asus 7870 getting hot.

[Thepcvikings]

I have an ASUS directcuII graphics card. The temps on this thing go ll the way up to 89c when i'm bitcoin mining. I never leave the bitcoin miner on for long as i'm not comfortable with the temps that high. i know that i have plenty of airflow in the case and the card i had before this (gigabyte GTX 660) would only hit temps about 68c. Why is this card getting so much hotter that the last one?

[TechFan@ic]

It's getting exceptionally hot because you're bitcoin mining.
A good trick is to underclock the VRAM as much as you can, since it is not used in BTC mining , that will help keep the temps down.
You should also adjust the temperature curve on the card, keep it below 80c, 89c is too toasty.

Just to make sure it's not a defective cooler, play some Bioshock Infinite & watch the temps, they should stay nice & cool.

[Thepcvikings]

played some crysis 3 with it and it only got up to about 79 so thats a little better but still a little toasty for what im used to

[QPofHighGrade]

Woah! 89c? Keep the VRM temps below 80c, or your card won't last very long.
Keep the clocks at stock, undervolt it, and set a proper fan curve.
Lowing the VRAM clock speeds won't decrease temps while mining (well, not on my card) all the action happens in the core.
Also, take your side panel off, unless you have a good way to push the heat up and out of the case.
Turn the AC on while mining.
You might have bad thermal conductivity between your heatsink and core, you can always replace the thermal compound yourself to help a lot with temps.
Clean your fans and rad, to clear them of dust aswell.
 

[Wats]

I doubt you'll be able to underclock the vram. afaik you can't on the newer cards.

 

put the power limit slider back to 0% and set a fan curve to hit 100% when your core gets to 70c. you want the card as cold as possible for long term stability. watch your vrm temps, keep those under 80c for 24/7 mining.

 

Take your side panel off, set the case fans to 100% and turn the ac on full blast. :p

[TechFan@ic]

played some crysis 3 with it and it only got up to about 79 so thats a little better but still a little toasty for what im used to

When it got up to about 79c how fast were the fans spinning ?

[Thepcvikings]

I have the fan curve set to hit 100% at 65c and it still pushes it all the way up to 79

[Wats]

You might just have poor air flow. Have you tried running w/o the side panel?

[EmoRarity]

As a person that has owned both, I can say that AMD cards just output more heat. Which is a norm to a degree. 

[Thepcvikings]

ive done a little bit more tinkering now and even while playing crysis 3 or running  msi kombustor i got temps up to 79c on crysis and 91c on kombustor. I have ran it with both the side panel on and side panel off. ive ran it with the side panels on and all of my case fans at 100%( check project viking in build logs if you want to see how i have it set up right now. I know that the problem isnt airflow theres plenty of it. ambient temperature is also not a factor as ive tested it in both 70F and 50F and the card acted the same either way.