GTX 460 Running very hot while gaming. Any tips?

[Skyboy]

Hey guys! By no means am I an expert in this field so be nice lol. I bought a new rig around 2 weeks ago. Runs pretty well however I have noticed my GPU getting very hot in some high demanding games like Crysis 2 for some reason.

My specs:

CPU: AMD Athlon II AM3 X640 45nm 3.0ghz Overclocked to 3.4ghz (pre-overclocked)
RAM: 4gb Corsair DDR3 1600Mhz
Motherboard: ASRock N68C-S UUC
PSU: Corsair CX 500W
GPU: Palit Nvidia GTX 460v2 (http://www.palit.biz/palit/vgapro.php?id=1828)
Fans: 1 large Front/bottom intake fan, one side intake fan & no rear exhaust fan for some reason. My PSU has a large extraction fan which i "believe" is extracting some air.. not sure.

So I have been playing Crysis 2 with Extreme graphics settings with the DX11 and high texture features on. Ive tried lowering my settings and turning on and off vsync to see will my temps drop but to no avail.

Currently my gpu operates 32-34 idle and 82-86 degrees on load while playing crysis 2 at 1680 x1050 22" LG monitor/tv. The fan is almost always running at 80-90% which is really loud and is frankly putting me off gaming as my family can hear it in the next rooms at night!
Ive tried MSI Afterburner with a few fan profiles like 1degree fan % for every 1degree temp increase and 70% always but its still around those temps.

So do you think that not having a rear extractor fan is the problem? Ive heard that these Palit cards run hot, but its the noise of the damn fan that is doing my head in!!

Please help you can, Ive never had to deal with these issues before.

Thanks

 

[ssjwizard]

Ya most nVidia cards run pretty hot. 90c is within the safe range for that card temp wise. If you want it to run cooler you will need to scale up the fanspeed, if you want it quieter you need to let it run hotter... Unless you change the cooling solution. There are some after market coolers you could try, or mod the existing cooler. A better fan is usually a good start on that.

 

[pwnmachine]

Try this profile in afterburner.



^^ The third point is the best one to play around with to lower noise/optimize performance.

 

[LennyRhys]

OK I just carefully read your post and it looks like your problem is poor airflow inside your case.

You need to get at least one exhaust fan - I usually have MORE exhaust than intake, as IMO exhaust is far more important.

My Palit 460 never exceeds 75C and it's largely because I have two 140mm exhaust fans at the top of my case. I suspect if I was to switch them off my GPU temps would sky rocket.

 

[pwnmachine]

^^ +1

 

[Skyboy]

OK I just carefully read your post and it looks like your problem is poor airflow inside your case.

You need to get at least one exhaust fan - I usually have MORE exhaust than intake, as IMO exhaust is far more important.

My Palit 460 never exceeds 75C and it's largely because I have two 140mm exhaust fans at the top of my case. I suspect if I was to switch them off my GPU temps would sky rocket.

Thanks for the help guys. I ran that fan profile but its still the same. Now running 88c with 100% fan speed and the sound is horrendous. I think im gonna stick a large exhaust fan in, want to go 120mm but i think its the standard 80mm grill on my case which is the CIT Saturn gamers case (http://www.aone.co.uk/ProdInfo.ASP?ProductID=3019)

As you can see there one 120mm front intake and a 80mm side intake but no exhaust!

I also monitored my cpu temp, with about 22-24c idle and 43 maxed out on crysis 2 extreme settings. So would i be right to think the heat is local to the gpu?

Again thanks for your input!

 

[Zantal]

OK I just carefully read your post and it looks like your problem is poor airflow inside your case.

You need to get at least one exhaust fan - I usually have MORE exhaust than intake, as IMO exhaust is far more important.

until the day comes, where you find out that having more exhuasted air than intake air is impossible.
had 4 exhuast fans and 2 intake, the exhaust fans where not pulling out enough air.
going from 4 out and 2 in TO 3 out and 3 in was better.
(3 in the bottom getting air 2 above and 1 extractor for cards)
maybe it was just my impression, but i felt more air coming out from above.

but ofc this all depends on the case.

 

[EarthDog]

Try this profile in afterburner.

View attachment 100906

^^ The third point is the best one to play around with to lower noise/optimize performance.

Oye.. with that profile, the fan speed would seemingly constantly change, no?

I prefer steps than a slope. It just ramps up to XX% and stays there until Im done gaming and the temp drops.

 

[NotNero]

Im not familiar with the palit cards, but I have an EVGA 460SC EE(external exhaust.. which I don't really believe. It doesn't seem to exhaust much at all.) There are known problems with the way the heatsink was attached at the factory and that has been known to cause them to run very hot. I saw mine hit 90c one time, shut the thing down and yanked it out of the case. I went the expensive route and just bought a new card (had the itch anyway ) But the cheap route would be to by some TIM, get a screwdriver and spend 15 minutes reseating the heatsink/shroud.

 

[pwnmachine]

Oye.. with that profile, the fan speed would seemingly constantly change, no?

I prefer steps than a slope. It just ramps up to XX% and stays there until Im done gaming and the temp drops.

Yes, it is always changing however when gaming it stays pretty much constant(the sutle changes are not noticeable). I tried the step profile but it was constantly jumping up and down with hard swings. Maybe I just need to tweak it better...

 

[LennyRhys]

until the day comes, where you find out that having more exhuasted air than intake air is impossible.
had 4 exhuast fans and 2 intake, the exhaust fans where not pulling out enough air.
going from 4 out and 2 in TO 3 out and 3 in was better.
(3 in the bottom getting air 2 above and 1 extractor for cards)
maybe it was just my impression, but i felt more air coming out from above.

but ofc this all depends on the case.

I have no intake fans in my case - just two exhausts at the top which pull out the warm air that rises from the PSU and graphics card, and they do a magnificent job.

Case airflow is mostly misunderstood - the priority is to get warm air out; how you do it is up to you. Some people push it out with powerful intake fans; others (like me) pull it out with powerful exhaust fans. Intake fans are vastly overrated IMO.

 

[pwnmachine]

^ Although you are correct, bringing in cool air from outside of the case is vital. However most cases today are made with plenty of mesh panels so its really is not an issue.

 

[dejo]

some of the Palit based cards didnt have heatpipes on the cooler and tended to run way hotter than other 460 based cards. you should be fine as the cards are warranted the way to are delivered.

 

[Zantal]

^ Although you are correct, bringing in cool air from outside of the case is vital. However most cases today are made with plenty of mesh panels so its really is not an issue.

this explains it all, and my case needs intake fans as well as output fans.

 

[Skyboy]

I just noticed that my wi-fi card was slotted tight infront of my gup's fan, so I removed it. This has dropped the temp by about 8c or so.

My card covers all my slots except one which is really a tight squeeze even for a thin wi-fi card. I doubt I would be able to fit a cooler in there at all on my ASRock N68s-c uuc mobo.

I am going to buy a rear exhaust fan today, I think my grill can hold 80mm or 92mm going by the two holes sizes in there. Thinking of either:

1. Zalman ZM-F2-FDB 92mm http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/p [...] /zm-f2-fdb
or
2. Scythe Kama Flow2 92mm 2200 RPM http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/p [...] w2-92-2200

Also thinking of replacing the front lower 120mm intake fan on the case with a high spec fan to increase cfm also. Thinking of:

1. AeroCool Shark 120mm http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/120mmfans/ae-shark-120-black
OR
2. Arctic Cooling Arctic F12 3-pin http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/120mmfans/ac-arctic-f12

On my ASock N68s-c uuc mobo I can only see one chassis fan 3 pin connector so I will prob connect the rear extractor to the PSU and the front intake to the mobo so I can control the beast!

Any opinions of these fans? I think they will extract well

 

[LennyRhys]

^ Although you are correct, bringing in cool air from outside of the case is vital.

Yes, but good airflow can achieve this without any intake fans - a good exhaust fan will create negative pressure inside the case, and the negative pressure is what draws cool air in. An intake fan would definitely facilitate this but is not always necessary. I used to have a 120mm fan blowing air onto my HDDs, but I thought of it as a dedicated HDD cooling fan even though technically it was drawing air into the case.

this explains it all, and my case needs intake fans as well as output fans.

If the airflow is somehow obstructed, eg if cool outside air cannot easily get into your case, then intake fans will help force the air inside.


@Skyboy,

You don't need high performance fans - servers use high performance case fans, but that's because servers generate much more heat and are much more cramped inside than a PC. Get low RPM fans (1400 RPM and below) which will be virtually silent but will still provide reasonable airflow. My two 140mm exhaust fans are at 900 RPM most of the time.