Ati 1950

How hot should one of these things run when playing a game? I looked on the web with no luck. Anyone have an idea? When I was playing a game- the temp shot up from 110 f to 130f- just wondering. I know the video card is freakin huge- and with the need for a beefy power supply I understand that heat is power dissipated and current meeting some reistance- so I figured since the thing is so big that it runs hot. Thing is: the RPMs on the fan never seem to spin up.

Forgot to add- I am using ATI tool trays- works better then the software CCC- and I was messing with overclocking. Ya I know, its risky but I really didnt increase it by much, and the temp of the video card didnt change either. Right now the core speed is set at 574 and the memory speed is set at 681.75. Not a big change from the factory settings. BUT I notced that before I did this I was getting about 75 FPS at max settings on GW (with 4x AA) now im sitting around 180ish. Not sure if thats from the overclocking or the fact that I tossed out CCC and started using ATI- tool tray.

The change from 75 FPS max to 180 FPS sounds like v-sync was turned off due to changing to ATI tools. Also, most graphics cards are fine up to 90 degrees Celsius or more. My X850 XT never gets past about 65...

Cool, thanks for the info. By the way, what is v-sync? My knowlege with video cards is limited.

I have the X1800XT and it runs guild wars on a stuidly high temperature, forcing me to increase the fan speed to near max otherwize VPU-Recover kicks in. And 50% of the time VPU-Recover kicks in anyway. Had this problem for at least 8 months now.

It only started doing that after I installed ATi Tray Tools, of which I installed that because the original fan settings were no where near adequate for keeping the card cool..

Anyway, just my bad experience with Tray Tools.

V-sync is basically the frames are timid for an exact clock of the monitor. For example if you monitor runs at 75 Hz refresh rate then your max FPS will be 75 because the video card waits to produce each frame until the monitor is ready. This means the frames are produced in a way that prevents tearing (two frames being displayed at the same time). Leaving it off is usually better, unless you are noticing tearing. Some games or the CCC for example turn it on by default; while ATI tool has it off by default.

For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_sync

Well, leaving v-sync off is great if you're experiencing poor framerates or you're benchmarking and you want to find out how many FPS your hardware is capable of. Other than that, I think you should leave it on. Otherwise your hardware is rendering frames or partial frames that aren't really getting used to great effect anyway. Why push your hardware to higher temperatures for performance you don't need?

Just a question, is there any real evidence to show that turning v-sync on allows you video card to not process as much information? I would think this statement would be false, just for the fact that the frame needs to be stored in memory before it is displayed. If you have any evidence on this matter I would appreciate it. Specifically, the higher temperature statement.

BTW, I am half and half on this subject. I leave it on for Guild Wars, but for say NWN2 or Oblivion I leave it off. NWN2 tries to force it on, so I disable it through my driver and notice a large boost of about 10-20 more FPS (I get about 30-40 at close to max settings). Also, this is a controversial subject

Basically, for the OP you can turn it on or off as you wish.

Honestly, although several more hardware-loving engineer types than I have insisted that vsync on is easier on your hardware, I don't see why it would be easier on anything except the ramdac. Cranking out a lower frequency signal seems like it would keep the dac cooler, but it seems like the CPU and GPU would be working at the same pace, rendering frames as quickly as they can and only releasing a frame when it's time for the monitor to refresh. I've never done any kind of temp tests myself, so I can't make an emphatic statement one way or the other.

From what I understand you can see a performance hit (fps falling lower than your monitor's refresh) at times when your hardware isn't rendering enough frames to supply an appropriately timed frame at each cycle of the monitor refresh, which can bring your framerate to about 1/2 your monitor's refresh for a second. However, if your hardware is capable of running a particular game very well, vsync goes a long way toward preventing the image tearing effect, which I hate, personally. I run vsync on in Guild Wars, as my system runs it at extremely high framerates, but I have it off for Oblivion because, well, there's no reason to do anything that limits your framerate in that game.

It's truly a matter of preference. My preference varies from game to game, but with GW I must have it on because the tearing when the camera pans drives me bonkers. I am, however, now tempted to do some temperature tests with vsync. After thinking about it a little more I'll bet it doesn't make (much of) a difference.

This is sort of interesting as well:
http://www.d-silence.com/feature.php?id=255

V-Sync is all about tearing. If you leave vsync off you may have frames drawn between monitor refreshes, which, in some cases, will cause a visible "tearing" effect. With vsync on, frames will only be update synchronized to the vertical refresh rate (hence the name) of the monitor. In pratice, this means that you should have a more fluid effect.

And no, vsync doesn't limit your framerate to the refresh rate of your monitor. With vsync on, your framerate must be a multiple of your refresh rate, since you can only update at predetermined times, but there's no upper or lower limits to your frame rate. With a 75Hz refresh rate, you might have 75, 150, 225 or higher fps, or 37.5 (75 * 0.5), or 18.75 (75 * 0.25) or lower fps, and so on.

Edit: Keep in mind that framerates higher than your monitor refresh rate is moot, and only serves to enlarge your epeen. It doesn't matter if vsync is on or off, you monitor just won't be able to display the extra frames anyway.

I have 2 x1950's running at 40c each at full load with stock fans on them..

Idle around 30c ish.

I think thats around 90 F, so it sounds about right to say i have alot of passive cooling in my case.