Intel processors voltage

**SlyMaelstrom** · 06-11-2008

No, no... I phrased that poorly. When you say <= 100 °C, you lead people to believe that you are referring to temperatures at 100° or close to just below it (like high 90°s), not 65°. If you're telling us it will hover around those temps, then any extra load would put it above those temperatures. If you actually look at my sentence, it is missing a word, that you filled in to be "or" (as the <= would be), but in fact it was meant to be "and" meaning hovering at the 100°C point and potentially getting higher under more stressful circumstances.

Anyway... since the release of the 7 series, I've owned or built computers for others using about 10 nVidia cards. All of which I checked temperatures on. These cards would be 7300LE, 7600GT, 7800GTX, 7950GX2, 8500GT, 8600GT, 8800GT, 8800GTX, 8800GTS 512mb, 8800GS, 9600GT. Of these cards, with an ambient temperature of about 25°C, they never would reach an idle temperature above 55°C. So, if you want personal data and experience to count for anything, there is about 10x as much experience as you have just provided. Personally, I think however, that any personal experience is rubbish and would rather get my data from reviewers with controlled testing labs.

**Elysia** · 06-11-2008

Ah, alright.
Apparently, the fanless card can hover around 100 degrees if under load and it's perfectly normal for that kind of card, but for the fan-y cards, 55-65 degrees idle is probably a better bet and well... I don't know about load since I haven't really looked.

**SlyMaelstrom** · 06-11-2008

Originally Posted by Elysia

Ah, alright.
Apparently, the fanless card can hover around 100 degrees if under load and it's perfectly normal for that kind of card, but for the fan-y cards, 55-65 degrees idle is probably a better bet and well... I don't know about load since I haven't really looked.

I won't doubt that there are fanless models of nVidia cards that reach those temperatures under load, but I could in no way recommend them. At those temperatures, you are easily cutting your processors life expectancy in half.

**Elysia** · 06-11-2008

I would have to agree. I don't like the sound of a fanless card even.

**Neo1** · 06-11-2008

Originally Posted by Elysia

I don't like the sound of a fanless card even.

Err, what sound? It's fanless?

Edit:

Mario, how is that E4500 working out for you btw?

**Elysia** · 06-11-2008

I mean, I don't like the idea of a fanless card.

**Mario F.** · 06-11-2008

Originally Posted by Neo1

Mario, how is that E4500 working out for you btw?

Oh, beautifully. The leap was gigantic from the old PIII. I could notice it instantly. My project which took around 3 minutes to build with pre-compiled headers, now takes just around 15 seconds. You can imagine my face when I first built with the new puter

The 3GB memory also helps considerably; Instant application switching, running 4 and 5 top applications at the same time and experiencing no paging.

I must say, however, old habit dies hard and I keep using XP with classic view, disable all unneeded services and am overly conservative on applications I allow to run on the system tray.

But I worry too. My wife is not too happy of me making this a secondary machine once the laptop arrives (next week!!). She rightfully argues "it cost money and you'd better use it!". So I'm considering possibly going nuts by December and keep the case which I do like very much and do a major upgrade in order to make this my main machine.

**Elysia** · 06-11-2008

With 3 GB of memory, there will be little paging regardless of how many programs you have active!
I currently have only 54 processes running, including Visual Studio and Firefox, but I used to use far more, plus I use all visual effects (and I can even use WindowBlinds) and services and get no paging.
No, sir, you will get a long way with those 3 GB

**zacs7** · 06-11-2008

> I currently have only 54 processes running
Only!? I have 16 on my windows install...

BTW, what card do you have Elysia? You keep talking about how warm it is, yet you haven't said what it is? I've never seen my fanless cards go over 55C (under load for a few hours too [too many games

] -- 6600TDH & 8600GT with really fat stock heatsinks), and where I live it can get rather warm (around 42C shade temp). Fanless all the way baby

Of these cards, with an ambient temperature of about 25°C, they never would reach an idle temperature above 55°C.

I don't have very good air flow IMO, and my cards have never been that warm at idle (5200FX, 6600TDH, 7600GT & 8600GT) with an ambient temp of 27C and my computer is on most of the time. Which brings me to the question, how accurate are the sensors?

**SlyMaelstrom** · 06-11-2008

Originally Posted by zacs7

I don't have very good air flow IMO, and my cards have never been that warm at idle (5200FX, 6600TDH, 7600GT & 8600GT) with an ambient temp of 27C and my computer is on most of the time. Which brings me to the question, how accurate are the sensors?

I would say significantly more accurate than whatever sensors you are using, because if you're at the same ambient temperature I suggested, then to tell us that your fanless graphics card hovers only two degrees Celsius above ambient room temperature on idle is more ridiculous than hearing cards go above 100°C on anything but full load. Given the lack of air a GPU gets, I'd be surprised to hear that the processor is any closer than that to ambient with the computer turned off.

For the record, I would say that I generally test with multiple temperature monitor applications as well as my own thermal probes. All of which test within a few degrees of each other.

**zacs7** · 06-12-2008

I would say significantly more accurate than whatever sensors you are using, because if you're at the same ambient temperature I suggested, then to tell us that your fanless graphics card hovers only two degrees Celsius above ambient room temperature on idle is more ridiculous than hearing cards go above 100°C on anything but full load.

Huh? When did I say that?

At 27C ambient, I've never seen them hit above 55C under load (idle around 38-40C).

**SlyMaelstrom** · 06-12-2008

Originally Posted by zacs7

Huh? When did I say that?

At 27C ambient, I've never seen them hit above 55C under load (idle around 38-40C).

Oh, I apologize. I misread your ambient temp to be your idle temperature. Idling at 40 is pretty good and expected for an entry-level card. The higher idle temps from the list above came from the high-end models like the 7950GX2 and the 8800GTX. Currently my 8800GTS is running idle at 44 °C with a case temperature of 33 °C. Keeping in mind, however, that it is not using a stock cooler.

**Elysia** · 06-12-2008

Originally Posted by zacs7

Only!? I have 16 on my windows install...

Well, you must have disabled a lot of services then

I never disable services and fluff and puff.

BTW, what card do you have Elysia? You keep talking about how warm it is, yet you haven't said what it is?

I have a Geforce 9600 GT.

**SlyMaelstrom** · 06-12-2008

Originally Posted by Elysia

I have a Geforce 9600 GT.

Wow... what manufacturer? From my experience the 9600GT cards run exceptionally cool compared to other models. Just look at the one referenced in the picture of the HWMonitor download page. Considering the processor temps, I'd say the guy isn't water cooling. Though looking at the PSU and HDD temps, it's clear that they're running at an extremely low ambient temperature.

http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

**Elysia** · 06-12-2008

No, looking at that, I'd definetely say that individual is using good airflow and/or watercooling, because I cannot even attempt to get HD temps that low (they are typically in 50-60 range). My CPU range is 35 - 50, depending on load, I think. It helps to have a side fan blowing cold air directly over the processor.