Maximum PC

Thermals are still a problem, though not in the GPU I thought.

My GTX570 is the one topping out at 97c when it is crunching. I've shut down all of my folding until I can get it under control.

Since I last posted, I've
-updated the drivers to the latest WHQL certified ones,
-installed the latest revision of the v7 client,
-shot compressed air through the GPU (with not much coming dust coming out),
-cleaned the case filters, and
-installed two more case fans. One of the fans draws in at the bottom of the case, while the other draws out from a shroud over the GPU exhuast at the back.

Relatively little change from all of that.

My next move is to crack open the cover of the GPU and re-seat the cooler with new thermal grease.

I never noticed this issue until the new WUs hit. Then again, I didn't even know about the new WUs until D2K posted this thread. Just been way too busy at work lately. Better than being out of work, though.

I know some people over at EVGA have stopped folding on gpus that are running hot. My answer, water cooling! I read a post that said he downclocked his card and at a certain point his temps dropped massively. He then increased the clock slightly and the temps stayed lower than before. Other than that I have not seen any workaround. Some people asked whether there was a command that allowed you to avoid these units but there dosnt seem to be as they are in the general circulation and advmethods.

I would have though with all that increased airflow you would have noticed a difference!

Yeah, when I put all three 570's into my machines and fold, my temps got around 95/96. I sticky taped a fast 80mm fan on the cards and got the top two cards down to the more normal 86/85 with the bottom at 82, but that's when the ambient temp is actually fairly high. I put the middle 570 back into the other computer now so its at 80/76 right now, but I did pull all the gpu coolers off, lapped the contact pads and applied my own good thermal paste and saw a good bit of drop on the temps in normal operations. Even saw them idle at 30C this morning!


Flip the fan over the gpu as an intake. You are pulling air out and reducing the cooling capacity of your blower. I see 5-10C difference when doing this in both of my systems running 570's.

I'm actually thinking of liquid cool my 570's, but use the cheap gpu blocks like the Larkooler VCG-10, Danger Den Maze5, Koolance GPU-210, XSPC Rasa or the Swiftech MCW82's for around $40-55, then grab some cheap ram heatsinks with a cheap XSPC 2x120mm cooling kit and call it a day. I don't really plan on overclocking, just keep it decently cool at stock speeds, but remove three loud blowers from my room. Every time I get thinking about this, I just want to do a proper LC setup and spend $100-120 per gpu block with a proper cpu block, high end radiator, pump and reservoir and then realize that the $200ish low end price tag would exceed $600...

First world problems.

When my GPU decides to fold I don't run into that issue though I am using precision instead of AB. I adjusted the fan PWM steps to turn on 5C earlier than the stock steps for precision. I did notice that if you don't keep precision running even if its in the background it won't regulate your fan speed. I was folding on the GPU and did a quick check of my temp with precision and noticed it up around 75C which may not seem like might much but knowing that I should be hearing a jet engine at that temp I wondered what happened. About that time the jet engine kicked in and brought the temp back down to a respectable level. Lesson learned: Make sure your GPU utility is running at start-up so you don't forget it.
I haven't used AB but precision works so well for me I see no need to change right now, though I may experiment at another time.
What case do you have?

CM ATCS 840 - a monster of a case with plenty of airflow. The shroud at the back of the case I mentioned can be seen in Fig. 9 & 10 of this review.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Cooler-Master-ATCS-840-Case-Review/670/3

I did turn off one of the top exhaust fans during initial trials with this rig. It is a 240mm fan and was pulling air straight out of the case and not allowing the flow to bathe the CPU or GPUs.

Only when it got warmer during the last CC did I have to resort to one of Tedster's tricks - replace the left side panel with a 20" box fan. Immediate relief.

I'll try stepping the OC back, just to see if that is the issue. I hate to think I spent $$ for a superclocked edition that has to run at stock.

That exhaust chamber looks stupid as hell. Not very aerodynamic at all. If you do want to route the heat away from the wall, I'd suggest putting a curved surface on the inside like thick card stock paper or even recycled press paper you find in a cereal box. Just make a hole for your display cables and route them through. It just seems very inefficient for the air to hit the wall, bounce off and then get pulled out of the side.

I think I can hear a dremel reving up in the background, lol. Dude you seriously need a side panel fan that blows right on your card. That case just reminds me of the old school CM wave case, don't ask its just a passing thought. Seriously though you should consider a small mod to the side panel unless you can get a different side panel for it. Throw a 120mm 70CFM 15db Fan and call it a day.

I'd have to agree on two things. Use Precision with a custom fan setting and have it always on; I've done so with OC'd 400 series cards running full blast @ 50-54C. Second, you need some ventilation pointing into your cards. A fan from the bottom &/or side would do you good. I'd say that the fans on the top and rear of the case are exhause, everything else is intake.

An intake fan at the bottom is one of the two I just added.

The other is exhausting the chamber at the back. Despite it's lack of aerodynamics, it should be an improvement over just blowing hot air against the wall a few inches away. Did I mention this case is a monster? If my desktop was larger, I would pull it away from the wall more. But then I would have to walk to the middle of the room to turn it on.

Excepting the inferno of folding last May for the CC, I've had few thermal issues. For that event, I said forget aesthetics and MacGyvered the box fan to the side just to keep folding. Otherwise, the relatively plain exterior was one of the reasons I chose that case. Very few doo-dads and even fewer lights (hence it's moniker, "Dark Taoer" lol.)

Liquid cooling would be my ultimate fix, but that will have to be down the line. Other financial priorities take precedence for now.

I just think these new WUs are putting a greater strain on the GPUs. Time to adjust.

These new WU's do put more strain on the GPU. I now have to stop GPU folding if i want to use my PC for anything other than checking the news or email. So far heat has not been an issue, but i do have a lot of cooling in this case. Air In: 2 120mm fans in front and 2 230mm fans on the side. Air Out: 1 120mm fan in back and 2 230mm fans in the top.

Yeah I have noticed the increased workload too my 560Ti Sc used to spit them out running @ 99% load running at roughly 60C now it has jumped up to 72C. I just grabbed 3 more 120mm fans to get the air flowing more through the case to help drop the temps. I noticed the issue yesterday when folding, and since this thread piqued my interest, that my temps while not hot for most where a little hot for me. I cleaned the case with some air and started the GPU folding again and them temps came down like 5C so it helped but then I added a 80mm fan on the side to blow on the GPU and it came down another 5C. My only problem is the 80mm fan is a jet engine compared to the 3-120mm and two 140mm I have so it got the boot after one WU. I am sure once the fans come in the GPU will fold on a more permanent basis.

I don't really see that dramatic temp increase with these new WU on my 570's. Seems about the same stresses when I play a game that can stress 100% like BC2; which is actually the only game that I've seen that does this. Not even BF3 puts 100% stress.

Odd, when I leave my main PC on to run f@h with the FAH gpu tracker v2 on at night, my GPU clients get snagged on running the new WU's; stuck on 0%. I have to dump the WU's and restart the client the next morning. This has happened twice so far, but never when I'm on the computer...

Anyone else have issues?

Have you updated drivers recently? New drivers can cause all folding to hang once your monitors go to sleep.

Oh good point, I did just update the drivers since I was getting some stability issues with the latest BF3 patch and ME3.

Yeah just go into your nvidia control panel and set it so that your monitors never sleep. If you want to save power simply turn them off when you leave. I had this problem running three gpus before this new driver set but the problem seems more common now.

you mean windows power settings? don't see anything in NCP about monitor power settings.

Yes haha sorry.

oh ok, good; I was getting worried that I was overlooking some setting/feature in NCP of where I need to press alt + f8, open the command line prompt to enter some additional advanced features, rub my belly and tap my head three times to get it to work. lol


And yes, I do believe in the rain dance; shit works yo! lol

(<----- Order of the Arrow, Eagle Scout; I know my native american dances and chants)

Same
*extends left hand*