Graphics Card overheating error message making me s**t scared

AtHeIsT · June 11th, 2005, 10:38 AM

Okay so i come home from work and there is this error message from catalyst saying:

"Your display adapter is currently running at an above average safe temperature. The clock speed is now being reduced, please ensure there is adequate ventilation and cooling."

Okay so by this time i am getting quite scared thinking things like omg what if my the connections on my card melt or whatever all that money, my computer, etc.....

Attached are my system stats.

So i check the temperature in catalyst and it says 89 degrees Celcius. So i shit myself trying to remember the melting point of solder. So i immediately switch off my compuer move it out a bit from the wall, open my window fully, check my door is hooked back and turn my fan on full blast and leave it for a solid half an hour. I come back turn it on and the temperature reads 50 degrees celcius. So i calm down thinking this is a much better outcome. But question 1 is what should temp should my graphics card be running at, ideally?

Okay so now you know that i am running an x850x5 Platinum Edition pci-e on a Dell Dimension 8400. I think it has adequate cooling, it has a fairly large case fan 8 or 10 cm im not sure. and is situated on my desk beside a window (sometimes open sometimes not.

So do you think this is just a problem of my window being closed and my computer being turned onto long. Or is it something more serious like a design issue in this series of Dell computers, or something faulty with the graphics card or motherboard itself.

Ill wait till i here from here first in case it is something trivial and then i might email ATI and DELL.

Any help at all would be appreciated.

#43 fan · June 11th, 2005, 10:52 AM

Dell's desktop's suck. You should've built your own.
That is hot [89], but not enough to do damage unless it happens all the time. And, 50 degrees is much too hot for long-term. Get a another case fan. There are no 10CM case fans, there are 8, 9.2, and 12 CM case fans. Also, invest in a slot cooler.

AtHeIsT · June 11th, 2005, 10:55 AM

Up to this point i have been quite happy with the Dell desktop may i ask why you think dell's aren't that good. Anyway i would not have had the expertise to buy exactly the right parts and self assemble a computer myself, i know stuff about computers but i am not an expert. But yeah i might buy another case fan or something. Im gonna email Dell now as it is still under warranty i am going to issue them an ultimatem.

beastgreeley · June 11th, 2005, 11:39 AM

I wouldn't get too excited about the temps your card is reporting until I checked to see if the fan was spinning, and the reason it got so hot in the first place(what rogue program/spyware was running without your knowledge).

AtHeIsT · June 11th, 2005, 11:52 AM

There is no spyware on my computer at the moment, i know because i like to keep it clean and i am quite paranoid about that. I do not know what caused it too get that hot in the first place, perhaps because it had not been switched off in a while, maybe my room was too hot at the time. I do run quite a few background programs but i think my computer can handle it (i dont even use half my ram for active memory). I do believe the case fan was spinning. Whether the fan on the card was spinning i don't know.

Check out my attached hijack this log, and my attachment in the op should give everyone all the info they need i think. If not just ask.

#43 fan · June 11th, 2005, 03:17 PM

Never mind, I just read a review on the latest Dell in Maximum PC, and they said it was very close to getting a "Kick-Ass". Anyways, what I was implying is that they use inferior products, e.g. motherboard, case, PSU, memory, ect.

AtHeIsT · June 11th, 2005, 08:40 PM

I think i have isolated what caused it to overheat in the first place. I do run BOINC distributed screensaver and one of these uses my graphics card to run simulations and stuff. So one of the simulations it ran might have been to tasking on it.

This kind of makes sense because i came back and hte message was there after it had been idling on screensaver for a few hours.

Needless to say boinc is now uninstalled.

Only thing i have to see about now is whether the average operating temperature drops a bit.

Ive done some additional research and found other people have had this problem in the past albeit months down the track where there system has actually failed. I cracked my case open and my case fan has a shroud over it so it is just cooling directly on the CPU and my case is getting quite minimal cooling. I have emailed dell and asked for additional cooling to be installed and informed them of their 'very serious design flaw' and am awaiting a response from them.

What do you think about cooling solutions. PCI fan (i am down to one pci slot left), another case fan cus into the back/side of my case, other?

oh and what tempertures should the different parts of my system be running at and what overall temperature should it be at?

AtHeIsT · June 12th, 2005, 01:11 AM

Upon further research it seems that dell offers a card fan for higher end graphics cards that woudl otherwise experience overheating problems. So, i am going to get one of these from warranty if i can and i will buy a pci slot fan as well. I wont get another case fan as i dont want to have to drill into my case or anything like that.

Note: This would not have been an issue if in the purchasing process they informed the buyer of the option of buying a card fan and the implications. Well Dell knows that now, i told them in my email.. :snigger i was quite assertive in my liasing.

So Problem solved i think.

Thankyou, I have always thought you guys on this forum are THE place to solve tech issues like this.

Its good to have this open in the community knowledge.