Octane Really Heats Up My GPU GTX 580

[Empire-Arts]

I use blender as my primary 3d application, not because I am cheap or poor, but because I truly prefer it over the rest. In Cycles my GPU ran about 75 degrees and I could render as long as I wanted to without it getting any hotter. With Octane however it is heating up to 85 degrees.


It may go even hotter, but I pause the render to allow it to cool after a few minutes. I know that this temperature is within the tolerance of my card but it still makes me a bit uneasy. I presume this is do to the advanced calculations that are necessary to do what Octane does.


So I am just posting this thread to address the subject... how hot is too hot? How hot do your GPU's run with octane? I think that my cards max safe operating temp is around 97 degrees or so, and thus I am just being paranoid. It's one of those 3Gb cards and it costs about as much as a low end computer all by itself.



Anyway, lets hear it about your GPU's if you care to share. How hot does yours run? Have you ever burned one out? Are there settings we can change that will help keep them cool without shortening the life of their cooling fans?

[FrankPooleFloating]

Hey bro. You can stick closed loop watercoolers on a gpu - Folks do it all the time.. I did it.
Look at my sig. But be sure to do your homework. Everything you need to know about The Mod
can be found here:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1203528/offi ... ka-the-mod

Here is a great (but cheap) one that is made by the same guys that make Antec Kuhlers,
among other oems for big brands:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Asetek-740GF-Gr ... d=ViewItem

And be damn sure to slap some of these heat sinks on your VRMs and VRAM:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Arctic-DCACO-VR ... 484dc53742

And have a fan (like a Corsair AF120 silent) blowing directly on gpu. You should just be removing
the shroud and keeping it off.. this is the way to go, trust me. The cooler above suggests that
you cut a hole in the side of shroud for hose and keep using your fan.. phooey I say. My beast
is practically dead silent. Not having screaming gpu fans that sound like frickin' jet engines does
indeed kick ass. I personally have an AF120 blowing sideways at both of my cards. There are
many ways to do The Mod, but if you have a side-mounted case fan that points toward gpus,
you should be fine. You just have to make sure that decent airflow is hitting directly on those
heat sinks.

Anyone else reading - The Mod works on everything - Titans included. (edit: single-gpu.. no 590
or 690 that I have seen).

I can't speak highly enough about doing The Mod. It is totally worth every penny and the modest
amount of work. I am not joking - my workstation is only as loud as 7 corsair silent edition fans.

Oh yeah, welcome to Octane!

[Phantom107]

What you can try is setting the card to 'Medium render priority' in Octane. It needs to have priority checked in the preferences though!

[rappet]

Fans, fans and fans... that what I did to cool my quad 580.
I got 10 fans intsalled in a big case to have an aircooled system.
As I am posting this I got 3 GPU 580 rendering with the hottest temp around 82 celcius while speed of GPU-fan is about 50%.
Maybe you can check your GPU-fanspeed when having 96 degrees, is it going 100%?
greetz,

[Empire-Arts]

Thx for your replies so far. I will defiantly take a look at those after market options. When I get home from work today I'll see if changing the render priority changes anything as well. It would be awesome if a fix was that simple.

[Empire-Arts]

Changing render priority is indeed keeping my GPU cooler. Thx a bunch. Now it is running at 70-75 degrees



Octane is so fast that even at a GPU load of only 20% it is still faster then Blender Cycles. So I do not mind the drop in performance. Your suggestion is very much appreciated.

[FrankPooleFloating]

That is great if that works for you. You (and anyone else) always have the
option to do The Mod -- if you end up wanting to quiet the beast, so
to speak.. and likely extend life of your gpu(s).

Furthermore, you guys need not worry about closed loop coolers taking
a piss inside your computer. They are factory sealed and never ever need
water changed. Using CLCs on GPUs is very safe. It is a completely different
ballgame than doing a custom water loop. Obviously I am speaking to guys
that do not even have a CPU closed loop cooler installed.

Another thing I would like to point out is that the Asetek 740GF has the hoses
coming horizontally out of the pump (hockey puck thing that goes on gpu)...
this is worth noting, because many CPU CLC's have hoses coming out vertically,
because they are made to go on CPUs. With the 740GF, it would be quite easy
to install these on a 4-GPU setup - provided you had a huge case and could
get the radiators w/ push fans in a place that can reach the GPUs.

I know that I have been a total spaz about this.. on a couple threads now.. but
doing The Mod has had a profound impact on my relationship with my beast.
I can actually think, listen to music and games never sounded so f-ing good...
I just want to do what I can to get the word out.

[Empire-Arts]

My rig is a custom Maingear rig, and to be frank I am a little scared to mess with it. I would love to implement the upgrades you have suggested but I do not trust myself.


If you would be interested in making an in depth tutorial on youtube of exactly what you did(a detailed how to and what not to do) then I would more then likely open up my computer and start tinkering if the modifications were not too extreme. But without something like that I don't see myself, or people like myself, yanking off GPU fans

[FrankPooleFloating]

It is child's play... and is completely covered in over 400 pages on The Mod
thread at OCN. The first url up top. I am sorry to hear that you scare so easily.

Also, if anyone has been enlightened by my info about The Mod, please say
so. Every time I write crap about The Mod, I tell myself: "If only I can help one
bloke... it is all worth it..." It would really be nice to know that I have actually
enlightened at least one of you...

[FrankPooleFloating]

Update: Asetek is apparently phasing out 740GF and moving to 740GN, which is technically made to work on 670, 680, 770 & 780...

Anyone interested can still get 740GF's (470,480, 570, 580) on eBay... if you want one that has a bracket made to fit one of these four GPU's with no additional modding, you should snag one of these while you can....

However, anyone who ends up spending some time on the The Mod thread above will learn that regardless of which CLC you use (be it Asetek's own or the ones they OEM like Antec Kuhlers or other CPU coolers made by others) they can pretty much all be mounted onto GPU with a little work. One option is using zip ties (the good ones, from Lowes etc), which works great when done correctly. Another option is a DWood bracket (just google it)... or you can make your own bracket - which would be easy, provided you have a machine shop in your garage...

I actually have two DWood brackets sitting on a shelf in my office.. they arrived too late for me to use them. I needed to do The Mod the weekend that I did, so I went with the zip ties. They have not expanded or loosened at all in over a half year and my temps have not budged. So I am one who can testify that zips work fine. The cold plate (copper) just has to be snug on the GPU chip. How you achieve that is not as important. Whether using zips, brackets, whatever - it is all about the mounting holes in the GPU and getting something through those holes and being held in place on the back of the card.. this is why the zip technique is great. You can adjust your zips as needed. Usually you chain 2 or 3 zips in a circle (snug) around your pump (hockey puck) and feed 4 zips through this circle and down through GPU holes.. then attach female ends (excess can be clipped after) as tight as you can on bottom of GPU. There are many images and instructions about this on The Mod thread. Also, I used Antec Nano Diamond 7 thermal paste. I think it was a good choice.

Again, if anyone did not even know this shit was possible, and likes what they are hearing, please speak up.