GPU runs hot

I have a friend who had to go back to Calypso again tonight as her computer runs too hot on Arkadia wherever she is the GPU(nvidia geforce GT 240) goes up to 105C within a few minutes in game.

And when she had a friend visiting he logged in to his ava on calypso and the GPU was 15-20C cooler and he could be online several hours as she had him stay in when he went to check the temps.

PS. she tested drivers for the vid card, still same thing

Since I never read about this problem before I guess I post it here, but if it should be under bugs then move it please.

 

Funny as arkadia seems better optimized for the cryengine. I atleast have better frame rates at Arkadia then Calypso. But what settinga does she use etc ? could be that one setting at arkadia overheat something (like clouds)

 

Ouch 105C <>

I also have a Nvidia GT 240 and I dont get close to that temp on any planet, not even a benchmark application or burnin test gets my card up that high. Your friend may want to check her fan revs on the card or check for dust in the heatsink.

And like others I also recieve higher framerates on Arkadia then any other planet so realy dont know what can be causing this. The change in temp between planets may be one setting on her card that Arkadia utilises a bit more like particle effects or something.

 

simple solution, force vsync on

 

Interesting, I have a GTS 250, not the latest card for sure, but it was awesome on Arkadia until the last update (with the clouds added). Since then mine runs hotter as well, and the fan is always running like mad now. I also struggle way too much with lag spikes now, the kind that freezes the screen up for a few seconds. I suspect it something in my settings as well that needs adjusting now, but no idea what. If anyone would like to tell me how to turn clouds off for example that might be the key?

 

she said she done all from safe mode to normal setting she use to use and same results, but I'll try to get some more specific answers tonight.

And me personally agree with most others much better optimized even tho I never done any frame rate test but less lag or no lag as is custom on other planets.
And I also suspect it's some vu that messed it up as when we got her to Arkadia everything was fine :/

 

Depending on how old the graphics card is or how much intensive use you put it through, you may need to open up the case and re-apply thermal paste to the GPU. When you apply it, use a dot or line method, don't smear across the surface, this will create trapped air bubbles, which will lead to overheating. And when you first take it apart, you can use rubbing alcohol to remove the old thermal paste.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186038

I've owned an alienware laptop for some years and I had some overheating issues a couple months ago, getting up to 105 C, and this solved my issues.

 

If it is doing it on safe mode it'd be worth checking the cards physical condition, check that the fans are kicking in, that case airflow is fine, double-checking that the latest drivers are in use for everything (graphics, motherboard, sound), and possibly running it through a stress test like 3DMark.

Safe mode turns off just about everything - the card shouldn't be doing much at all, and certainly not enough to send it to >100 degrees.

- Deathifier

 

Talked a bit more to her, and here is some quotes:

 

The GPU obviously gets hot because it is running 100% workload. There are of course better XY ATI/NVIDIA cards with cooling solutions that don't let it get to those temps despite running at 100%.

Nevertheless, here the usual stuff:

Anti Aliasing is GPU work. Turn it off. You may have to check first your driver config page whether it is set to "use application settings" or something similar to it. If you have it "fixed" on the driver page, the application won't override it. So first check the driver settings for it, then game settings. On ATI cards its found in 3D application settings, guess, Nvidia got something similar to it. If you want to use AA, use on the 2nd setting "Anti Aliasing Mode" is set to "Adaptive Multi-sample AA", also on the drivers page. I would recommend though turning it off.

Next thing going heavy on GPU workload is Shading. There is not much to it, but experimenting on the games setting though. If you change the settings it is also recommended to exit EU and go to tools and "clear shader cache", restart.

As for the cloud problems, setting "volumetric effects quality" to low or so should work here, maybe medium.

Get also some monitoring stuff like http://openhardwaremonitor.org/ or for GPU only: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=53 (GPU-Z). So you can see actually workload when you change settings.

My current settings for EU on a MSI ATI 6870 Hawk are: Windows Mode: 1600x900x32, VSync OFF, AA off; Advanced Settings: All to High, except: Object Quality: Low, Shadows Quality: Safe Mode; Enable motion blur: unchecked.

The GPU runs steady at about 50-60% workload, about 55°C and the fans at 40% ~ 1500 rpm and somewhat quiet for this card. FPS is in most areas above 50 FPS, but then again I don't spent time hanging around Twin or so, but out in the wilds killing stuff.

OHM got a gadget build in where you can see the stats in a windows side gadget. Also, if anyone is using Rainmeter and going to use OHM, I have written a skin for Rainmeter to use OHM numbers to display on the desktop those numbers, so you have them on you screen. Attached is a screenshot of my current desktop, so you get the idea, how it looks like, since I use a dual monitor setup, it is set to the left and right of my desktop, so I have those number in view depending on what monitor I look at the time.


View attachment 1562

 

Did you check for dust bunnys in your cooling bits? I run Arkadia at Very High settings with an nvidia 240. No real lag or anything unpleasant with possible exception at the darkest moments of night with like 142 Huon surrounding me .. some reason that kinda makes things slow down a some.

 

Thanks for all those tips Cani, will play with settings a bit tonight, though I normally tend to run on all med settings when playing, not for performance reasons but simply that the high and extra high settings aren't as 'colorful' to me, so I prefer the med settings. I have a hardware monitor program from Nvidia, and for whatever reason both the lag and the gpu heat was better for me last night, gpu temp never went over 61c, even when I heard the fan kicking in and checked it. Understanding there are many variables at play, for all I know my lag spikes might be down to my isp or something rather than the game, but it was of note that all of that and the higher gpu temps started for me on Arkadia after the 'space' update, whereas before there had been a marked improvement for me on Arkadia vs Calypso in every way regarding lag and performance. This is why I thought the things I had noticed recently were perhaps related to the problems Jenny's friend is having. Hope she gets sorted out and can return to Arkadia.

 

+rep Cani for that, gonna download the GPU program my self for this slow pc to see if I can improve anything above low.

And doubt she have AA on in the drivers but ofc it's worth a look

 

Just a quick note that if you have recently updated your graphics drivers to the latest version, they may also be a cause of your problems, since there was a report of a different issue with Nvidia drivers on EP, will try to find the link.

http://www.entropiaplanets.com/forums/threads/nvidea-driver-update-275-33-bug.5857/

The symptoms are not the same, but it might be worth rolling back to a known stable version.

 

Try this GPU Meter gaget and see if it provides any more info ... I have the GTS 250 and I usually see mine hoovers around 75c.

jc

 

Running Nvidia 220 one of their worst cards, happy to report no issues running on high. Hope you find the fix for yours Jenny not a tech guy here just know how to tune in my own PC. Either way will have a new Alienware delivered soon (TY David and Cyrus) to run it on soon and make this PC just for AHR shows and chatting.

Again I hope you get it worked out Jenny, props for David being here inquiring to help see if the problem is on Ark side. You wouldn't see that on PCF.

 

ok an update now, sry forget to do it last night.

She's on Calypso now and found something that might be interesting to know, whenever she gets close to a TP the temperature skyrockets like it did all over Arkadia.
But when she runs away from the TPs there it lowers around 15-20C even if she stood in a sweating group with all that green thing it wasn't over 90C (still high tho) but not burn her house down.
Tried several settings but no settings over medium and told her to push down the usual problematic ones to low or safe still hot as soon as she gets to a TP. And no AA forced on in her driver program, thats put to program controlled.

 

There was a patch a few moths ago where my over all running temps went up 10c on avg even with all liquid cooled so MA changed something back then. That is one factor I see here.

Tps are too graphic intensive as I get usually 60 or sp fps moving around but drop to under 10 when standing inside a tp. Something is seriously wrong with them.

Does your friend know that changing most in game settings doesnt really effect performance if the gfx cards internal settings are too high? My guess would be they are running AA and AF not only in game but maxed on card settings as well. Have them default the vid card settings back to using all this ONLY if the program asks for it. Do not force AA and AF full time AND add in game AA and AF on top of that you will smoke the card.

 

Yeap no forced from graphic drivers, just using program settings.

The weird part is how she can be ok on Calypso away from TPs but not on Arkadia where I myself find it better as well as all I read about, so please if there is anyone having issues please let us and the A-team know.
As I dont think we can solve her issues now since she had to leave Arkadia too because of it