BSOD when 5870 crossfire under load. Card overheating suspected.

[LurchUSA]

My 3 year old computer is starting to throw more and more BSOD's as I play various games, with my venerable 5870 crossfire configuration.

I think I may have an overheating issue, as recently when I went to check my cards soon after a BSOD, the top card's heat pipes were so hot they were painful to touch.

Maybe time to ditch the crossfire and go back to a single, powerful card setup?

What does my memory dump suggest I do?

 

[Pauly]

You are suffering from an 0x101 error and given what you have said i fear you are correct about the overheating
Some info for you here http://www.sevenforums.com/crash-lo...0x101-clock_watchdog_timeout-troubleshtg.html

I would start by installing some temperature monitoring software and check your temps at idle then load up the machine and see how they rise
Have you removed cards and cleaned out the heatsinks

 

[LurchUSA]

Thanks for the heads up.

I am currently running HWMonitor and I am seeing the cards getting up around 80 to 90 degrees C.

I routinely clean out my heatsinks every 6-8 months with my vac-n-blo cleaner and my cleaning brush (paint brush with the metal parts taped up to avoid shorting anything out).

I'm also running a HAF 923 case, with the large side and top fans, so there is heaps of air flow. I'm just thinking the cards are getting less effective dissipating heat as time goes on. If anything, good excuse to upgrade.

 

[torak79]

Have you tried reapplying the thermal paste on graphics card, as this becomes less effective overtime.

 

[LurchUSA]

No, not as of yet. Little weary about pulling apart my video cards, as I've never done work on VGA heat sinks before. However I install CPU HSF units all the time, so it shouldn't be THAT hard... right? :huh: