GTX580 Overheating Problem

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k@rt

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Apr 17, 2012
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Hi All, with the extreme heat of the summer months here in the Mediterranean I am experiencing problems with my GTX580 overheating and crashing my PC. I have a pretty good Antec case with 2 front fans, a top fan and rear extract fan working full, and I even opened up the case a had a large desk fan blowing in the side... but still it overheats sometimes.

Later on today I am going to relace my GPU thermal compound as shown here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NRHRWwrm0M

Now it seems to me that when I do this it may be an advantage NOT to replace the graphics card plastic cover (that is removed at the start) and instead to leave it all open. Without the cover wouldnt I get better airflow from the case all around the card? So basically is it better to leave the card cover off? Could there be an problem in doing so?

Secondly how effective is a GPU cooler like this one? :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQWrBYp9yUo

Unfortuneatly I can't afford to install liquid cooling on my GPU as I dont have pump, radiator or GPU sink (anything basically!) and altogether its too expensive atm... but I could afford one of these fans at £30 approx. I am just not sure how effective they are. I am thinking if I can't get the card cool with a large desktop fan blowing air from outside over everything then how much difference are these two little fans pulling air already inside the case going to make? (even though they are more targeted)

The problem is the ambient air temp isnt far off 40 degrees here :/
 
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bill0405

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Jul 29, 2013
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Am I correct in assuming you have taken the card out and cleaned any dust accumulation that would have formed on the fan/heatsink? I have the exact same card and possibly the same case as you too based on your description, so there should definitely not be any air flow cooling issues.
 
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k@rt

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Apr 17, 2012
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Sorry I didnt reply sooner, have had other things to deal with recently.

As I said in my initial post, my card definitely needs cleaning and paste reapplying - but before starting that I was wondering if after I have finished cleaning it is whether its really necessary to put the plastic cover back on, seems to me that would help with airflow to leave it off.

The other thing I am not sure about is whether is a good idea to try to replace the pads at the same time - in the first link I posted in the starting thread the guy warned that as the pads are compressed during assembly by nvidia, removing and reinstalling the whole sink can cause dodgy contact when remounting. If I replace them I am not sure what thickness the new pads I would be putting in should be. Also do you need to put pads AND thermal compound onto the memory? If so, which first? I think if I replace the pads I will need to go out and buy a torque screwdriver.

When I was taking about 40 degrees it was in Celcius and I was talking about the air temp, not the temp the card is running at. Tbh I havent actually measured the temp at the time of a crash, but I am sure it is that - you can literally feel the heat being pumped out the back of the card - I would imagine it is probably hitting 100 degrees.

I know the 580 has a rep for running hot, I have pretty good cooling in my case (antec) and most of the year it runs at a perfectly reasonable temp, but in summer the air temp is up so high, you're trying to cool the thing down with air that is already at 40 degrees, and cos air is such a lousy conductor anyway it removes a lot less heat from the card... I get the impression the 580 kinda gets to a point where it can't maintain a balance and then it just keeps getting hotter and hotter.
 
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bill0405

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Jul 29, 2013
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Yes it is necessary to replace the cover after cleaning and reapplying. It is creating a specific air flow that your card needs to cool off, much like a blower on a hot rod engine does. As for these "pads" you speak of, I don't think its necessary to disassemble the card in a manner that would mess up the pads. There is a tutorial on YouTube that shows you a quick and easy way to access the GPU by only removing the 5 screws for the plastic cover, and the rear mount of the GPU heat sink. Once you clean it and apply some new paste, you shouldn't have any further issues. Make sure you are running a custom fan speed so that your fan is on MAX when the card reaches 70-75 deg. If you are still having issues with heating, its possible the intake airflow on your case isn't optimal, and not enough cooler air is getting to the components. A lot of times the power source cables can obstruct air flow (especially on an antec case where the intakes are on the front bottom). If you are still having temperature issues after all of that, I recommend you just play solitaire during the summer :p
 
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k@rt

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Thanks for the answer Bill. I thought that maybe there would be some issue like that.

I know about the tutorial for changing the thermal paste, I put a link the the original post to the one I imagine you are talking about. As for the "pads" I am talking about the thermal pads that go on (what I think) are the memory modules arranged around the processor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=4Xp4MHpUvAQ&t=25

As with paste these pads degrade with time and heat.

I went onto my card manufacturers site and downloaded their GPU OC management software, so hopefully I will get better fan speed control like that.

As for my case, as it stands I have the side open all the time and use a normal room cooling fan to blow air directly into the case and onto the card.... Closed the case has 3 intake fans and one extract fan... 2 intake at the front and a large one on the top. Unforuntealy I have a Noctura cooling system on my CPU which means I cant use the 4th intake fan on the case as there is not enough room, also the Noctura it is bulky and i think draws air away from the card and blocks the downflow of air from the top fan.

But like you say, hopefully a good clean and pasting and upping the fan speed will sort things out.

Thank you all very much for your answers!
 
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