5830 hot even when idle

[emfb]

I have a three Sapphire 5830 GPU setup but I can't even use my first adapter. As soon as I fire up the miner the temp races to 90C. Even at idle the GPU is almost as hot as my other two which are overclocked and under full load.

All three cards have the fans set to 100%.

Any ideas?  The only thing I can think of is to pull the card and check the heat sink.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I added the "get activity" command below. It shows the card is indeed in a low power state.

EDIT 2: I remembered I have a DVM with a temp sensor. I confirmed the high temp on the idle card and it's the one closest to the CPU. It seems weird to me that the sandwiched card in the middle can run overclocked without overheating but the one with the most case airflow runs hot while idle.

Code:

$ export DISPLAY=:0.0; aticonfig --pplib-cmd "get activity"
Current Activity is Core Clock: 157MHZ
Memory Clock: 300MHZ
VDDC: 950
Activity: 0 percent
Performance Level: 0
Bus Speed: 5000
Bus Lanes: 16
Maximum Bus Lanes: 16


$ aticonfig --odgt --adapter=all 

Adapter 0 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series  
            Sensor 0: Temperature - 58.50 C

Adapter 1 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series  
            Sensor 0: Temperature - 61.00 C

Adapter 2 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series  
            Sensor 0: Temperature - 77.50 C


$ aticonfig --odgc --adapter=all 

Adapter 0 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series  
                            Core (MHz)    Memory (MHz)
           Current Clocks :    157           300
             Current Peak :    600           900
  Configurable Peak Range : [600-875]     [900-1200]
                 GPU load :    0%

Adapter 1 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series  
                            Core (MHz)    Memory (MHz)
           Current Clocks :    875           900
             Current Peak :    875           900
  Configurable Peak Range : [600-875]     [900-1200]
                 GPU load :    99%

Adapter 2 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series  
                            Core (MHz)    Memory (MHz)
           Current Clocks :    850           900
             Current Peak :    850           900
  Configurable Peak Range : [600-875]     [900-1200]
                 GPU load :    99%

EDIT 3:

So I learned that part of my problem is that the cards are heating each other up.

I ended up writing a python script which monitors the temps of each adapter and adjust the clocks to maintain both a single GPU peak temp of 88C and an average GPU temp of 85C.

I pulled the peak temp of 88C out of thin air, I can easily change this if needed.

The program starts with a 600mhz clock and slowly ramps up the system until the first card hits 88C. Then I throttle back the hottest card in 20Mhz increments. If the hot card reaches 600Mhz and it's still over 88C, the other two cards are then throttled back at rates based on the proximity to the hottest card.

The result is that while the clock frequencies are constantly changing, the system will run at the highest speed possible with any given cooling setup and maintain a fixed peak temp.

Here's a snapshot after running for 12 hrs:

Code:

$ aticonfig --odgt --adapter=all
Adapter 0 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
        Sensor 0: Temperature - 88.00 C
Adapter 1 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
        Sensor 0: Temperature - 77.00 C
Adapter 2 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
        Sensor 0: Temperature - 78.50 C

$ aticonfig --odgc --adapter=all
Adapter 0 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
                        Core (MHz)    Memory (MHz)
       Current Clocks :    600           900
         Current Peak :    600           900
Configurable Peak Range : [600-875] [900-1200]
             GPU load :    94%
Adapter 1 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
                        Core (MHz)    Memory (MHz)
       Current Clocks :    650           900
         Current Peak :    650           900
Configurable Peak Range : [600-875] [900-1200]
             GPU load :    98%
Adapter 2 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
                        Core (MHz)    Memory (MHz)
       Current Clocks :    860           900
         Current Peak :    860           900
Configurable Peak Range : [600-875] [900-1200]
             GPU load :    97%

So that takes care of my overheating issue. Now I can focus on improving cooling.

The case I have has a recessed PCI bay due to the 90deg rotation of the motherboard (which makes the PCI cards vent out the top of the case). The point of this recess is to help clean up cabling and allow for a lower profile top case cover.

Looking at this recess, it looks like it's big enough to support an external fan. I think I'm going to try and create a 'turbo' exhaust which should help pull air through the GPU heatsinks. And if that works I can use it to duct the heat out of the house to save on my A/C bill.

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[zerokwel]

my 5770 runs between 80-85 under load. I can lower that by under clocking my memory to 300mhz it drops down to the low 70s.

but that's because my cooling atm sucks.

Has your case got plenty of cooling? and have you underclocked your gpu ram to 300mhz?

you have not changed the volts at all ?

[emfb]

For the overheating card aticonfig currently shows:
core: 157Mhz memory: 300Mhz

The card is in an idle state. If I turn on the miner it jumps back up to 600Mhz,900Mhz (I underclocked it to see if it would help, it doesn't)

The case is a beast. It's a silverstone Raven 2 EW something or other. It has excellent air cooling. The mother board is rotated 90deg to exhaust heat out of the top of the case, psu intakes and exhausts are both external, three huge case fans intake from under the case and exhaust up. There are no fan speed controllers or mother board fan control. All fans are running @ 100%.

The psu is also top of the line (1200w constant,1300w peak silverstone 80 plus gold).

 

[cothoms]

Where is your "first" card that is having the heat issues?  On top?  In the middle?  On the bottom?  Have you considered opening the side panel on your case and putting an oscillating fan (or equivalent) onto the GPUs for additional cooling?  Have you considered a PCI-E extender?

[emfb]

I'm not sure how to figure out the actual physical location of adapter 0,1,2.

Regardless, the card is in idle mode. Is an idle temp of 49C considered acceptable?

The mother board is a Crosshair V Formula. It was designed for 3 way crossfire. There is not a lot of space between cards, but it's there.

[grue]

Regardless, the card is in idle mode. Is an idle temp of 49C considered acceptable?

i guess it's OK, but mine runs @ ~40

[emfb]

I have a DVM with a temp sensor which I used to figure out that card with the issue is the one closest to the micro.

[aim6i]

I also had a case with really nice coolings inside. This let me run a 5830 @ 80C. But some days ago i left the side of my tower open and since then it has been running at cool 70C so that I could even turn down the fan-speed to about 65%.
Sounds like there is really something going wrong with either your computer or your video card.

[5k077]

Reseat the heatsink with some AS5. Then take the side off the case and point a 120MM fan at it.

[emfb]

Ok, I think I got this figured out. The custom python script I wrote is really helping...now to focus on cooling.

I really need to keep the case enclosed. I don't want cat & dog fur screwing up the fans and heat sinks. The case has filters built into the fans, I'd like to keep it this way.

I added an update to the OP with additional details.