Acceptable 4870 temps + OC

[Muffin Man]

so among a few upgrades done to my rig over the course of a month or so (saving up + xmas money ftw), i got me a 4870

anyway, i wanted some opinions on temps and OCing.

at the stock 750/900 (core/mem) clocks it idles at around 80-81 C and maxes out at around 90 C during furmark with the fan set to auto.

reading over some reviews, it seems like my temps are a tad high. overall it seems reviewers got low-mid 70s idle and low-mid 80s max with the fan also set to auto.

so maybe it's my case airflow? i thought i had a decent setup but you never know;

1x 120mm front intake
1x 120mm intake strapped to the back of hdd cage
2x 120mm side intakes
1x 120mm rear exhaust
1x 140mm top exhaust
and a small pci slot blower
(i don't think it matters but i also have 2x 92mm fans on my hsf [push/pull])

when i OC it to the max allowed in msi afterburner (790/1100) with the fan still set to auto, it idles about the same but the max increases slightly to about 91-92 C.

these temps, although slightly high, should still be ok right?

and about OCing, why is it so limited, well for the core anyway?? 40mhz of OCing headroom on the core seems pretty crappy...

i searched around and found that some people got over this limit by flashing the card with another bios from a card that comes pre-OCed past these speeds or just has a higher limit.

i don't really think i wanna risk bricking my card though, couldn't afford it. i'm still looking around for maybe another program that will have a higher limit than afterburner.

 

[Slaymate]

Those numbers just don't sound right to me. Your card should be idleing in the 30-40c range and I wouldn't want the loads to go over 70c. My 480 GTX's run cooler than your 4870 and that shouldn't be happening.

 

[Muffin Man]

yea but you have some nice coolers on your 480's though (i think), i'm only on the stock blower cooler.

with the stock hsf, if i was getting 30-40 C idle i would actually think that to be an issue. like maybe it wasn't screwed down tight enough because it seems like those temps would be too cool.

i could only afford this card because i bought it used, and i couldn't turn it down for the price i got . i'll see if i can get a hold of a small enough screwdriver to take apart the hsf to take a look inside for dust bunnies (it seemed like new from the outside though), and apply some new thermal paste. i'll see what that does.

 

[farinha]

Well, with folder running, I'm getting 48ºC on my ATI HD4890 at stock. Your temps are definitely too high!

 

[Slaymate]

No, even with the stock coolers my 480's run cooler than that.

I found this Power - Temperature - MSI R4870 MD1G Video Card Evaluation | [H]ard|OCP (they have more than one card in the chart) which is telling me your card is running hot at an idle. But it does show the Load value getting up to 90c. With those kinds of temperatures I would definitely be looking for an aftermarket cooler.

 

[Muffin Man]

Well, with folder running, I'm getting 48ºC on my ATI HD4890 at stock. Your temps are definitely too high!

it has the stock cooler too?

No, even with the stock coolers my 480's run cooler than that.

I found this Power - Temperature - MSI R4870 MD1G Video Card Evaluation | [H]ard|OCP (they have more than one card in the chart) which is telling me your card is running hot at an idle. But it does show the Load value getting up to 90c. With those kinds of temperatures I would definitely be looking for an aftermarket cooler.

hm that review i didn't see. load temps seem to be appropriate, but i am indeed running unusually hot at idle though...

ok. i'll leave the OCing alone for now then and for a quick fix i'll still open the hsf up just to see. even if it does help a bit, i don't like it running toasty like that so i'll search the netz for a cooler, soon when i get some more monies .

 

[farinha]

Yep, running at stock speeds with stock cooler.