M17xRx: Diablo 3 GPU overheat possibility

I've been playing Diablo 3 quite a bit on my M17xR2. I had noticed that the fan wasn't speeding up while playing D3. Two weeks ago, my old 4870 reached it's melting point, and went out with a puff of smoke.

About a month ago, a fellow M17x owner posted on the Diablo 3 forums with an exact same story.

Fast forward to today...

Yesterday, (with the help of some fellow NBR guys) I was able to get a 580m up an running in my old r2.

I knew that I'd need to use HWINFO to control the fan speed. I got it setup and ran 3dMark Vantage. The auto fan speed control function of HWINFO performed flawlessly while running Vantage, adjusting the fan speed as the card heated up. After several more Vantage runs, during which the fan speed was controlled perfectly, I launched Diablo 3.

I listened for the GPU fan to start speeding up. After not hearing any RPM increase for five minutes, I quit D3 and looked at the HWINFO sensor table. The fan speed had never changed, and my GPU temp had hit 100C(!).

Apparently, there is something about Diablo 3 that is preventing the built in fan speed controller (and even HWINFO) from changing the GPU fan speed. The built in fan speed controller was unable to change the fan speed of my old 4870 while playing D3 (causing it to melt), and now even HWINFO is unable to control the fan speed now with my 580m while playing Diablo 3.

The workaround is to manually set the fan speed to max in HWINFO prior to playing D3.

The other guy that melted a GPU while playing D3 had an M17xR2, as well.

It would be great if some of you D3 players could monitor your fan speeds while playing D3 and see if they're changing like they should. If you could post up what version m17x you're playing and whether or not the fan speed was changing correctly, that would be great.

Keep a wary eye on that GPU temp while playing D3 on an M17x.

 

Thanks for the head ups, I'm getting that game soon