Thank you for the advice

[A-L-E-X]

First of all, thanks to Shannon and the XFX support staff for all the help. Sadasius and Miker, you guys have been an awesome help to me-- thanks for all the help with the cooling and the installation of the 7950GT AGP. Unfortunately my 5 yr old mobo couldnt handle the new card (or PSU) and the mobo blew. I spent my savings and over the past 2 weeks I bought an entirely new system (while keeping some old components.) My new mobo is the AsRock 4core dual- sata2 which has both AGP 8X AND PCIE. I bought 2GB of DDR2 as well, and a Core 2 Quad Q6600 (the best value/performance ratio in cpus IMO) and a SATA2 hard drive (3.0Gbps transfer rate.) I got a Raidmax 868 Scorpio windowed case with 4 tornado fans and a fan controller as well as this fantastic pci slot fan/blower withh a rating of 60CFM (almost as high as the tornadoes!)

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=145&products_id=4424

I also got a new power supply for my new quad cpu, the Corsair VX 550W with a single 12V rail with 41A!!! Suprisingly enough, I got all this rather cheaply, and the entire package cost me less than $500! It was my first home-made computer so I was rather nervous and slow-- it took me all day last Saturday to put it together (over 10 hours!) But, I've had this up and running for a week now and the 7950GT is performing fine-- with with two LCD monitors running off both DVIs. I overclocked the card to 620/765 and it doesnt even break 80C! I set it back to normal clocks again though-- just in case. My "rest" temps for the gpu are around 38C and it doesnt go past 75C, even in intense gaming. Just to test it, I ran it without the fantastic PCI-slot cooler and gaming temps were around 90C! I run the 93.82 drivers that came with the card and I get consistent 3dMark06 scores above 5500. Just in case something does happen to my card, I bought the Radeon x1950pro off my friend for $50.


PS: I had one question: my SATA hard drive data cable (rated for 80C) touches the bottom of the cooler-- is there any chance of melting or any other danger I should worry about? Thanks again for the help!

[Miker]

Cables should really ever touch or rub on anything... I would try to keep it off hot stuff.

*Edit* Always wondered how that 7950GT ran with no CPU bottleneck, what FPS you get in CSS (Map de_dust2) at 1280x1024, maxed, 4x anti and 16x a-filter? I get about 100FPS average.

[A-L-E-X]

Thanks, Im going to fix that little issue-- overall though, the card is performing really well, and I havent gotten any artifacts or color casts on either display in dual dvi mode.

Cables should really ever touch or rub on anything... I would try to keep it off hot stuff.

[Miker]

First person in the world to over clock a 7950GT probably too. I would run it at stock if you want it to last.

[Sadasius]

I am so damn jealous. You have one that works on both ports and don't have problems after overclocking?!? Geez your one of the lucky one's...lol. Your welcome for the advice or should I say my experiences...lol.

[Miker]

I thought I was lucky just having one blue port, but 2 working ports that is overclock! WOW!

[A-L-E-X]

Yea I feel really lucky, I have also taken your advice and downclocked the card back to stock and clocked it even further down when in 2D mode with rivatuner to make the card even cooler when Im not gaming (296/594 in 2D mode.)

I thought I was lucky just having one blue port, but 2 working ports that is overclock! WOW!

[A-L-E-X]

I feel really bad for you bc you had to RMA it twice. It convinced me to not go that route and if this card ever fails I am switching to the x1950pro without even RMAing the 7950GT and letting the Radeon run my system til I decide to upgrade to Vista and DirectX 10. Hope all goes well with your third card.

I am so damn jealous. You have one that works on both ports and don't have problems after overclocking?!? Geez your one of the lucky one's...lol. Your welcome for the advice or should I say my experiences...lol.

[Sadasius]

Probably a real smart move. When I get my new one which is in shipping right now I will be downclocking all the clocks 2D and 3D. Hopefully this will help me and the card will last. I don't care about the performance hit as much as I just need the card to work for a change. I'll play Supreme Commander at 20fps...I don't care. I will be downclocking the 3D to 450 and the memory down to 900 total. The 2D will be down even further. If it burns up after this then I freakin quit with this card and will either try to sell it (the return) or trade it in for something else either with XFX or someone I really don't like.

[A-L-E-X]

Your idea seems a really good one too. I set the clocks at various different rates and assessed their effects in 3DMark06. Guess what? Reducing the card from its stock 550/650 to 498/594 only reduced the 3DMark06 score from 5495 to 5248!

Probably a real smart move. When I get my new one which is in shipping right now I will be downclocking all the clocks 2D and 3D. Hopefully this will help me and the card will last. I don't care about the performance hit as much as I just need the card to work for a change. I'll play Supreme Commander at 20fps...I don't care. I will be downclocking the 3D to 450 and the memory down to 900 total. The 2D will be down even further. If it burns up after this then I freakin quit with this card and will either try to sell it (the return) or trade it in for something else either with XFX or someone I really don't like.

[A-L-E-X]

I set my 2D at 298/594 in rivatuner as well and that dropped my GPU temps into the low 40s in 2D.

Probably a real smart move. When I get my new one which is in shipping right now I will be downclocking all the clocks 2D and 3D. Hopefully this will help me and the card will last. I don't care about the performance hit as much as I just need the card to work for a change. I'll play Supreme Commander at 20fps...I don't care. I will be downclocking the 3D to 450 and the memory down to 900 total. The 2D will be down even further. If it burns up after this then I freakin quit with this card and will either try to sell it (the return) or trade it in for something else either with XFX or someone I really don't like.

[Sadasius]

Yup exactly...The card will work fine at the lower levels without taking too much of a performance hit. I will find the best area when I get the new card in and I hope now it is revision 1.1 like yours. I will keep my fingers crossed.

[A-L-E-X]

Hopefully they sent you a 1.1 but if not and if something happens, maybe they will send you a 1.1 if you ask for it. Let's hope that never becomes necessary as you've been dealing with this problem for a month now. I think you should look at that pci slot cooler I linked, it really blows alot of hot air out from under the gpu, I have it set 2 slots below the gpu like Miker said and it really helps on gpu temps, especially under load. It has a cfm rating of 60, so its pushing twice as much air as any other slot cooler I found and its only $10!

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=145&products_id=4424



Yup exactly...The card will work fine at the lower levels without taking too much of a performance hit. I will find the best area when I get the new card in and I hope now it is revision 1.1 like yours. I will keep my fingers crossed.

[Sadasius]

I have a PCI slot cooler installed actually. Got the Antec one that is all blue and blows air right on the card itself. Not to mention the retarded amount of case fans I have now and the speed they are running at. My case is like a hovercraft almost and when it is running everyone in our place knows it. When I shut it down suddenly you can hear things you could not before. I have pics on here in the threads somewhere actually to show you. I have 7 case fans alone running at 5500 rpm at all times. The two PCI slot fans, 2 CPU fans, 1 power supply fan and the GPU fan. 13 fans in total all on their highest RPM setting. Trust me when I say it is not a cooling issue...:lol:

[A-L-E-X]

Wow that sure is alot of fans! I have a question, since you seem to be a "fan expert" lol. I use a fan controller installed and sometimes, when I leave the computer on overnight, I set the fan speed down a bit lower. The issue is, I sometimes hear "hiccups" in the middle of the night, that is the fans sometimes get slower and quieter for a split second before resuming normal speed (and loud sound). What do you think this may mean? I was wondering if the fan controller might have something to do with it, although sometimes it happens when the fans are set to full speed as well.

I have a PCI slot cooler installed actually. Got the Antec one that is all blue and blows air right on the card itself. Not to mention the retarded amount of case fans I have now and the speed they are running at. My case is like a hovercraft almost and when it is running everyone in our place knows it. When I shut it down suddenly you can hear things you could not before. I have pics on here in the threads somewhere actually to show you. I have 7 case fans alone running at 5500 rpm at all times. The two PCI slot fans, 2 CPU fans, 1 power supply fan and the GPU fan. 13 fans in total all on their highest RPM setting. Trust me when I say it is not a cooling issue...:lol:

[Sadasius]

That is just a hiccup in your power. Maybe it is the PSU or the fan controller itself. I have 3 fan controllers myself. One on the front that came with the case and two extra one's in the back. Never had a problem with them all dropping down and picking up again. Had a few fail before just from use but that's easy to replace. I have a box of about another 30 fans for that...lol

[mivanx77]

My "rest" temps for the gpu are around 38C and it doesnt go past 75C, even in intense gaming. Just to test it, I ran it without the fantastic PCI-slot cooler and gaming temps were around 90C!

WTf, does it make that big of a difference? omg idles at 38(c).

[Miker]

I have a slot cooler on both sides... Went from temps that would make my PC randomly reset to around 38-40 Idle.

As you can see I have fans all around that card!
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o81/mikerider123/DSCN2437.jpg

[Sadasius]

Yeah cooling is always important with high performance parts to begin with. Cramped cases will only make things really hot especially during gaming and weaken everything till something blows. Here is some old pics of mine that shows how many fans are running in my system (does not have the PCI slot one in here);

[Miker]

Is it really necessary to copy my pc? :lol:

[Sadasius]

Hell yeah....Your my freakin hero....You got one of these cards to work this long so I might as well copy you in hopes of getting the same performance...lol

[Miker]

I should call Guinness World Records and try to get in the book for the longest running XFX 7950GT AGP. ;-)

[Sadasius]

HAHAHAHA, Hey we will back ya on that. It is after all a very hard thing to do so I think it should be entered.