Typically, when I've not got Steam window opened (As in, not looking at it) my Xfx 5870 Core clock's at 157Mhz according to MSI when doing light browsing etc. However as soon as I open Steam to view the Store, Community etc. my 5870 instantly clocks to max load (850Mhz) which then forces the temperatures up by an average of 10degrees. I wouldn't call this an alarming thing but the fan then increases its speed to combat the increase in temperatures, so my card makes noise just because it's viewing on Steam. Anyway to stop my card doing this?
Came here to post this, the only solution to a software issue is to massively overhaul your cooling system.. Clearly. The only thing I can think of is the Flash content in the Store.. Disable hardware acceleration and see if that changes anything?
This is pretty normal, Anything that uses 3d in anyway will bring your card out of powersave mode and ramp the clocks up. The 157/300 clocks are in a low power state whilst doing anything not 3d as such, thus lowering the temps. All it does is detect your running a game or see some anims in a web browser or activity. You wouldnt be too happy if you ran a game and the clocks stayed at the 157/300, and you got 2 fps would you?. Powersave knocks voltage down also, so temps will be very low in this mode, so even 20c increase wouldnt be unusual.
You'll probably find the same heppens with browsing when the new hardware accelerated browsers come out.
why does yours clock so low in 2d mode? mine only goes down to 400mhz and i havent found a way to change the 2d clocks.... EDIT: ok, i guess if you turn overdrive off, it uses 157/300 for 2d, but i get bad screen flickering...which was evidently why AMD increased the clocks to 400/1200 for 2d in the first place...but only when overdrive is turned on? its a shame because the card is idling much quieter at 157mhz (reference cooler Cheesecake).
the difference between 157mhz and 400mhz is 15% fan speed at idle on my card. thats a very noticeable increase in sound level.
Try make steam open in library rather than in store. Steam store is basically a flash enabled website, and 5870 clock up for flash contents.
What the hell? Anyway, 10 degrees does seem pretty normal if the clocks ramp up that much. It will be due to the flash and video content in the steam marketplace.
I think you some of you misunderstood, my GPU goes from idle mode to 100% load just from opening Steam, some of my games don't even clock themselves that high to run. It's just annoyance to see the temps go up by 10 degrees just for OPENING Steam. And thanks for the constructive suggestions guys, it's not a problem I suppose just fail to understand why my GPU clocks max out for no reason.
I think the 5870 has 3 settings, as mine goes in to low power at 154, mid power 400 and full at 850... I got sick of the noise of mine and took the watercooling option... alot less noise now You could get a 3rd part cooler? Also what % speed does your fan run at as I run mine at 30-40% constantly and I found it wasn't too loud. Sometimes the cards thresholds are too high so it ramps up massively when a temp is hit, could create your own fan profile using Afterburner... Edit: I just checked my Steam, clocks stayed at 400, so maybe it's your Steam :S Got the latest drivers? Or maybe try reinstalling Steam?
Soon as it clocks at 850Mhz the speed gets to 30% load. I should probably make a profile in Afterburner, the thing is if I lowered the fan speed to make it more quiet the card would probably go over 60 degrees just when idling on Steam, which to me is stupid. I may go down the water cooling route one day, probably if I upgrade my card or do a complete system rehaul.
even thought the card is going to full 3d clock speeds, the GPU load probably isnt that high. you can probably reduce the fan speed a bit and still have decent temps. is this a reference cooler?
