CPU or GPU?

[skypirate]

I know this has been discussed here and there however...

I noticed something interesting.

 

Recently I started getting quite frequent overheat crashes. They appear to be GTX280 related. To battle this I installed GPU-Z (i have CPU-Z as the system is slightly overclocked). What appeared to me is that during play with A-10 the actual load of the GPU is 100% while the 4 cores of my Intel i7 are rarely getting more than 50-70% load.

 

So, I can't help but wonder, is the graphic card more important with the DCS A-10? I know with FSX it isn't.. It is not in a way with Black Shark too..

But how about A-10?

 

Than will the new GTX580 help improve performance?

[Raz_Specter]

I am using a core i7 920 D0 and also a GTX 480 - i dont have any issues with heat mate and have never had the game crash becuase of heat.

 

thanks mithandra

[leobasil]

Well, I'm running an old (~Year 2007) machine here: Quad Core: 4x 1.6GHz and on A10 I have no CPU running at more than 30% at any time.... Still the application is quite low on framerate (usually ~20, often below) on a brand new ATI Radeon HD 6870

So A10 is definitely working on the GPU a lot more than on the CPU... hope that helps...

[Frogfoot1606687865]

Yes, A10 is much more GPU dependent than Blackshark. The most important thing is to have a balanced system (GPU and CPU both stressed equally) to get value for money out of your hardware. No point in having a super powerful CPU if the GPU is rubbish, and vice versa.

 

With regard to your overheat problem, is your cooling fan on the GPU running flat out? I recently installed a GTX470 and noticed it seemed to be running a bit warm. I installed EVGA precision which allows me to monitor and create control profiles for the fan. I noticed that when left to its own devices the fan never went above 60% however hot the card got. So I created a profile to ramp up the fan speed as temp increased. Now the temps are 20deg cooler when under load. The added noise doesn't bother me in A10 as the sound blends in with the sound of the engines.

 

Tom

[EtherealN]

As for core load: a four-core CPU should NOT expect more than 50% load. Ever. Anything over that is DirectX microthreading and OS/background.

 

If you want to check temps, install HWmonitor by the same people who made CPU-Z and see what your max temps across the whole system were.

[skypirate]

I am using the temp readouts from Core Temp 0.99 and from the GPU-Z..

The CPU has water cooling, I have removed the side screen of the case yesterday. The temps before that were about 65-80.. Now the CPU runs at approx 45-70.

The GTX280 on the other hand seem to have the pounding with temps soaring at about 75-80 during the game... I believe that beyond that is when my computer crashes with a very weird color carpet on my screen.

 

Two points here - I guess I need a new case - the one I am using is full with stuff and seems that the air flow is not enough for the graphic card. The CPU adds to the whole heat up. Second point - I am definitely going for my Christmas gift - a GTX580. Anyone know what might be the best option? eVGA 580 Superclocked appears to be everyone choice...

[Konovalov]

Skypirate, have you checked inside your gtx280 for dust buildup? That may be causing your GPU overheating problems. Worth checking.

[MTFDarkEagle]

lol I was about to ask the same thing ;)

[skypirate]

Guys thanks for the advice.

This thought has been circling since yesterday but I guess I'm just too lazy :)

Certainly will do that.

[skypirate]

The system still crashes from time to time. Sure related to the GPU overheating. I keep the case open now but the GTX280 keeps on overheating to 83C. While running idle the t=60C. Either the GPU-Z is giving wrong t or the GTX280 is ready for retiring.

 

Anyway, The strange thing I noticed is that when the GPU-Z program is running while I play, the A-10 never crashes (I really pic a pattern here). The temperatures soar high but the game keeps on running.

 

The hardware wizards might give an opinion here about the GPU-Z

Edited December 9, 2010 by skypirate