Solved Can I underclock a graphic card to keep it cool?

[Soulwired]

Hello Everyone, I have a Powercolor HD 7970 that runs at 1100MHz GPU clock and 1425MHz memory clock, I was wondering if I were to clock the settings back to the stock settings of a normal HD 7970 would it in anyway way limit the amount of heat given off by the card, preventing the fans from getting to loud?

 

[AddRAM]

The card should be doing it`s own underclocking. Do you have any monitoring software installed ?

Right now I`m watching a movie while I`m on the net and my card is down to 135 MHz

California ?

 

[Soulwired]

Yea, I use Catalyst Control Center, and normally the card is at 300MHZ GPU and 150MHz Memory. I was wondering more about preventing it from ever reaching those limits as in capping the card when I play a game.

and yea I'm from California.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Underclocking, actually under volting will reduce the max temp the card reaches at 100% load, but have little effect on normal operating temps at normal loads.

I have reducing the voltage to a pair of 7950's I use for cypercoin mining, these run near 100% 24/7 and maintain a temp of 70-72C. At stock voltage these temps would be will over 80C.

 

[badger906]

ati cards are just LOUD! they always have been. even non reference ones like yours kick put a din!
your card will work happily at 90c at 100% load so heat wont be an issue. granted it may sound like a jet fighter.
you could always look for an aftermarket cooler with quietness in mind, as stated underclocking will just effect the upper limit not the lower

 

[Soulwired]

Oh, okay that makes sense. Alright then I'll just go out and like for an after market cooler thanks for the advice.

 

[Indianatone]

ati cards are just LOUD! they always have been. even non reference ones like yours kick put a din!
your card will work happily at 90c at 100% load so heat wont be an issue. granted it may sound like a jet fighter.
you could always look for an aftermarket cooler with quietness in mind, as stated underclocking will just effect the upper limit not the lower

Not all ATI AMD Radeon cards are loud, for example I have a Radeon HD6770 silent card with a massive heatsink that makes absolutely no noise at all. I also have 2 HD 6670 and a HD7770 and a GT9800 Silent and a GTS450 which barely makes a peep. They are all Gigabyte and 2 of them are Nvidia so I think you may want to try a different brand.

 

[AddRAM]

Yea, I use Catalyst Control Center, and normally the card is at 300MHZ GPU and 150MHz Memory. I was wondering more about preventing it from ever reaching those limits as in capping the card when I play a game.

and yea I'm from California.

I was talking about your operating system, you have California LOL

 

[smarteyeball]

Oh, okay that makes sense. Alright then I'll just go out and like for an after market cooler thanks for the advice.

Accerleos Extreme or Gelid Icy Vision are two brands to look for.


Note that the VRM heatsinks that come with the Accerlos have a tendency to fall off. You might want to consider grabbing some thermal tape as well. Not sure about the Gelid.