Radeon 6870 overheating

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Xenon90

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Oct 17, 2011
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Hi

Just a few days ago my GFX card started to overheat. Idle temps = 55-70C (before was around 45 mark), when gaming or stress testing = 90-110. My PC has already shut down once when testing. The fan is also doing a lot of grinding noise, like the fan is hitting something. It also seems to stop once in a while completely, even if CCC is saying fan speed isn't 0%. All other fans are good and the airflow is OK. PSU seems to be fine as well.

I tried to clean it the best I could without taking it apart, and I think it only got worse (the noise). Should I try getting some Thermal Paste, or replace the fan?

Specs

Intel i5-2500k @ 3.30GHZ (¬3.6GHZ)
8192MB RAM
Z68AP-D3
Award Modular BIOS v6
Radeon 6870
Idle: 57-60C, Fan speed (auto) 64%, GPU Load 1%, Not OC'd, VDDC 1.175 V.
Gaming or stress testing: 70-110C, Fan speed 100%, GPU Load 45%, haven't checked on voltage...
 
Solution
mike789
There is a chance that you have a lot of dirt accumulated inside the card. Once I had that with an amd card and I stripped it, cleaned it and used a custom cooling solution, I think aerocool or something. The results were great. From idle 50 to 35 and stress 90 to max 65-70. Even before I installed the custom cooler for the gpu when I tried it after cleaning and reassembling the temps were back to normal
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mike789

mike789

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Jan 19, 2012
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There is a chance that you have a lot of dirt accumulated inside the card. Once I had that with an amd card and I stripped it, cleaned it and used a custom cooling solution, I think aerocool or something. The results were great. From idle 50 to 35 and stress 90 to max 65-70. Even before I installed the custom cooler for the gpu when I tried it after cleaning and reassembling the temps were back to normal
 
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Xenon90

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Oct 17, 2011
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OK, I have cleaned the card which had lots of dirt/dust in it, and it dropped my temps, was gaming for about 3 hours with good temps (68-75). But just now, it started to overheat again (105C). Even though the grinding noise is gone (I assume it had to do with all the crap that got in there), I can hear the fan. The thing is...It's not spinning constantly. Even when the load is high and fan speed is 100%, it spins for a few seconds, then stops for a few seconds, and continues to loop like this.

Any ideas?
 
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Xenon90

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Oct 17, 2011
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OK, I'm actually still having the same issue....

I've taken apart the card and completely cleaned it as much as possible. I've re-applied thermal paste. I've even installed an additional fan inside the case that I had as a spare, and sped it 2x up through Speedfan. Upgraded drivers. Slowed down the clock speeds through MSI.

105C under load...:/
 
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Xenon90

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Oct 17, 2011
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It almost instantly overheats now whenever on load, MSI Kombustor takes it until 105 within minutes, even when turning on the PC after a long pause with a starting idle temp of 46, and then just browsing online, temp does a jump to 80....
 
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mauller07

mauller07

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it sounds like you may have done a bad job with the thermal paste?

when you applied it did you leave a rice grain amount on the core and then place the heatsink down squarely without lifting it? too much paste can also cause overheating, spreading is also bad.
 
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Xenon90

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Oct 17, 2011
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That's exactly what I've done...Pea-sized drop on a completely clean surface (the core) and put the heatsink on carefully without jerking it around, to avoid spreading...

I've cleared the card's fan also to make sure there was absolutely no dirt or dust that could somehow prevent it from doing its work, no scratching marks on the fins, and nothing that it could possibly hit while spinning...Power up the card, start stress-testing, LOADS of grinding noise coming out (stops when manually pausing the fan).

I'm really lost on what could be the issue. In fact I don't think that thermal paste and an extra fan changed anything, other than the initial idle temps.
 
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mauller07

mauller07

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Mar 28, 2010
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grab msi afterburner and lower the voltage on the core, wonder if somethings gone wrong in the cards firmware or the voltage regulators are failing.

sounds also like the bearings gone on the fan, put some 3 in 1 oil on the fan if you have some and can remove it witout removing the heatsink.
 
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Xenon90

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Oct 17, 2011
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Tried MSI afterburner with lower clocks as I've mentioned before and it didn't change anything.

I guess the issue is with the fan then? Sounds the most logical thing to me right now...On full load it suppose to spin constantly, no?

One guy has suggested to me that the heatsink is not touching the core correctly thus not absorbing the heat efficiently...I'm going to double check on this again today and also make sure the thermal paste was applied correctly, me thinks...
 
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Xenon90

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Oct 17, 2011
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I'm not on near by that machine now but MSI didn't allow me to lower voltage, only the clocks...

Gonna try out that then when I get the chance. Thanks. What if it has nothing to do with that though? Would you suggest to replace the fan/heatsink or just forget about it and go for a straight upgrade?
 
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