vetta2000

So I recently won a BFG GTX 260 OCe at the Showdown LAN. When I went to install it, I first uninstalled my current card's (PNY 8800gts 320mb) drivers, then went to install the card into my system. I seated the card fully into the PCI-E 16x slot, and noticed that the screw holes on my case do not line up with the screw holes on the card. The only way to make them line up is if the card is not fully inserted into the slot (or if i were to basically bend the card). I ended up just lying the tower on its side as a temporary solution, so that it doesn't fall out or move anywhere...

So I fire up the computer, install most current drivers, and the card works. I played tf2 for a little bit, but noticed very little difference in performance. So I decided to test out my card's capabilities in crysis (a game more dependent on gpu than tf2).

I set the settings to high, which were the recommended settings for my system. I run around for a bit at a stable 50-60 fps, until i get up to this one flare on the ground. I look directly at the flare, and lo and behold my gpu has exceded the temperature warning threshold of 90c and my nvidia monitor starts to beep then the computer crashes and my screen turns neon green and pink pixels.

I let the computer cool a bit, open up the case, point a fan directly on the motherboard, turn it back on, start up rivatuner, increased fan speed to 100%, and went back to test out the same scenario again, just to see i could cool it better. I look at the same exact flare, and boom, computer crashes screen freezes and turns blue (not blue screen of death, just blue pixels).

The northbridge is also getting exceptionally hot, So i just shut it down and left it.

Any ideas of what I could do to solve this problem? One friend suggested I take apart the gpu and re-apply thermal grease to it. Another friend suggested I get aftermarket cooling for it.

What should i do?

Marin

Take apart the cooler, reapply the thermal paste, and see if it makes a difference.

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dieanotherday

that's what you always say =\.

Marin

Because that's how its done.

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TnB= Gir

Because that's the thing he should do in this case.

Also, how is your cable management? Cables everywhere can block airflow and make temps worse. And how many fans do you have as intake/outtake?

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grunion

I would RMA the card.
I had a 260 that would reach 95°c/100% fan speed.
The replacement runs < 65°c/65% fan speed.

I say rma, BFG does not cover cooler removal.

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How do I uninstall Video Card drivers?
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Marin

How would they know


But a RMA sounds like a good idea.

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grunion

Might not, but if they checked..they'd know.


If you do pull the cooler, do not destroy the ram pads.

EDIT> If the card could be rma'd through an e-tailer, pull the cooler.
I'm doubting that is possible, since it was a freebie.
I wouldn't take my chances with a direct rma.

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How to Set/Verify 3870X2 overclock
How do I uninstall Video Card drivers?
How do I see my in game temps?

CorryBasler

I did that with the Stock cooling oon my 8800GT's and i got only a 2C Drop in temsp! I used OCZ Freeze and i used 91% Rubing Alchol to get it nice and shiny! The only real way to get temps down is to get a better cooler!

vetta2000

Unfortunately I am struggling to find a gpu cooler for this particular unit.

Something somewhat spectacular happened tonight. I got home from work, after leaving my computer off all day, turned it on, found the checkbox in the compatibility tab in the system tweaks menu that said 'Enable motherboard chipset compatibility mode'. So i checked it on, and rebooted. Then began to play crysis on high.

No crashing happened in the 15 or so minutes that I was staring at the same flare that crashed my computer previously. I tabbed out of crysis to check the temp, and it peaked at about 74 c as opposed to the 90+ I was getting last night. So i dunno if it was just a random fluke that cause it to overheat, or whether the settings in rivatuner that I changed had anything to do with it.

So the problem seems to have settled a bit.

What is your advice about the screw holes not lining up properly? Is there something I can do to ensure that my gpu is secure in the case?

As for the ventilation issue, I currently have my computer case open, with a fan blowing directly into it, on fan on top, blowing in, one in the front blowing in, two in back blowing out, so we can rule poor ventilation out as a cause. My cables are not perfectly tucked away, but I have an Armour case and there is plenty of room for everything. Photo taken with my old 8800, but the cables are more or less in the same shape: http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/2...idecompkj6.jpg

I am starting to think that my motherboard is a peice of junk. They dont even show support it anymore at msi. The cpu speed is at 1066, while the ram speed is limited to 800. I accidentally bought 1066 ram thinking that was the appropriate speed for it.

I am going to get some rubbing alcohol, and coffee filters tonight and clean and re-grease my gpu with this arctic silver stuff i bought. I wont touch the vram coolers. One thing that worries me is the position of the card over the mother board. It appears to extend beyond, and is touching the copper tubing of the south bridge.