GTX260 vs Skyrim

[benj1290]

So as the title goes, i have a GTX260 thats is a little overclocked (dont have the spec's as im at work) and my friend purchased me skyrim.

I got to playing around on it and im noticing that when I'm on it for more then a hour or so that my room gets really warm. I checked out my temps last night for GFX card and it was sitting at 100% load and at about 80~87

Now i cant play that kind of game without nice looking graphics, they dont have to be on Ultra or high, but a mix of high and medium is good. but i cant justify my room warmming up the way it is.

I can get about 600 bucks for a new computer, i also know that the Ivy bridge is coming out and that the 7970's will be dropping in price. Should i just get a upgraded gfx card? or a new system?

Current rig is: Q6600 on air @ 3 GHz, EVGA 780i Mobo, EVGA GTX260, OCZ DDR2-800 4gb (2x2gb), Raptor 150gb 1.5Gb/s.

 

[JimmyG]

Your room will warm up just as much with a new rig (if not more). Try opening a window!

The new rig will probably generate more heat because it will have a more powerful GPU and more ram and more hard drives and more everything.

What you will gain is a prettier video dispaly in SkyRim.

 

[benj1290]

I understand that, its getting to be spring time around here and its not much cooler outside as in my room, but my main concern was more about the heat on the GFX card itself, overall if the card is getting up to 80~90 is that bad i mean ill sit down and play my games for about 3~4 hours. I also play on a 1080p 32' Vizio TV.

 

[Automata]

80-90c is fine for that card. It is a bit on the warm side, though.

 

[nightelph]

My wife's laptop has a 260M, runs everything High, 2X 4XX AA, AF @1440x900. I would check temps but as its a laptop I don't think it'd be consistent.

 

[EarthDog]

80-90c is fine for that card. It is a bit on the warm side, though.

+1

My question is what is your fan set at? If its the default profile, make it more aggressive. I mean it will still put out the same W/BTU's but it wont get as hot temperature wise.

 

[Hicksimus]

New parts are always fun to have but like somebody already said they generally aren't likely to help your room temperature issue. I know most of us on here are all about getting a more powerful GPU every time we change them, but if you really mean you want to decrease your room temperature then I'm certain you can get a new graphics card with similar performance that draws less power and/or is more efficient meaning it may heat your room less. If you go for another performance card your room temperature won't change a whole lot but your framerate probably will .

I can't find a heads up comparison but the 7770 is likely close in performance but with less than half of the power draw it is producing much less heat unless it has a horrible efficiency problem(which it doesn't).

Also to expand upon/simplify what Earthdog was saying, lowering the GPU temperature won't lower room temperature but it may be good for your card. If you get a new card the temperature it hits is not a good indication of how much it is heating your room either. I've had customers makes comments like that in the past even though they bought cards that produced more heat. They just had better heat sinks that transferred heat to the air better. Ex. a new heat sink has taken my GTX480 from 85+C to the low 50's because it has more surface area and air flow but it is still producing just as much heat, it's simply spread to more air in my room quicker resulting in the same room temperature but a cooler graphics card.

 

[cyberfish]

If getting better graphics/higher speed is the goal, get new video card (no need to get new computer yet - 3.0GHz Q6600 is still way more than enough for most games).

If making room cooler is the goal, buy an air conditioner.

If making the card cooler is the goal, try setting fan speed high as suggested, or get aftermarket heatsink, but that's probably not worth it for a GTX 260, since aftermarket VGA heatsinks are mostly overpriced for some reason.

 

[cyberfish]

Also, make sure you have good temperature in your case. At a fixed power output, the difference between ambient and GPU temperature is constant. Which means, if you get 90C with the case at 40C, you'll get 70C with the case at 20C. So improve case cooling (fans) helps too.

 

[Ocer552]

I'd just grab like a 580 and call it a day.

 

[ssjwizard]

http://www.hwcompare.com/11959/geforce-gtx-260-vs-radeon-hd-7770/

Maintain similar performance at less than half of the power output going with a 7770.

OR

Open a window/door and setup a fan?

I would probably atleast wait to see what ivy does as its likely that going from a C2Q to a SB or IB chip will buy you some more life out of the 260..