My GTX680 has died...

[JCitron]

I crashed to the desktop a few times lately and now I keep getting those blinking blocks while doing anything graphics intensive. I blew out the already clean fan anyway, but to no avail. Being an EVGA, I might be able to send it back under warranty. If I can send it back, I will but purchase a new one anyway and keep the old one as a spare.

I'm typing from my 'droid tablet which has a lot to be desired while my data is being copied to my external device so I can continue to route build on my laptop.

Lovely... This always happens when the budget is tight.

John

 

[fran1]

"This always happens when the budget is tight"

When isn't it, been thinking about a new mobo and cpu, just thinking mind you.

 

[clam1952]

That's not a very good thing to happen, I wouldn't have expected an EVGA card to pack up that quick.

 

[JCitron]

"This always happens when the budget is tight"

When isn't it, been thinking about a new mobo and cpu, just thinking mind you.

Don't jinx yourself go for the new stuff while you can!

That's not a very good thing to happen, I wouldn't have expected an EVGA card to pack up that quick.

I didn't either because I've had great success with their cards before. I've logged into their site and started the RMA. I should be fine with sending it back because the card looks spotless on the outside and was never overclocked. It just started with these graphics memory errors now. In the ancient days, I used to fix video circuits and this turned out to be either a cold solder joint or a bad VRAM chip. Today, however, with the tiny surface mounted parts, that's impossible to repair.

John

 

[Dinorius_Redundicus]

John

Just on the subject of graphics cards, what sort of temperatures was your GTX680 running at under load? I have a GTX580 and when playing graphically intensive games it goes to 86 celsius. There are no problems with its performance, but it seems kind of hot to me. Will such temperatures affect the lifetime of the card?

Deane

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[JCitron]

Hi Deane,

I never saw temps that high. I usually see around 57C maximum using EVGA PrecisionX. If it gets warmer than that, I adjust the fan to run a bit faster. High temperatures will surely affect the lifetime of the hardware. The NVidia Kepler chipset is supposed to throttle back if it goes above 70C from what I've read. Sometimes the drivers can cause the cards to run inefficiently. Make sure you've updated to the latest build which seems to do a decent job in this respect. The latest version came out today. 332.21 is the latest build number.

John

 

[pdkoester]

When is the last time you took the GTX 680 out of the computer, and blew all the dust out with compressed air? That may be all it needs.

 

[Dinorius_Redundicus]

Hi Deane,

I never saw temps that high. I usually see around 57C maximum using EVGA PrecisionX. If it gets warmer than that, I adjust the fan to run a bit faster. High temperatures will surely affect the lifetime of the hardware. The NVidia Kepler chipset is supposed to throttle back if it goes above 70C from what I've read. Sometimes the drivers can cause the cards to run inefficiently. Make sure you've updated to the latest build which seems to do a decent job in this respect. The latest version came out today. 332.21 is the latest build number.

John

Most of the time it is sitting at 40-60C. I use EVGA Precision X to control it, and GeForce Experience to keep my drivers up to date, with settings optimised on a per game basis. But with games like Far Cry 3 or Assassin's Creed IV, I can't stop the card (a GTX580, not 680) from going straight to 86C even with the fans flat out. I have de-dusted it many times, but in reality there was never any dust. I'm starting to think this temperature is natural for the GTX580. There doesn't seem to be any throttling back at 70C, the games still fly well enough even in intense scenes. I'm just amazed that modern GPU's operate OK at these temperatures. The 680 might run cooler being a more recent model.

 

[cascaderailroad]

A $14 tube of Arctic Silver heat sink compound thermal paste from Radio Shack, goes a long way (and may be enough do 2-3 PC's, and their video cards) to re-apply to the PC CPU chip, and video card chip.

 

[Dinorius_Redundicus]

Just googled a bit on the topic of GPU temperatures...

GTX580 has a 'maximum safe operating temperature' of 97C, above which it will throttle back. Reference

GTX680 is similar. Reference

I'm not sure that thermal paste is required, I've read that the factory installed paste is already pretty good with these cards. Knowing me, I'd probably damage something when trying to apply it.

 

[JCitron]

Just googled a bit on the topic of GPU temperatures...

GTX580 has a 'maximum safe operating temperature' of 97C, above which it will throttle back. Reference

GTX680 is similar. Reference

I'm not sure that thermal paste is required, I've read that the factory installed paste is already pretty good with these cards. Knowing me, I'd probably damage something when trying to apply it.

Thanks for the reference. 97C is pretty hot!

I thought about the thermal paste too when you mentioned the heat, and I too would probably break something removing the heat sink. It's quite a heat pipe that sits on the video circuitry and quite different than the normal heat sinks we're used to seeing.

 

[JCitron]

Well I have an update on this little issue here.

I did some more poking around before RMA'ing the video card. I found that one of my power connectors wasn't quite as tight as it should be. The card requires 2x 8-wire power plugs. My power supply has 2, 6-wire plugs with extra 2-pin plugs to fit on to make them 8-wire connectors. One of the 2-wire connectors was a little loose. Apparently, when I had cleaned the card recently, I hadn't pushed this connector in all the way and this caused the problem.

So knock wood, and I'm good to go for awhile I hope.

John

 

[Robert3a0]

One of the 2-wire connectors was a little loose. Apparently, when I had cleaned the card recently, I hadn't pushed this connector in all the way and this caused the problem.

Hi John, It is always the little and simple things that seem to let us down. The number of times I have taken my machine to the computer guy only to find it was something that simple is embarrassing. Just as well you didn't race out and buy another card.
Regards
Bob