Overheated 2x5770 in the new 5.1 mac pro

[studiox]

Hi,

The first day with the new mac pro didn't start good

After playing around with Crossfire in windows i decided to get some serious gaming going. Started playing Dirt 2 - one of my favorite games.

After about 20 min I started to smell a bad heating issue from my mac pro. I turned to computer off, and checked the gfx cards. The first card where smoking hot. Rebooted and ran smcFanControl to cool them down.

Anyone else experiencing the same? Do we still have to manually increase the fan speeds to be able to run games in windows?

Im going to run a few Steam Games on OSX just to see how the internal fan control works (or not works) but would like comments from the rest of you

 

[Weepul]

Do we still have to manually increase the fan speeds to be able to run games in windows?

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but what do you mean "still"? Has this been an issue with older Mac Pros? Do the fans (GPU or case) not ramp with temperature when running Windows in BootCamp?

 

[Mr_Ed]

I believe they do ramp up. I can hear mine (5870) when I play MW2 or Just Cause 2. Same thing on my old MP with a 4870.

 

[abccba]

My 3,1 stays nice and cool playing Dirt 2 with two 5770 in crossfire... No tweaking with SMC required....

 

[studiox]

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but what do you mean "still"? Has this been an issue with older Mac Pros? Do the fans (GPU or case) not ramp with temperature when running Windows in BootCamp?

Apple has not included any drivers to the sensors in Windows. That means all internal fans are not able to be controlled by windows (or do so indepently) The only fan that is able to be controlled in windows are the GPU ones (that are controlled by the graphics driver)

This has been a huge issue for my old mac pro (1.1) as I can play for hours in windows and the GPU itself has never been able to pull that heat of.

 

[jeanlain]

Studiox,
Install the ATi calalyst control center on Windows to monitor GPU temps and fan speed. I doubt SMC fan Control can do anything on the graphics card's fans.

 

[studiox]

Studiox,
Install the ATi calalyst control center on Windows to monitor GPU temps and fan speed. I doubt SMC fan Control can do anything on the graphics card's fans.

When I talked about fan speeds I was referring to the internal MP fans, not the GPU ones.

The GPU fan's are spinning, but the temp are way to high. I'm going to try to disable CrossFire this evening just to see if the heat issue is related to the dual GFX cards both running at full speed. Im also going to monitor GPU temp more closely.

 

[jeanlain]

When I talked about fan speeds I was referring to the internal MP fans, not the GPU ones.

The GPU fan's are spinning, but the temp are way to high. I'm going to try to disable CrossFire this evening just to see if the heat issue is related to the dual GFX cards both running at full speed. Im also going to monitor GPU temp more closely.

The GPU fans are the ones that can reduce the cards temp. I doubt the Mac Pro fans can do much in that respect.
See if the GPU temp is abnormally high. There might be an issue with the radeons.

BTW, crossfire does work with the Apple cards?

 

[studiox]

The GPU fans are the ones that can reduce the cards temp. I doubt the Mac Pro fans can do much in that respect.
See if the GPU temp is abnormally high. There might be an issue with the radeons.

BTW, crossfire does work with the Apple cards?

Temprature is related to the airflow and the better airflow you have the cooler your box will be, right? So if the PCI fan that is placed aligned with the GPU's can make sure the air it blown out of the box that must help? ..

About the temp, it's at least to my limited knowledge about new gpu's really high

100C is about 212F - Way to hi. The GPU fan is runnit a bit slow also imho.

Anyone else has two 5770 and experience the same issue.

Yes - Crossfire works fine, Im getting about 2x performance in 3Dmark etc

 

[Wild-Bill]

Your GPU fan shouldn't be running at only 45% with a 100% load on it. Something is messed up there.

You should be able to adjust the fan speed in the Catalyst Control Center though. You can (if memory serves me correctly) set up a 2D profile and a 3D profile, so that when the card enters 3D mode, the fan setting you have designated for 3D mode will start.

 

[studiox]

Your GPU fan shouldn't be running at only 45% with a 100% load on it. Something is messed up there.

You should be able to adjust the fan speed in the Catalyst Control Center though. You can (if memory serves me correctly) set up a 2D profile and a 3D profile, so that when the card enters 3D mode, the fan setting you have designated for 3D mode will start.

I totally agree with you. Im not sure its 100% load but it must be dam close. Normally the GPU fan's sound like a Boeing taking off while at 100% load.

CCC has disabled the Performance section in the drivers for the Mac 5770 (the only reason i can think of) - Im almost sure the same situation existed in my XT1900 card but was "sorted" after a while with new catalyst drivers. That suxx as I cant run the fans manually at 100% or lover the clock or similar to decrease heat issues.

 

[VirtualRain]

Assuming your ambient temps are reasonable, perhaps you have a bad card... perhaps the TIM was incorrectly applied, the heat sink isn't installed properly, the fan or fan controller is bunged, or it's just running way too hot.

 

[studiox]

Assuming your ambient temps are reasonable, perhaps you have a bad card... perhaps the TIM was incorrectly applied, the heat sink isn't installed properly, the fan or fan controller is bunged, or it's just running way too hot.

Yea, Im going to swap them to use the other one as the "master" to see If I get the same temperature. Also going try just one card. If one of the card is malfunctioning that would be the easiest thing to fix — just have to call Apple.

But if it's a construction problem I don't believe apple will do anything to fix it quickly.