Graphics GTX 460 Appreciation Society - Plus VGA Cooling Thread!

It's a learning experience!

I was a little cautious because it didn't cover the full GPU heatspreader and once installed the temperatures were okay. However under stress it would creep up ever so slowly but it would keep rising. I believe the route cause is because it doesn't cover the full heatspreader, so elements of the heatspreader become so hot it's unstable when the GPU is pushed really hard.

I have little doubt that the Gelid Icy Vision on a smaller GPU Heatspreader would work wonders. On the positive it did afford me the chance to check over my GPU PCB which is a good idea since I've been going over the stock specified voltage and it all looks absolutely fine. Also surprised at how thin my Arctic Silver 5 had become over the course of the past year so at least that's been replaced with a clean and fresh coat!

 

My GPU is faster than yours!



That's 890MHz on the Core and 1.112V in 3DMark Vantage.

 

Just had a little anorak moment and tested my clocks against mains power draw...

Just goes to show the extra strain messing with GPU voltage.

That's a difference of 95 Watts against stock Vs my top overclock!

 

And it is pretty safe to assume that it is only the graphics card that is drawing the extra power. No wonder it puts extra strain on the cooling as well. Very nice to know!

 

The only changes are core clocks and volts over all my tests, I even maintained 100% fans throughout to eliminate that as a cause of increased power draw. Even at 95 Watts overclocked that is the total, considering this is GTX 460 SLI they're efficient little buggers in my book!

 

Ooohhh okay, so the extra power draw is shared between two overclocked and overvolted 460?

Makes a bit more sense then

 

No wonder my PSU struggled with three of them at 930 MHz

dunx

 

I've got the MSI N460 GTX in SLI. I can get some really high over clocks on mine. Let me know if you ant some of the settings I use, it'll take a lot of the guess work out of it for you.

 

I just removed my second 460 and installed the main card with Thermalright cooler the proper way round leaving enough room to put a "proper" depth but totally silent 92mm fan on it, which I did... load temps are just incredibly low - two monitors (20" and 30") idle temp is 33C. Furmark load @ 2560x1600 with 800MHz core tops out at about 60C... will test later with my 900MHz OC @ 1087mV.

I'll need to give it some thought but I think I will part with the second 460 because it's barely getting any use, and one is plenty for what I do. I much prefer having one properly cooled card, and the HR-03GT is much better on the 460 than it was on the 470!

 

Clear difference here is that your setup is nearly silent? My cyclone will hit those temps at a 1.087V, 910MHz OC but it's dam loud as the fan ramps to around 70%.

 

Not nearly silent; totally inaudible! The fan is a Xilence Red Wing 92mm which is a measly 1500rpm, very slow for such a small fan.

If you want an "almost" apples-to-apples comparison, I swapped out the Xilence with a more powerful 92mm fan, a 3800rpm one - probably a lot like the fan in your MSI Cyclone in terms of noise - and I ran Furmark at 1920x1080 for 5 mins with an ambient of about 20C. Max temp? 55C



Same test at 2560x1600 maxed out at 57C, so the higher res definitely stresses the GPU more.

I'll run the 1080p test again when I put the Xilence fan back on. Expecting 65-70C, which is still damned good considering the noise profile of the cooling (although the graphics card now occupies 4 PCI slots LOL).

 

Want a photo of this, love 'ghetto' cooling setups

 

I've just been using my PC for 35mins, two monitors, watching youtube vids and stuff, and I realised I forgot to switch on the GPU fan... LOL

Checked the GPU temp and it was 72C. Mighty impressive for passive cooling, and I mean absolutely no airflow whatsoever, and in a 20C room.

Loving this thermalright cooler more and more hahah. Pics to come tonight.

 

Isn't the Palit GTX 460 Heatspreader square LennyRhys?

Any chance you have a photo of the PCB without the heatsink?

 

Nope it's actually very rectangular - found a decent pcb pic online:



Also I'll take a pic of my setup as it is now...brb

OK here's four PCI slots of graphics cooling overkill

 

Just had a REALLY hairy moment...

Was running the Furmark burn test @ 1080p, 900MHz ,1087mV, and after about 4mins the temp reached 75C and suddenly my monitors went black and a message popped up which said "Going to sleep"...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Hard restart, no signal to monitors. **FOOOOOK.... NEIN.... HELP!**

Flicked the PSU switch and left the rig off with the GPU fan at full whack for about 2 mins, pondering the worst outcome... "Did I just fry a £100 graphics card?"

But after two mins of cool-down, everything is OK. Can't believe I ran Furmark at 1087mV with no VRM cooling... LOL. Thankfully the card has more sense than me and shut itself down when it reached a thermal threshold (no idea what it was, but I'm guessing very hot).

Phew.

 

Also the Palit GTX 460 has no VRM heatsinks, bad LennyRhys!

That a server fan strapped to the Thermalright heatsink?

 

Yep Delta AUB0912VH, but I have it switched to a 33 ohm resistor so it's very quiet... flick of a switch and I have full power cooling for high voltage overclocks.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to abandon SLI altogether because my new CPU cooler is too big to allow for the HR-03GT to be mounted the other way on the top card; there would be no room for a fan! And the CPU cooler is just too good to get rid off... I'll need to think hard about an upgrade path as a single GTX460 won't cut it.

 

So just to recap, I won the GTX 460 SLI clocks race?

 

Had this, just with far scarier temp rises. Speeds below, ran the standard test for all of 5 seconds screen shut off :s

Zoltac 768MB board
GPU 710.0Mhz
mem 1800.0Mhz
Shader1420.0Mhz
VDDC 0.975

Idle temp 35c. hit 99c in less than 3 seconds an blank screened me after 5. Think its the same issue the heat spreaders not big enough for the GPU so its just over heating its self from the sides. Any suggestions on coolers that fit?