Topic: Is it safe to run a GPU under 45 degrees ? (Read 915 times)

Pretty silly question. This is like asking is it safe to keep my GPU turned off?
FYI, when turned off your GPU is probably at below 20 degrees depending on your ambient temperature.

Just remember, lower temps = longer life span for your GPU.

I ran a couple miners (ASIC and GPU) around 0 degrees Fahrenheit last year, and the operation ran smooth as butter with temperatures doing very well. As time goes on the temperature of the devices themselves will eventually go up too. Realistically it’s just a matter of keeping them in a stable place with ventilation and shelter from the elements and you are set. I also like to keep humidity down.

When you cards heat up the outside air, humidity level will DROP - it's not going to be an issue.

 Condensation happens when the air is WARMER than the surface it passes over - the exact OPPOSITE of what mining rig does to the air.


 I might worry about a card with an OPERATING temperature a ways into the negative C range, mostly due to the possibility of the fan lubrication getting too cold - but it would take a VERY cold airflow to manage that.
 STARTUP of a rig that gets that cold might be a nightmare though.

Thanks for the link.

usually there is only guideline of maximum operating temperature of graphic cards:
http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2752/~/nvidia-gpu-maximum-operating-temperature-and-overheating
"NVIDIA GPUs are designed to operate reliably up to their maximum specified operating temperature. This maximum temperature varies by GPU, but is generally in the 105C range (refer to the nvidia.com product page for individual GPU specifications)."

I don't think there is any requirement of minimum operating temperature of graphic cards, generally speaking, should be the lower, the better, until you get the frozen temperature of your machine...but definitely 45 degrees would not freeze anything

I have been through a couple of winters already with many miners in my garage and a shed in the back yard. Both areas are unheated, well except by the miners of course, and where I live the wintertime temperatures often drop below 0F.  As others have already mentioned, it is not the temperature as much as it is moisture in the form of humidity and perhaps condensation that you need to worry about.

As long as the miners stay running you should not have any issues as their natural heating will keep the area somewhat warm and since warm air holds moisture better than cold air, the humidity will typicality be lower inside your mining area than the outside anyway. The only time you would need to worry is if the power would go off for an extended period of time, thus chilling your equipment and room close to the cold outdoor temperature. In that case you would need to take some precautions when bringing the equipment back up to prevent condensation from forming.

Since condensation can occur when your bring a cold object into a warm environment, you need to watch out for that possibility. If the area is enclosed enough you could try to bring a regular space heater out there first to warm up the room a little before turning a miner on. Be sure to check for condensation on any of your miners first though as the danger will mainly be at the beginning of this process. Bring the miners up slowly with one or two at a time to gradually raise the temperature. This will help prevent further condensation from forming on other surfaces within the room that could drip on your exposed miners.

Again, I never had such concerns as my power is pretty reliable where I live, but if you did have an outage of over 12 hours in bitter cold temperatures it is better to take precautions. Waiting for a warmer day with low humidity would be the best option and as I mentioned earlier bring an external heat source into the room would help warm and dry it out a bit before trying to turn on all your expensive gear.

As long as you get the condensation out of the way by reducing humidity (dehumidifiers work if humidity levels are too high) you will be fine. Problems usually arise below -20c, but most cards are rated for that as well. I mine during the winters in a garage often at -10c and nothing too bad happens because the air is super dry.

If you are sucking in straight outside air like most do in this business then just be careful of humidity.  Also sounds stupid but trust me, check for metal air grills and stuff around and mainly above your units.  They will condensate with the cold coming in and the heat of that room and drip down on your stuff!  Yep, it happened to me!

Any electrical equipment does not like sudden temperature changes. Even if you equip the room with good ventilation for your GPU would be condensation which will lead to a short circuit and failure of the equipment. I would not recommend you to do it. Read the instructions for use.

For gaming I have a geforce 8400GS and it alternates between 51-56 on idle. The lowest it has ever been was 44, and when gaming it alternates between 59-66 with the highest @  68. I use a speed fan to get accurate readings and it helps me know when it is abnormal.

This. Overclock your cards as far as they will go and enjoy your good luck with low temperatures. And be a little careful if your rig stops working for some time. Ie. cools down during the night while not working, the sun comes out and effectively your rig becomes colder then environment resulting with condensation. But since it is in a garage I think you would be fine in that case also because a change of temp in garage should be slow.

just don't create condensation it's the same thing when you shot with the air compressor too close, you can create condensation and damage something on your MB

as long as your graphic cards aren't colder than the environment they are in, you don't need to fear condensation, for instance if you decide to move your rigs from your cold garage (-15-0°C) into your warm part of the house(20-24°C), then you should wait for your rig to gradually reach that room temp level.

Remember ice cold beers straight from the fridge in the summer? Same rules apply, bigger temp difference - more condensation

Where I am some friends of mine are running 2 rigs with RX 480 and RX 580 and they have put their open frame case rig in their balcony ,isolated from rain and with fans 80% through afterburner app they have some temperatures running constantly at 45-46 degrees celsius and so far no problem, only better performance.

The more cool (within the range needed) a piece of hardware is the more better performance it does. So in theory you are good to go. Let us know if you encounter any problems (but I don't think you will).

Keeping your card in cool temperature will also prolong the card life.

When I had watercooling my gpu used to run at 1c 24/7 on winter on 10% load, 100% load used to make temps go 5c, used to be fun, never had problems with water drops but make sure the water drops go into the case rather than motherboard, need to position the water block well.

You are totally correct. It seems the owner of the thread is a bit too conservative regarding using his or her rig.

Until Your mining rig is over the ambient temperature You don't really have to worry about condensation forming on it  + the air during the winter months is quite dry and should be OK for electronics (Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong ).

45 degrees is totally fine. It depends on which part you get the temperature measurement. If it is core temperature, actually it is too low. You should overclock it to squeeze more performance.

They probably run fine... until the first power outage or whatever failure causing downtime.

If they stop working for an hour or so they'll cool down and when you start them up next the condensation will likely cause issues.

Yes that's right, you should maintain it's temperature at an optimum level and with the help of thermometer it can be easily link to the cpu fan controls in order to boost the cooling system fast. When there's a presence of heat, typically the place will be warm, so you must keep the surrounding temperature also cold to avoid any overheating that can damage your mining hardwares.