M15x 5850m HOT! HOT! HOT!

It's getting 60-75 degrees while idling, and about 100-120 degrees when gaming!?! Even watching youtube boosts it to 80-85 degrees!?

Holy cow it's hot! Is this a driver issue? I'm surprised I have no artifacting yet! I've also cleaned out the fans. Is this a sign of my card dying? If so, what would be the best card to buy under $200? I've been looking at the Firepro M4000 (7770m) as I can pick that up for $110 off aliexpress but I'd like other suggestions too. I also have a spare 6770m lying around, but it's the HP one so it has no rom chip. That results in 3 beeps (1 long 2 short). I'm also wondering if integrating a VBIOS into the SBIOS of the M15x is possible. If that's the case, I can use the 6770m to hold me over till I get a new card.

 

You uh... MAY want to repaste your video card. It sounds like the paste has dried up and your temps are high due to little heat transfer. This happened to my CPU when my paste evaporated in the past.

 

120 degrees?! Celsius?!

That's a ridiculous temperature. How does the card even survive? There might be something wrong with your temp sensor or driver, resulting in wrong display.


If it's really that hot, like D2 Ultima like you should check the paste first.

 

I'm dead serious. I played about 10 minutes of GTA 4 and GPU-Z reported a maximum temp of 123.2 degrees celsius. I quickly shut off the game to prevent damage to the card. I was genuinely frightened.

D2, I always keep thinking to myself that paste only helps a bit like 10-20 degrees difference. The card seems to have a bit of paste on it and the heatsink still.

 

Wow, I think at this point you could even use ketchup or mayonnaise instead of the current thermal paste and still have better results.

 

I am surprised it doesn't throttle back to safe limits! 123c is hot enough to start melting solder haha!

 

It really is quite horrifying. I'm just wondering what the problem could be.

I've used it alot since I purchased it 4 years ago and have never had a problem until now. Temps are ridiculous which makes me think it's dying. And I thought owning an M1710 with a 7950 GTX was bad. Oh well, time to buy a new card!

 

Your card is not dying, just repaste and reposition the heatsink properly. Make sure it presses on the gpu die. High temp => your gpu fan or gpu heatsink may be damaged, but the card should still be fine

 

You could be right. I've noticed that my GPU fan does not make as loud a sound as my CPU fan. It's rather quiet.. Perhaps it's dead?

 

Wow, the gpu fan shoul actually push more air than the cpu one. Check the fan speed with HWinfo, it should go toward 4500-5000 at full speed.

 

Actually you will find they are rated for more or less the same cfm. Both go to 5000rpm max.

 

I didn't check if they are rated at the same cfm, but in HWinfo the cpu fan is ALWAYS slower then the gpu one. (I'm talking about the stock rpm, not manually set from HWinfo)
Even under heavy usage, by feeling with the hand there is a big difference between the two fans. The gpu one seems to be pushing way more air out. I even considered replacing the cpu fan with a gpu one.
I don't think my cpu fan is broken, as I replaced it before my warranty ended because it was rattling (so it's considerably newer then the gpu one)

If your behaves differently, please tell me

 

If I put both to max rpm then the airflow is the same. If you are unsure open up and check out the fans they are basically the same.

 

So the fans are both the same, but the default control is different?

 

Could be! I do notice that the cpu fan is quick to spool up while the gpu fan takes it's time. Also I have noticed that the cpu fan never gets to full speed without manual control.

Then again when I know I am going to be pushing the cpu hard I always override using hwinfo so I don't mind,

 

CPU fan has a definitely whine noise to GPU fan, could just be due to different wear levels. 123 degrees is ruddy ridiculous. How hot is the air flowing out of GPU exhaust (right exhaust if screen is facing you)?
Re-paste that bad boy with ICD7 or Gelid Extreme thermal paste.

 

The thermal paste is all dried up and hard! No wonder why it's been doing nothing! the air coming out is rather hot. I've been using GPU-Z to monitor fan speeds and it's only gone a maximum of 400 RPM. GPU-Z usually says it's spinning at 2 RPM but I can feel more air than that coming out.

Okay, now I've gotten myself confused. Upon further inspection, it seems the GPU fan is indeed on the right. Fatboy, I owe it to you for making me double-check :thumbsup:. Looks like I won't be buying a new fan! I always thought it was on the left and it seems that I've gotten my sense of direction confused again! The GPU fan is the loud one. Not the CPU fan. The GPU fan is pushing plenty of air out with a high amount of whine. Oddly enough, GPU-Z says it's only spinning at 2 RPM's and at a maximum of 400 RPM's but it's obvious that it's spinning much faster than that. The CPU fan is almost noiseless but the temps are normal. I bought a cheap 5650 off ebay to hold me over till I get a new card. I'm going to paste it and what not.

 

Ignore GPU-Z fan speeds, as they aren't displayed correctly. My fan speed shows as 30rpm and I have the same GPU. Use hwinfo to monitor fan speed or manual override. But as everyone has stated, open it up repaste and reseat, and also clean out the fans and vents. For comparison, my gpu idles between 37-47c in 27c weather, and during gaming doesn't cross 80c.

 

So GPU-Z is crap then? Okay, I'll give HWiNFO a shot. What would be the best paste to buy for the 5850?

 

ICD7 or Gelid extreme

 

Hold off on buying the 5650 until you have at least re=pasted the 5850. The 5850 is far better! You would be better off saving the money towards a newer card if anything.

 

@Fatboyslimerr I've been looking at Gelid and it seems to be cheaper than IC . I think I'll go for it. I also heard problems about IC causing heatsink wear

@King of Interns I already bought the card lol. It would still make a nice backup and I only got it for $40. Would the paste really solve the problem? 120 degrees scares me. I got these same temps even when I cleared all the fans out. I'd really like to use the 5850 too so I can run Deus Ex HR on ultra settings.

 

Yes it will make a HUGE difference if the paste is all dried up and useless.