

Welcome to the forums!

You can find your card's limit by benchmarking it at new settings. First, disable v-sync in display properties/advanced/direct3d. If it locks up, reboots, or exits 3dmark2001, then the GPU is probably clocked too high. If you see sparkly dots and distortions on the screen when benchmarking, then the memory is probably clocked too high. Test core speed and memory seperately first and find the limit of each. Then try raising both at the same time and go as high as you can. Note: without good cooling, I wouldn't raise either setting more than 10%, well maybe the memory could go higher than 10%. And watch the 3dmark scores, sometimes it works at a higher setting, but gets a lower score. Make sure you close any unnecessary programs before benchmarking. And you might want to try a different program for tweaking the card. I used Winfox for a while, but I got better results with NVmax. There's also Riva Tuner, Powerstrip, and a few others. Changing your drivers will give you better performance, too, but it may disable your TV-out.

When you've found the right settings for your card, loop the benchmark 10 or 20 times, or play some games for an hour or two. I fyou have problems, lower the settings.

Hope this general info helps you. Have questions? Will answer.

the backside of my gpu chip tends to hand around 50*C with the stock cooler... i think i might look at replacing it with something better and getting some ram sinks

cooling GF2

Raising the memory speed on GF2's is more effective than raising the core speed, since they're memory-hungry. Get the ramsinks first as they'll give a bigger boost in performance. Be careful when putting them on though, some thermal pastes like Arctic Silver can short out the card if you get any on the ram's leads.

The bigger the sinks (more surface area), the better. Also airflow across the fins of the heatsinks will make them more effective, especially if the air is coming from outside the case.

My card is stock. I'll attempt to put heasinks and a better fan in the future when I become more experienced in such things

So now I know why 3Dmark2001 locks up sometimes!!!

Thanks guys!

leadtek card

Kid Payne:

Lock-ups probably mean yor core is clocked too high. Leave the core at 250, and raise the memory until you see artifacts, then back it down slightly. Then raise the core a little bit at a time. If you can run your memory close to 500 and your core between 255-275 you should be doing pretty good.

Are you using the stock drivers? Switching to new nvidia detonators may give you a big boost in 3dmark score (mine went up about 600 points switching to 23.11's) . It also might disable your tv-out, though you could get it back by reinstalling the winfast drivers from the cd.

You could also maybe help your card out a little bit by pulling off the stock heatsink, and either lapping it, or using artic silver thermal paste, or both.

Arkaine23,

Sorry for the long delay.
I'm using the new detonator drivers. Once i installed it, i gained more than 400 points. I will try to raise my memory speed and lower the core speed and see what happens.

Soon, dont know when, but soon i'll get the nerves to modify my card. But you guys make it sound so simple

modding

Ok, I'll admit that I've had some basic elctronics training. I know a capacitor from a resistor and can solder farily well. But I'd never done any of these mods before. Only a couple of months ago I bought and built my first "real computer". I unlocked a cpu and overclocked for the first time. My advice is to take deep breaths, double-check what you're doing as you do it, and work with precision.

It all depends... a lot of mods are quick and easy, some are more involved. Ramsinks and a better gpu cooler...those things only take a minute to install. Removing capacitors as in the "image quality mod", also a snap once you're sure which ones to remove. Setting up case fans, lapping heatsink bases, moving resistors a la the quadro mod... those things are more involved and require a bit more time and a few special tools. But of any of the mods I've done, changing drivers has improved my 3dmark score the most...

Thanks

I lowered the core speed to 260 and the memory to 270. No probs so far.

Soon I'll add heatsinks and a better fan to my card...just have to get the nerves to do it.

memory?

270? Isn't the stock setting 401? You should have it at 450+. Maybe it's the prog you're using... 270 DDR means 540 maybe? I don't know, but you want to get the memory as high as it will go without artifacts. Godd to have it as close to 2x the core speed as you can get.

oh man...i made a mistake. the memory was at 470. Now I have the core at 265 and the Mem at 470. It has been running smoothly.

I havent been around for some time. Have been real busy up until about last month. Your replies are appreciated!