GPU temperature monitoring software

[frogbeastegg]

Can anyone recommend a GPU temperature monitoring program? Something light, and which works with windows 7 64bit. I have a gigabyte geforce 560 ti and the nvidea tool is useless as it crashes within seconds of starting it every single time. There was supposed to be a monitoring tool included with the gigabyte support software; I'm damned if I can find it.

I'm sure my card is not overheating (big onboard fans, plus big case fans, plus big side grill vent in addition to front and rear vents) but I need to prove it isn't since that's everyone's first answer to the question "Why does my copy of Deus EX: HR crash more often than a drunk stuntman working in a 3 hour movie about car crashes?"

Thanks.

[CBR]

I use MSI Afterburner. It also allows quick adjustments to fan speed when I intend to play games http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

[CrossLOPER]

http://www.piriform.com/speccy

This will tell you everything you likely need to know about your computer. I recommend trying all the Piriform products.

[frogbeastegg]

Thanks.

That settles that. Normal ranges for my card are 76 degrees under load. I'm at 30 idle, and reach a high of 69 degrees when I play multiple massive Shogun II battles in a row with all detail maxed. I shall test Deus Ex: HR later. Since it's essentially an xbox 360 game with slightly improved graphics, it has no reason whatsoever to put more of a load on my GPU than Shogun II. If it does, then it's down to poor coding somewhere. Likewise their suggestion I increase the voltage to my GPU. No. Just no.

[CrossLOPER]

Thanks.

That settles that. Normal ranges for my card are 76 degrees under load. I'm at 30 idle, and reach a high of 69 degrees when I play multiple massive Shogun II battles in a row with all detail maxed. I shall test Deus Ex: HR later. Since it's essentially an xbox 360 game with slightly improved graphics, it has no reason whatsoever to put more of a load on my GPU than Shogun II. If it does, then it's down to poor coding somewhere. Likewise their suggestion I increase the voltage to my GPU. No. Just no.

Overclocking is great; it's the only thing keeping my 275 competitive. Obviously, you should not try it unless you really want to an have some time and patience to understand fully what it is that you are doing. Also, Shogun 2 is a total war game, and therefore the optimization was outsourced to mandrills. Deus Ex: HR was intentionally crippled in this regard so that they could have "next generation specs", even though, graphically, the game looks like a HD Half-Life 2. Apparently, the new Eidos is taking the Bethesda approach.

[frogbeastegg]

The gigabyte version of the 560 ti is overclocked out of the box. Even if that were not the case, people with much weaker cards can play the game perfectly well. My old 8800 GTS would have run the game!

This is the first time in years where I chose the PC release over the xbox one. It was much cheaper and I thought "What's the worst that could happen?" Virtually unplayable game, that's what. This is why I swapped to getting the xbox versions of all multiplatform releases in the first place.

[Beskar]

What is a good temperature, Is 60-70 for the CPU healthy?

My GPU is around 40-50.


(CPU is 50 idle, GPU is 30 idle)

[Lemur]

Virtually unplayable game, that's what. This is why I swapped to getting the xbox versions of all multiplatform releases in the first place.

Hmm, I'm running Deus Ex on an aging Core2Duo with a Radeon 4870, which is what? Three years old? And DE:HR is playing fine.

Maybe you're experiencing a specific driver issue? A video setting? Lots of possibilities. It's not taxing my old card.

[CrossLOPER]

The gigabyte version of the 560 ti is overclocked out of the box. Even if that were not the case, people with much weaker cards can play the game perfectly well. My old 8800 GTS would have run the game!

This is the first time in years where I chose the PC release over the xbox one. It was much cheaper and I thought "What's the worst that could happen?" Virtually unplayable game, that's what. This is why I swapped to getting the xbox versions of all multiplatform releases in the first place.

Generally, I now go for console releases, though I do so to avoid the DRM not because of fear of performance issues. Lemur is right, it could be a driver issue.

What is a good temperature, Is 60-70 for the CPU healthy?

My GPU is around 40-50.


(CPU is 50 idle, GPU is 30 idle)

Your CPU temp is almost twice what it should be. What do yo have? Are you running Vista on a laptop or something?

[Beskar]

Your CPU temp is almost twice what it should be. What do yo have? Are you running Vista on a laptop or something?

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
Windows 7 in a Box not a laptop.

Though the CPU is actually 40-47 idle
Cores 1 and 2 are 47 while 3 and 4 are 40

[CrossLOPER]

I can't think of any reason why a CPU would run over 60C, even on a full load. You may want to check if the heatsink is attacked and if the fan is actually spinning. You may want to consider reapplying the paste, but it is unlikely.

[Beskar]

I can't think of any reason why a CPU would run over 60C, even on a full load. You may want to check if the heatsink is attacked and if the fan is actually spinning. You may want to consider reapplying the paste, but it is unlikely.

I repplied the paste recently when it got damaged during a fan cleaning exercise and on that note, the fan is working and no dust/gunk on it.

[CrossLOPER]

I don't know. If your computer does not shut off randomly, you are fine. If you REALLY want it to go down, buy a better quality heatsink and fan.

If I may ask, what kind of damage?

[frogbeastegg]

Maybe you're experiencing a specific driver issue? A video setting? Lots of possibilities. It's not taxing my old card.

I've tried different drivers, and changed every setting which can be changed. I've tried everything. No joy. It crashes constantly, and randomly.

I think the game has a problem with the geforce 500 series of cards. If you check the tech forums many of the people reporting crashes have a card from that family. The suggested fixes are outright stupid. Increase the voltage to your video card, underclock your video card if overclocking didn't fix it, or if that didn't work create a new windows account and play the game using that, and if it's still crashing after all of that you should use directx9 instead of directx11 even though that turns the game into a jerky slideshow which still crashes all the time. No thanks! The only sane suggestion I have seen is that the game was causing people's GPUs to overheat. I have shelved the game, awaiting a patch.

[Beskar]

I don't know. If your computer does not shut off randomly, you are fine. If you REALLY want it to go down, buy a better quality heatsink and fan.

If I may ask, what kind of damage?

Physical. Some n00b tech guy thought it was dirt and scrubbed it off and he also damaged the fan fastening too, so only 3 pins hold it in place opposed to 4. Could also explain the temperature.

No, it doesn't shut off randomly or anything. It is slightly overclocked so it might simply be that making it run warmer but it is around 4 years old so it would be cheaper simply to replace then to bother getting new heatsink or fan for it since the new alternatives in the budget range would run just as fast or better and be far cooler.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Physical. Some n00b tech guy thought it was dirt and scrubbed it off and he also damaged the fan fastening too, so only 3 pins hold it in place opposed to 4. Could also explain the temperature.

Lesson learned: do not ever take your PC to repair if you are capable of doing it yourself. For crying out loud, the “tech” guy thought the thermal paste was dirt? I mean, what was his previous line of work? Receptionist at the foyer of the local town hall?

Anyway, if I understand you correctly you've got one loose corner of your heatsink/fan which isn't pressed to the CPU properly. So if the fan speeds up and a lot of airflow pushes away from the CPU on the fans, then I guess that corner may be lifted a little bit so there's less direct physical contact on that part of the CPU.

[CrossLOPER]

Physical. Some n00b tech guy thought it was dirt and scrubbed it off and he also damaged the fan fastening too, so only 3 pins hold it in place opposed to 4.

Did he use a belt sander? I can't imagine the amount of force required to do that. When I was installing my new CPU a month or so back, I had to put my weight into the lock mechanism for it to snap into place.

No, it doesn't shut off randomly or anything. It is slightly overclocked so it might simply be that making it run warmer but it is around 4 years old so it would be cheaper simply to replace then to bother getting new heatsink or fan for it since the new alternatives in the budget range would run just as fast or better and be far cooler.

If it works you can wait for the AMD Bulldozer vs Intel Ivy storm, or you can just get an i5 now. Your call.

[Beskar]

Lesson learned: do not ever take your PC to repair if you are capable of doing it yourself. For crying out loud, the “tech” guy thought the thermal paste was dirt? I mean, what was his previous line of work? Receptionist at the foyer of the local town hall?

Was in Sweden at the time, so some one "trying to be helpful" took it to one of those 'tech geeks'. Ended up spending a couple of days sorting it out after the trip, all it was is that the power supply needed replacing.

At least I got some new thermal paste for free from them and a 'voucher'.