x800gto: how warm is allowed?

Neshi

i bought myself an x800gto 256mb. now is there a program on the cd called trixx, and it allows it to oveclock the card. but when i do that (it checks for the highest oveclocking capability) my card gets pretty hot.
normal clocks are 400/480 and i get it max to 456/527.
but the temperature gets to 50 idle, and 80 when stressed (playing a game: Farcry on 1280x1024 on high setting)
and i believe thats a bit too hot, isnt it?

Dyre Straits

Actually, these cards can go to 100.

However, that said, my own X800XL only gets up to around 64 -65 during heavy play of OBLIVION.

At idle I'm around 46.

This is all with stock cooling.

Neshi

and i guess that isnt oveclocked? cos when i dont overclock mine i get those temps too... but overclocked it gets so hot...

Dyre Straits

No, the only time I do any overclocking is for benchmark tests. I don't see the need to do so for gaming actually.

However, like I said, the cards can go up to 100 before causing damage. If you're going to keep the card overclocked, I highly recommend some after market coolers.

Tipstaff

One thing to look at would be the airflow within your case (as well as the airflow around your case). If the card has no airflow around it any heat the card is expelling will gather around the card, and increase temps. The same can be said for a case that has no airflow. Any heat generated by the other devices inside the system (hard drive, cpu, video card) will build up, and the card will start to heat up faster. Put it this way: what's the point of cooling a card when all you are doing is blowing hot air on it?

What you want is to have air coming into the case (usually through the front, or through a side vent), and then that air to be expelled through the back (usually by a back case fan, or the power supply). The less obstruction from the front to the back, the better.

As a test you could try running your system with the side panel off of the case. This will allow for good airflow, and will probably lower your temps (unless your room is hot). If you have a fan you could also try aiming it at the opened case as well.

Neshi

i now have pulled it back to normal settings.. performance is good anyway...
i ran the test on ati tray tools and overclocked i got an increase from 2992 to 3279... dunno if its much or not..

Tipstaff

<sigh> I shouldn't post when I'm tired. I just realized that why you were getting those temps.

H3X4D3C1M4L

Still good advice all the same Tipstaff

Neshi

but is an increase of 300 benchmarks alot or not? i havent got a clue...

Tipstaff

Truthfully, if you are talking about 3D Mark scores (is it the '05 or '06 version, btw?) then I wouldn't put much worth into the numbers you get since that POS is just a synthetic benchmark (sorry to put is so bluntly, but I hate synthetic benchmarks SOOOO much). Every synthetic benchmark score these days are pretty much the same across the board, and are always the first thing GPU manufacturers tweak in their drivers. They do this because people have been mislead into thinking that 3D Mark scores are gospel, when infact they are just 1 of many benchmark programs to consider when you are trying to benchmark a system. The real test, the "real world" test if you will, are the games, and more specifically, the games YOU play.

This is what you do: play games that you are intereseted, or that you play alot. Run the card at stock speed, and then again overclocked. If you get, and like the increase in performance, then yes, it was worth it for you. Even if a game goes from stuttering a bit to playing smooth can be a significant increase for you. If the increase is very minor, and doesn't really effect gameplay, then it's better not, or rather not worth it to overclock the card. You may find that some games have no performance difference when overclocked, while others will increase significantly, and in those cases you may choose to overclock on a per game basis. The thing is that every system and setup is different from person to person. I've seen people that have similar specs to mine get worse performance, and even people that get better performance. Same can be said with overclocking. One person may get better performance from overclocking the same card that another has, or they may get worse (believe me I have seen instances where overclocking made the card perform worse.. it happens). It can be due to any one of a number of different factors from hard drive speed, to the amount of and speed of ram they have (even the amount of physical sticks), what anti-virus software they are running, motherboard maker, and especially what CPU they are running. All play a factor in overall speed.

Again, the real test is the games you play, and that's really what matters, right?

Neshi

hehe.. you're right.. even at atock speed the cards perfoms really good.. and its certainly better to look at the gaems i play then the numbers i get on benchmarks..
btw, the test i ran was the benchmark option in ati tray tools..

H3X4D3C1M4L

The synthetic benchmarks can be useful to test system changes, i.e. FW On/Off, or how much 5 extra MHz matters (which it doesn't).

Dyre Straits

That's pretty much the only reason I run these benchmarks. I haven't even done that in maybe a couple of months now.

Tipstaff

Same here.

In all honesty, the only time I run them is to stress a system (burn in), or to show off a system to a customer. Otherwise it's pretty useless. Although, I haven't tried ATTs benchmark tool, so I can't really say anything about it.

Dyre Straits

You should join in the fun here:

Post Your ATi Tool Tray Benchmark