Excessive video card temperatures

[Cunk]

For some reason this game scorches my video card more than any other game I play. When the ambient air it cool in my room my GPU hovers around 90 degrees C. On a hot day earlier in the week it shot up to around 103.

Just Cause 2, a very graphical game, only got my GPU up to 80 or so (on the same night when Xsyon ran it to 90).

My card is an EVGA (nVidia) 8800GTS (640MB). I haven't overclocked it or anything and I've got the very latest drivers from nVidia (197.45) (not that that means much -- maybe the older ones run cooler).

I mean, I guess it's not a priority but hopefully there's some room for optimization in the rendering code or something. Or else I may be forced to buy a new video card this summer when mine melts.

I'm curious if anyone else monitors their GPU temperatures and if so what are you finding?

[Relandi]

This game kicks my GPU fan to 100% within seconds of loading the game (similar happened to me with MO) and my temperatures will reach around low 90's too - however this isn't too uncommon for my card (GeForce 8800GT OC'd) because they run pretty hot regardless.

The fan going to 100% is a cause for concern for me though, because that means it's under a lot of stress, and considering the game isn't really that graphic heavy, it shouldn't be.

[Cunk]

Well usually fan speed is solely dependent on GPU temp. So if Xsyon causes your fan to come on full when other games don't then Xsyon is getting your card hotter than most games.

[Relandi]

Cunk wrote:

Well usually fan speed is solely dependent on GPU temp. So if Xsyon causes your fan to come on full when other games don't then Xsyon is getting your card hotter than most games.

That's exactly it - I guess I worded that a bit strangely, tired and at work.

It's hitting low 90's under 100% fan, which is the cause for concern, not the low 90's temp itself, as that is normal(ish).

:silly:

[JCatano]

My card gets to 79c with Xsyon when I turn tree detail to max (fan at default auto-adjust speed...maybe 50% at most?). With it around 320m the card hits about 74-75c. I don't think CoD:MW ever broke 72-73c, and DF will hang around 65c with 72c being tops.

(GT 240 - 1GB - DDR5 - OC'd by maker)

[DonViper]

have you seen if there is a lot of dust bunnies colected in the cooling ribs

[Relandi]

DonViper wrote:

have you seen if there is a lot of dust bunnies colected in the cooling ribs

I take good care of my PC, no, there's no dust.

[pid73]

apparently the graphics engine does less with more resources, or from the point of optimized engines (like those mentioned above) they do more with less. this may be caused by unoptimized code or something similar, but I have come up with another idea.

maybe it's because there is no "break" to the refresh cycle. try setting vsync on, which is normally off in the options. this will limit the refresh to that of the monitor (60/75 Hz on most LCD monitors).

If this helps then maybe it should be switched on by default. if not, then xsyon is simply more wasteful with the graphics resources then other games.

let me know if vsync makes a difference, I'm curious (I don't have that issue, my graphics card is small by comparison, a humble ATi HD3870).

[Cunk]

My Vsync was already on. But I don't think I need to be worried about excessive frame rates if that's what you're suggesting. I rarely go over 30-40 FPS and that's only when looking at the ground.

edit: Well turning vsync off did improve my frame rate somewhat (still not exceeding 60) but the temperature is the same.

[pid73]

Cunk wrote:

My Vsync was already on. But I don't think I need to be worried about excessive frame rates if that's what you're suggesting. I rarely go over 30-40 FPS and that's only when looking at the ground.

edit: Well turning vsync off did improve my frame rate somewhat (still not exceeding 60) but the temperature is the same.

Oh well, I guess this is bad news, then.
Apparently the engine requires a lot of resources for the graphics, even if they are comparingly "low end".