980 Ti problem

[T1berious]

Hi There,

I'm hoping there's some PC gamers here that can set my mind at ease. I have a Gigabyte 980 Ti sitting in a Define R5 Case and a 5930K CPU I recently went from air to to water cooling (aio corsair 240)

The case is setup with 2 intake fans at the front, 2 intake fans on the radiator (pulling through the radiator) and one exhaust fan.

Previously, I had the odd crash, once a month kind of thing. In the new setup the crashes were way more frequent even though the CPU was pretty cool (42C under load)

Turns out the GPU auto curve wasn't great as it was regularly seeing 65 - 70C. I changed the curve and my temps are down and I have no more crashes but it now sounds like a jet taking off.

I run at 1440 with high \ ultra graphics settings. Am I expecting too much from my GPU?

Any help \ advice greatly appreciated!

T1b

[Jinx]

I wouldn't have been worried unless I was seeing constant temps above 80 degrees (IIRC 980Ti starts to throttle above 83 degrees).
You may want to adjust your fan curve profile to allow a little more temp just to keep the noise down (I'm surprised you were getting crashes at 65-70).
980 Ti might start to struggle at 1440p with all the eye candy on (especially on anything from Ubisoft) - but drop motion blur, DoF and some of the other post processing effects (that only look good in screenshots) and the card will good to go.

[T1berious]

Cheers Jinx,

I guess, I've been OK for what feels like ages apart from the odd crash. I've just had a stable gaming session at sub 60C. Might be the cards feeling ready for retirement. To be honest the only game that seems to have sent it into a spin is Battletech but as I'm addicted to it I'll try scaling back the eye candy.

980 Ti has been great for stuff like Black Ops III at 1440 max everything. I guess the devs have been using more video ram etc.

Thanks again!

T1b

[Whoozit]

Dust? I recently opened my case for the first time in a year, to slot in more RAM. I was pretty shocked by the amount of dust floating around. The CPU heatsink was about 25% blocked when I removed the fan. Could be worth extracting your GPU and giving it a thorough going over?

[Haltamer]

Wouldn't expect any crashing at those temperatures - What's your PSU Like? Any Bluescreen logs? Finally, Any chance it could be a dodgy RAM Stick?

Usually I've found that there will be at least some visual artefacting before a GPU lets go; My 780 Died with a month left of the warranty after demonstrating similar symptoms and I got full purchase price back

[FourWheelDrift]

Haltamer said:

Wouldn't expect any crashing at those temperatures - What's your PSU Like? Any Bluescreen logs? Finally, Any chance it could be a dodgy RAM Stick?

Just an FYI for the mental notebook when chasing crashes that appear to be RAM related, it can actually be the channel slots rather than the stick and caused by the fitting of a new cooler. Tightening the cooler too much on the CPU can causes issues such as RAM blue screens and a slight loosen or re-seating of the block can fix it.

Since the OP has fitted a new cooler they might want to just check that too, check how it is with RAM in just one channel, then check the other. Run an benchmark test to work the CPU. If it crashes on one but not the other refit the cooler.

Ps. Check the CPU for bent pins as well.

PPS. and of course don't go mad with the thermal paste.

[chris285]

Those temps are normal for the gpu, as advised need to look elsewhere imo

[T1berious]

Cheers for the responses chaps,

OK, so history wise...

I had a pretty deep clean prior to installing the AIO. Wasn't that dusty as the case was closed most of the time and the dust filters had done there job, however I'd used an air duster on the board, fan and GPU.

All good, I don't think it was CPU as it wasn't removed, just cleaned when the AIO cooler was installed (snug, rather than beyond finger tight!)

So after 2 long gaming sessions I can report no crashes (at one point I was having to do crash saves while gaming)

The CPU peaked at 44°C and the GPU at 58°C

The only problem was the PC is now oppressively loud (I share the study with SWMBO and it's only a matter of time before her patience reaches an end).

So should I adjust the fan curve? The room gets quite warm but I'd kill for some quiet quality gaming!

Any advice greatly appreciated

T1b

[Whoozit]

I'm not an CPU temps expert by any means. But 44 deg max seems overly cautious? To avoid upgrading, about a year ago I overclocked my now 7 year old i5 3.3GHz to 4.2GHz in steps. It maxes out at 70 degrees and IIRC the interweb experts say up to 90 degrees is probably safe. I do have a side vent right by the cooler and a top case fan, as well as a a giant and quiet CPU cooler https://www.arctic.ac/uk_en/freezer-13.html

[Haltamer]

You can certainly ease well off with the fans; Until you're thermally throttling (Usually not a problem with full size PC components in a mid tower / normal size case ime) there's no impact on performance, or reliability - The only temperature related crashes that you'll find will be those due to thermal protection, which is usually ~90deg depending on the component.

[130R]

As has been said above: 70C is absolutely fine on the GPU. For the CPU - TJMax on a 5930K is probably 100C. The cause of the odd crash you were seeing will be something else.

[chris285]

Just to clarify are your AIO fans pulling air through the RAD into the case?

[T1berious]

Hi Yup,

Radiator fans are pulling through the top of the case. I was OC but dialed it back while diagnosing my crash issues.

So it's vent, rad, fans pulling cold air through. I'll see if I can post a pic

Edited by T1berious on Tuesday 15th January 10:53

[The_Cheeseman]

Can only concur with what has been mentioned above, highly doubt it's temp related. For what it's worth my OC'd 3570k maxes out around 73C and my GPU 290X hits 95C before throttling itself, never get crashes though.

Interesting point about Battletech though is that it will run at an unlimited framerate in the menus, so will basically 100% your GPU.

[T1berious]

At the weekend I did an O/S re install. Been stable so far so I'll watch this space. Didn't get a long session in but hopefully tonight I can get a few hours in.

I'll let you know how I get on.

[h0b0]

T1berious said:

Hi Yup,

Radiator fans are pulling through the top of the case. I was OC but dialed it back while diagnosing my crash issues.

So it's vent, rad, fans pulling cold air through. I'll see if I can post a pic

Edited by T1berious on Tuesday 15th January 10:53

My AIO is set to exhaust on the recommendation of the manufacturer. Seems odd to me but never have temp issues.