A bit of a techy question.

[old.Tohtori]

I aquired a new(old) gfx card, 6600gt, but there's a tiny problem.

It's normal temp is around 50-60, and game use(such as oblivion) is around 70-80, even 90.

Now i'm just curious, what would be the long term problems with this? Just bluescreens if it overheats, no burning computart etc?

I've got three fans in the monster already, so i'm guessing it's a bit of a "insufficient power" problem altogether, just can't cough up the cash for a new powercore right now.

 

[Mabs]

i had the same problem with mine a while ago (it ended up in the bin). the 6600 series are known for overheating problems, they are, in technical parlance, "a big pile of old toss"

fuck it off and get something decent

 

[Laddey]

Wack a fan next to it!

 

[Roalith]

Shouldn't cause any problems to the other components in your box - unless of course it catches fire and starts burning

 

[Sharma]

Same as above, 6600s are gash, get a budget 7600 or even a 8600 if you can afford it.

 

[Roalith]

8600's are at a surprisingly good price point at the moment - around £60 if I remember right?

 

[old.Tohtori]

Well ofcourse i would buy a "Sweet-bums-in-highdef" gfx-card, if i had the cash, or even a "well it's ok" one, but the problem is that this is the "best" gfx-card i can stick in my computart, without replacing the powercore. And there comes the moneytrain *woosh* and there it goes. No passengers.

So basically, from what i've read, "Stick a fan on the side and hope for the best" and live with it?

Luckily porn quality is not affected.

 

[kirennia]

Run your machine with the side off as well if you want to keep the temperature down. Also don't have the computer in a corner of any kind, nor in direct sunlight; all these things will help a bit but as people say, short of replacing it or sticking more fans in there, there isn't a lot of difference you can make.

 

[Roalith]

Depending on the fan configuration and size of the case, taking the side off can in some cases lead to higher temperatures due to airflow - if air is supposed to be sucked in at the front and sucked out at the back, pulling air over the components, it won't do to have it disappearing out a big hole in the side

 

[Helme]

My 7600GT card is running at ~85" while playing games and has been doing so the last year, haven't noticed any problems so far. Graphic cards are designed to be more resistant to heat than CPU's, because they are generally much, much hotter.

That said, my old Barton CPU was running at 70" idle

 

[Blackjack]

HI-JACK

2x 8800gt in SLI or 1 8800 ultra?
4 gb ram and XP or 8 gb ram and vista?

 

[Roalith]

It's actually whether you're using a 32 bit or 64 bit edition of Windows (XP or Vista) which is the issue in terms of how much ram is supported, not the fact it is Vista or XP. XP 64 bit supports up to 16gb. This does of course mean you need a 64 bit processor

And both combos of graphics card are a waste of cash right now. 2 x GT's will probably be about the same performance level as one Ultra - but that'll be at most 10-15% higher than one GT on it's own, for an extra £160 or so.

 

[Blackjack]

It's actually whether you're using a 32 bit or 64 bit edition of Windows (XP or Vista) which is the issue in terms of how much ram is supported, not the fact it is Vista or XP. XP 64 bit supports up to 16gb. This does of course mean you need a 64 bit processor .

so 8 gig will work in 64 bit XP? sweet.

i was thinking of going with Q6600 or E6850

 

[old.Tohtori]

Case open or closed, no difference.

13euro 23" fan blowing on the side with the case open? 50c-70c offgame/game at medium force. Still have that "super blow" button on the fan, but, meh.

Wonderful these "high tech" solutions.

 

[Sharma]

HI-JACK

2x 8800gt in SLI or 1 8800 ultra?
4 gb ram and XP or 8 gb ram and vista?

SLI config 4gb and xp.

Vistas suicide atm.

 

[Blackjack]

SLI config 4gb and xp.

Vistas suicide atm.

So 4 gig over 8 gig even if XP will support the 8?

 

[Sharma]

There really really really isn't any need for 8gb memory unless you're running a bloody server lol, with 8GB mem you could run a small corporate business provided you had RAID too lol.

 

[Blackjack]

There really really really isn't any need for 8gb memory unless you're running a bloody server lol, with 8GB mem you could run a small corporate business provided you had RAID too lol.

it is decided then, i will need 8gigs of ram to run my Ninja empire!

 

[Iceforge]

Just to those discussing the 4gb + SLI gfx card and XP vs. Vista thing.

As stated before, the ram support depends on the version, not the OS, i.e. if it is 64bit or 32bit. That being said, if you are using 32 bit version of either system, you cannot have the following setup:

2 SLI GFX cards
4 gb ram

You can have 4gb ram in total, that is INCLUDING the mb's/gb's from the GFX card

Also, you cannot have the following:

Vista 64 bit and SLI gfx, as Vista 64 bit does not yet support SLI gfx cards, so you will have to use a 32 bit version of Vista until the update comes that includes 64 bit support of SLI gfx

EDIT: Oh, before someone asks the question "What will happen if I put in 4 gb ram and a/some GFX card(s) into my machine?" Will, then the smallest possible ram block will be auto-disabled by the system unless all ram is in 1 block, in which case the gfx card will be disabled. I.e. My current setup is Vista 32 bit, 2 SLI-connect 256mb 8600GTS and 4 x 1 gb RAM slots, I have a key to free upgrade to 64 bit the moment it supports SLI, and right now, my computer just operates as if I only had 3 x 1 gb Ram slots/blocks

 

[Bahumat]

Case open or closed, no difference.

13euro 23" fan blowing on the side with the case open? 50c-70c offgame/game at medium force. Still have that "super blow" button on the fan, but, meh.

Wonderful these "high tech" solutions.

I am guessing you've checked the graphics card fan for dirt etc? That can be a real bitch. Your machine may have a front fan which "inhales" the air, but the back fan which "Exhales" may not be powerful enough. THis would mean your machine sucks lots of air in, but cant get rid of all the hot air already inside.

Maybe a tool which monitors fan speed could help?

Just to those discussing the 4gb + SLI gfx card and XP vs. Vista thing.

As stated before, the ram support depends on the version, not the OS, i.e. if it is 64bit or 32bit. That being said, if you are using 32 bit version of either system, you cannot have the following setup:

2 SLI GFX cards
4 gb ram

You can have 4gb ram in total, that is INCLUDING the mb's/gb's from the GFX card

Also, you cannot have the following:

Vista 64 bit and SLI gfx, as Vista 64 bit does not yet support SLI gfx cards, so you will have to use a 32 bit version of Vista until the update comes that includes 64 bit support of SLI gfx

EDIT: Oh, before someone asks the question "What will happen if I put in 4 gb ram and a/some GFX card(s) into my machine?" Will, then the smallest possible ram block will be auto-disabled by the system unless all ram is in 1 block, in which case the gfx card will be disabled. I.e. My current setup is Vista 32 bit, 2 SLI-connect 256mb 8600GTS and 4 x 1 gb RAM slots, I have a key to free upgrade to 64 bit the moment it supports SLI, and right now, my computer just operates as if I only had 3 x 1 gb Ram slots/blocks

Nice post