Bitcoin Forum

Hi, I'm new to the forum and to Bitcoin mining. I had a 9800GT but since finding out about ATI cards pretty much being mandatory I got a new 6970 (needed an upgrade anyway). I didn't notice any increased fan noise when trying it out on my 9800GT but when using automatic fan controls on the 6970 it gets really loud. It also seems to be getting too hot, around about 90 degrees when using auto fan. With manual fan control set pretty high the temperature seems okay but the noise is unbearable. I'm using the default guiminer. I'm also using dual monitors which I've heard adds several degrees.

Is the card meant to be running that hot/loud? Thanks.

Yes.
I find that you need to decrease the memory speed to help reduce the wattage.

You need to find a stable point.
Plus.  I removed my case enclosure and pointed a standard house fan at it to further reduce the temperature.

Running my 6970 at 400 MH/s
64 degrees Cel.

Thanks. What program should I use to reduce memory speed? Will I need to put the memory speed back to normal when playing games or anything GPU related?

I haven't seen anyone mention using a house fan to get normal temperatures :S. I'll give it a try if I can find a spare one.

Edit: Tried taking off side panel and putting fan next to it and it's running at 85 degrees with 50% fan speed, good improvement!

I use msi afterburner.  Pretty much controls everything you need.  How'd the fan trick work out?

I just bought a 6970 today and am very impressed with it so far. Mine runs at 70C with the auto-fan at 39%. Not too bad but I will most likely get a strong little fan to just lay next to it for that added comfort(for me).

This is easily one of the loudest cards/fans I've ever heard, but seeing as how I'm using it for mining, I think it's fine. Makes it sound like it's really working its ass off to make me some cash :).

I recently bought some gigabyte 6970's.  They are quiet at 100% fan speed but they run at 90C.  I tried to put 3 on one board but the lack space between the cards drove the temp up to 106C.  Obviously, I stopped doing that.  I even added little heat sinks to the top side mosfets.  Boy, do they ever get hot!  (I get 380Mh/s, btw)  I don't remember how low I could bring down the memory but I doubt that would add that much heat.  Also, the top card gets significantly hotter than the lower one.  The mosfets on the upper card were blazing hot but those on the lower card were just slightly hot.  Is this normal?

I would really like to run all 3 cards in one box, but even setting -f600 doesn't help the heat much.  It certainly slows down the Mhashes though.

Even a box fan hardly helps. 

were you guys able to overclock the 6970s? i have 3 of them and i want to try to bump them up a little more. any suggestions or personal experience miners?

I run my cooler ones at 950.  I haven't adjusted voltage, however.

6970 is almost 300W of heat inside you PC case[unless you stick with reference cooler, which expunge majority of it outside], even w/o overclocking.
mind improving airflow.
thats forced me to switch cases in most setups to Zalman Z9+ and CM HAF912 and IW BF.

how do u reduce memory below 1375 with Sapphire 6970

Jumping in on the discussion as i have ref 6950's unlocked (thats is a 6970 with slightly lower quality memory chips).
For overclocking have a look at MSI Afterburner or Sapphire Trixx.

Racerx will allow you to change the ccc overclocking ranges through regedits.
dl link
http://www.techimo.com/forum/attachments/graphics-cards-displays/24091d1303761477-enable-higher-overclocks-ccc-reg-entry-racerx.zip.
thread http://www.techimo.com/forum/graphics-cards-displays/256789-enable-higher-overclocks-ccc-reg-entry.html
Edit. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT USING THIS WITH 5XXX AND LOWER CARDS IT WILL MESS UP YOUR VIDEO DRIVER AND LIKLEY FORCE YOU TO UNINSTALL IN SAFE MODE.


My 6950s are chugging along fine at 1 Ghz Core / 1200mhz ram 1.205 vcore. They are however watercooled.


Just make sure to increase the power limit in ccc when playing around with the 69xx cards, or they will throtle themselves down as they hit the power draw limit built into the driver.

Guys, remember to put a high speed fan on the back of your case where the GPUs are facing so it DRAWS THE HOT AIR __OUT__ of the GPUs, that should drop you good 5-10c at least.

Xfx 6970 runs at 75c at stock with fanspeed at 70%, which sounds like a jet taking off. If I leave fan set to "auto" it hits 90c and still doesn't push fan past 45%.

Can't get more than 360mh from it

This is my same scenario, but with a HIS brand HD 6970. I guess I will have to get a external box fan and take the side panel off and see how that goes.

I'm running 2x MSI 6970s in one rig.  I have to run their fans at 100% in order to keep their temps around 80'C at night at 84'C during the day (apartment airconditioner struggling to keep the place at 72'F-75'F with all the PCs in this place)  I have their core clocks up as high as MSI afterburner would let me, and the memory as low as possible.

Is this normal?  I even placed this particular rig underneath one of the air conditioning vents and it has a 200mm+ fan directing the cold air directly on top of the graphic cards and I'm still barely managing to keep it below 80'C with 100% fans and a roughly 72'F room temp.

Anything below 90C should be fine. You don't have to struggle to keep them at 80C. If you can keep them at 90C or below, that should suffice.

90C on the core is pretty hot.  It will likely decrease lifespan of the card

90C is not that much for a GPU. You can see that by fan profile.
My limit is 95.

But now I have water cooling. 70C @ 950 Mhz and completely silent :)

is 6970 the way to go even with the overheating scenario?

All GPU's have overheating scenarios.

To answer your question, 6970's are the way to go if you want to put the extra few bucks in to keep them well cooled. I don't say that because they tend to overheat, I say that because it would be sad to see such a nice card die on you while mining. Sapphires are good, I highly recommend them.

in case of non-reference GPU's you need at least three high-performance[in CFM's] fans in both front, rear and side covers of you PC cases.
usually 120/140 fans with CFM above 45[really measured/benched, not just "printed on the box"]  is more or less enough for one card.
and no, 85'C for long-tern usage, lead to not-so-fast, but unavoidable GPU degradation.
but thats just personal trade-off between noise/comfort and hardware TTL/reliability. if you value comfort more, fine. if not, try keep temps under 75'C max.

I've contemplated water cooling my two 6970s.  I had to re position them due to my roomate not liking the sound/heat in the living room so they are back in my room blazing away at 87+'C at 100% fan. (While being super loud) (I have them overclocked so that each card is pushing 410-420 Mhashes/s, I lose a giant chunk of that hash rate (like 50 per card) if I under clock it to safe temps.

Should I continue running at close to 90'C or...

Would a water cooling set up last me for 5 years~+?  I might bite the bullet on the costs if I can re-use the pump/radiator/hoses for a long time (and only have to exchange blocks).  I often move my computers around a lot (lan parties, etc)  Would water cooling inhibit the moving process?