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Cleaning my graphics card caused it to start overheating

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  • Graphics Cards
  • Graphics
  • Overheat
  • Radeon
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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April 13, 2014 4:27:40 PM

To try and solve a different problem I pulled my whole PC apart. I blew some compressed air into the graphics card but didn't remove the graphics card housing. Now it's overheating when I play Diablo 3 and SC2 at the same settings I've always used, even though I plugged it back into the same spot with the same power connectors, etc.

ATI Radeon HD4870

I'm a little at a loss since the cause of the problem was what should have been the fix! I also reseated the CPU, but I don't see how that could be related.

My 12V rail is reporting 8V as well, (http://imgur.com/Mo0z0F1) even though my power supply tester said everything was ok. Details are at this post: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2100004/12v-repo...

I have a temporary workaround in the form of MSI Afterburner. The fan is at a very low speed using whatever normally controls it, and I don't overclock or anything so turning the fan up to just 40% lowers the temperature of the card from 80-82 C down to 55 C. I'd just prefer not to have to open that each time I play a video game.

I don't have the updated drivers and ATI Catalyst is broken. I've googled it but I doubt software is the issue here and it just doesn't seem worth my time. The software I've used has worked perfectly for 3-4+ years.

So what should I try? Opening up the housing and blowing it out? Updating the drivers? Measuring the airflow in the case or something?

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a b U Graphics card
April 13, 2014 5:44:21 PM

gamemaster3000 said:
To try and solve a different problem I pulled my whole PC apart. I blew some compressed air into the graphics card but didn't remove the graphics card housing. Now it's overheating when I play Diablo 3 and SC2 at the same settings I've always used, even though I plugged it back into the same spot with the same power connectors, etc.

ATI Radeon HD4870

I'm a little at a loss since the cause of the problem was what should have been the fix! I also reseated the CPU, but I don't see how that could be related.

My 12V rail is reporting 8V as well, (http://imgur.com/Mo0z0F1) even though my power supply tester said everything was ok. Details are at this post: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2100004/12v-repo...

I have a temporary workaround in the form of MSI Afterburner. The fan is at a very low speed using whatever normally controls it, and I don't overclock or anything so turning the fan up to just 40% lowers the temperature of the card from 80-82 C down to 55 C. I'd just prefer not to have to open that each time I play a video game.

I don't have the updated drivers and ATI Catalyst is broken. I've googled it but I doubt software is the issue here and it just doesn't seem worth my time. The software I've used has worked perfectly for 3-4+ years.

So what should I try? Opening up the housing and blowing it out? Updating the drivers? Measuring the airflow in the case or something?


create a new custom fan profile and click on user defined.

it ramps itself up as needed.

have afterburner start at windows start up.




simple.
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a b U Graphics card
April 13, 2014 5:58:40 PM

I'm a big fan of multi-meters. It's entirely possible that the 12v sensor is bad and that's going to give hwmonitor a false reading. Grab a meter and test a Molex for voltage. You should get @ 5v, 7v, 12v on the 3 colored wires. If you don't, and hwmonitor is correct, you have a bad psu, and that's probably the root cause of the gpu overheating as its not getting a full 12v to make the fan spin at correct speed for cooling.
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