PC Gamers....

[Lason]

Copper shim to go between the thermal pads and vreg? Im not sure how much difference that would make. When I pulled the heatsink off to tap it for the bigger bolt I checked the thermal pads and they all had good impressions.

[roliath]

Copper shims should go above the thermal pads, but thermal pads are a one use type of thing for maximum effectiveness (that word looks like its spelled wrong). If they had good impressions, i'm not sure what else you could do. Still on the AUSUM bios? I'd make a thread over at [H] and see whats up.

edit: just looked at the pic again, dial the clocks down and see what temps are. that +20% in vgpu might just be whats pushing it over the edge.

[Tx Redneck]

Thermal pads aren't very efficient. This is why the DV9 series w/ nVidia gpu HP laptops were so problematic. The GPU would get hot enough to degrade the solder on the board. The best method of repair is to disassemble, isolate the chip w/ foil, bake in oven to reflow the solder, then put TIM on the chip and on the copper shim for good contact w/ the HS/Fan.

The same principle will apply to yours, put TIM on the VREG's and on the shim then reassemble. If you'll get me the measurement for thickness needed, I may be able to get you the pieces needed for free from GSI.

[Lason]

Yeah still on the AUSUM bios, I even pulled one card out and ran it to see how it would do and it got into the 90*'s on the space missions. Total bummer, I appreciate it Bryan but honestly, if I pull these heat sinks off again it will be for water blocks. I really dont want to mess with the maintnance of water but owell.

[Tx Redneck]

Ok, lemme know if that changes.

[Lason]

Just read this on the SWTOR boards, does this make sense to anyone. A string of code could overheat your card?

My PC suddenly shuts down. (Confirmation needed)

Many people are reporting that their PCs shut down instantly while playing SWToR and have to wait a while to be able to reboot it, while others report that they can immediately reboot.

It seems that a string of code is going down the wrong tube and gives the command to either power down or causes some part to overheat.

Either way it is software related and has nothing to do with your hardware. So don't fear.

[roliath]

Just read this on the SWTOR boards, does this make sense to anyone. A string of code could overheat your card?

My PC suddenly shuts down. (Confirmation needed)

Many people are reporting that their PCs shut down instantly while playing SWToR and have to wait a while to be able to reboot it, while others report that they can immediately reboot.

It seems that a string of code is going down the wrong tube and gives the command to either power down or causes some part to overheat.

Either way it is software related and has nothing to do with your hardware. So don't fear.

Its very possible, Punkbuster is known to cause hard locks when using GPU-Z to monitor temps in BC2. It has to do with low level access to the hardware.

[Lason]

OK Roliath, got those LCD desk mounts and installed. Initial impression is they are awsome quality for the price. That being said I have a couple issues with them.

First off height adjustment could be made alot easier. You need a allen wrech and I think that could be improved with a knob of some kind. It was a paint to get all three at the same height.

One nice thing about these is they have a ball connector and tilt up and down so if they sag a bit then you can use that to make up for it. Only thing is the only tilt in one direction. I installed these where they tilt up and down when in landscape mode since I think that is what Im going to run. When I tried portrait the side monitors sagged and couldnt be corrected. That was because I have the side monitors are mounted on the sides of the desk and the center monitor on the rear. So the center monitor may sag a bit foward and the sides a bit inward.

Youll notice yellow zip ties sticking out of the mounts in the pics. Thats because when I slide the monitors into the stands there was enough slop to allow the monitor to sag foward. I fixed that using zip ties as shims. I just forgot to trim them off.

All in all, these are great for getting rid of the monitor bases. Not perfect but dirt cheap so that makes up for the faults IMO.

This first pic shows the center monitor stand. I removed the arm so the monitor would sit as far back as possible, it doesnt need to articulate anyway.





These next two show the mounting, very secure using two allen bolts with rubber caps, even on this glass desk. The mounts dont move around even when the desk is bumped.



Here is an upclose of the zip ties being used as shims.


I went ahead and trimmed the zip ties about 1/4" above the mount and used the wire cutters to knock them in. Now these things are real tight.

[Lason]

Sorry for the dust, jeez those black monitors pick up lint like crazy. Also I tried portrait and its just too tall for my taste, went back to landscape.

[Lason]

Oh and regarding my temp issues with the cards. I tried to re-create the high vregs last night with a single card and couldnt. I was able to run furmark without my UPS going ballistic and shutting down due to 120%+ usage lol. I was only able to get the Vregs to 80* running extreme burn in for 20 minutes at 1920x1080 (didnt see a 5780x1080 option). Played BF3 for a while, still only sat at 78*, tried heaven11 at 5780x1080 with everything maxed and hit 81* I think. Point is, they would not overheat!

OK so I posted up on the hard forum and aside from the trolls, I got some good info. Seems other people have had the same issues on different games with different cards. Everyone recommended turning vsync on to cap the fps to 60fps. one guy told me how his rig would overheat like crazy while sitting on the Starcraft menu because his fps would peg out. Once the game came on the card would drop fps and it would actually cool down.

I thought it would actually run hard struggling at 30fps rather than pegged out at 200fps but I guess not. I guess its like revving a motor in neutral to 6k. It will overheat even though there is no load on it.

OK so now that is all out of the way, I do have one card pulled out because Im taking Tx Rednecks advise and am replacing the thermal pads with TIM and copper shims. I ordered some more IC diamond thermal paste and also Bryan offered some copper to me but Im really unsure about what thickness I need. I have tried using feeler gauges and I think 10mil will be ok but 16mil copper may be better. Its just real hard to gauge it because they arent along the edge and I had other components in the way. I found a guy on ebay selling an assortment pack of copper sheets in different thickness's for cheap so I just ordered that to try them out.

[CJ]

There you go! Went with the monoprice mounts.

[Lason]

Yep I love monoprice! Its like the A/V version of harbor freight, lol.

[CJ]

What AMD card can realistically run a 3 head?

[roliath]

What AMD card can realistically run a 3 head?

What do you mean?
What resolution?


Lason, nice! Hope you figure out the vreg issue soon enough!

[Lason]

What AMD card can realistically run a 3 head?

My single 6990 was running 3 monitors in BF3 last night on ultra settings at 35-55fps. No overheating either. With 2 cards I was sitting at 75-100fps if I remember right.