Graphics card overheating and sudden computer shut down

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mmill99

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Dec 23, 2015
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My Dell prebuilt overheats and will eventually suddenly turn off while playing games like Bioshock Infinite and Saints Row IV. Speccy shows a graphics card temperatures of 90 degrees Celsius within seconds of playing, CPU is around 50 degrees. I can hear a fan making a loud noise while this is happening. Computer runs quiet and cool when doing anything other than gaming.

Specs are:
*i7 4790 3.60 GHz
*16 GB DDR3
*Dell motherboard 0KWVT8
*AMD Radeon R9 270 2GB
*460W Dell AC460EM-00 power supply
*2TB hard drive

Any idea what the problem is? I’m not sure how to tell if a fan is not performing, or if it’s a graphics card fault. I’m looking to upgrade in the near future so if a solution is just to upgrade graphics card/power supply then I’m happy with that. Inside the case and all fans are clean as far as I can tell. Thanks
 
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Benab3

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Jan 12, 2015
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The graphics card is most likely fine, what I would do, would be to open the PC and look at the gpu/case fans to see if they are all okay and then also see if it runs cooler with the case open.

The issue could also be from dust buildup, where I would recommend cleaning the graphics card and cpu cooler with some compressed air.
 
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mmill99

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Dec 23, 2015
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The fans are all working fine it seems. With the case open the graphics card is peaking at 83 degrees celsius, so there's an improvement there. Does that mean I could do with a better case fan? Also the GPU fan was the fan I could hear making the noise which is normal i guess.
I'll try cleaning with compressed air when I get my hands on some. The GPU is fairly clean, but theres not much I can do to the CPU without air.
Thanks for the response!
 
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rcald2000

rcald2000

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Nov 3, 2009
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What is the precise dell model? It's interesting, my mom's computer is a dell dimension e510 (I believe) and there was a huge build-up of dust in the front air vent. It caused a slight overheating issue and I never even installed a non-factory discreet graphics card. I suspect that your plan of using a compressed air will solve the problem. You may want to open some windows because there is probably way more dust in the air vents then you suspect.
 
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mmill99

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Dec 23, 2015
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Sorry its an XPS 8700, bought it June 2014 and haven't cleaned since two months ago. Even without compressed air I removed plenty of dust back then, so there's probably a lot hiding in there.
 
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rcald2000

rcald2000

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Nov 3, 2009
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Hmm... That computer is pretty new and two months isn't a long period of time to go without cleaning. I thought it may have been a few years old and hadn't been cleaned since you bought it, but clearly that isn't the case.

There are many people out there who run R9 270's in the Dell XPS 8700 on the stock PSU, but that doesn't mean it's not a problem in your case. Either the issue is heat or power. To test for heat, leave the case open, and turn the computer on it's side (with the motherboard pointing up toward the ceiling). If you have a floor fan, turn it on and toward the exposed motherboard. Is the heat issue temporarily better? Is the shutdown issue better, worse or the same? If better than the excess heat is probably triggering a component (north bridge, perhaps?) to shutdown. If it were the CPU, it would throttle, not shut off the entire computer. The R9 270 only has a 150 watt TDP, so I tend to doubt that it's drawing too much power.
 
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Anarkie13

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Jun 30, 2015
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Try replacing the thermal paste on the GPU. Sometimes the paste can be bad and because of that, the heat doesn't transfer properly yo the heatsink/fan to be removed. I had to do that earlier this year when I had similar problems. The paste was all dry and cracked. Replaced it and no more shut downs.
 
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mmill99

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Dec 23, 2015
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Yeah I've been having these heating issues for 6 months, but I've never had the time to look into it until now. I will try that test with a fan tomorrow, that's a good idea. I can get roughly 30-60 minutes of gaming in at that high temperature until either the game or computer crashes. So as you said it sounds like something is getting too hot and failing, or the PSU just conks out
 
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mmill99

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Dec 23, 2015
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I’ll try changing the thermal paste when I have time to get the materials, thanks for that idea. At the end of the day, do you guys reckon a PSU and GPU upgrade would solve all my problems if I got that desperate? It's Christmas after all
 
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Macwiz2014

May 25, 2020
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Make sure the fans are clean and reseat your graphic card. If your graphic is fine I guarantee you this work. Don't remove the Heat sink. If your video card was working fine before It's more than likely fine it could just have a loose connection or it's completely clogged with dust. On average thermal paste last 4 to 5 years.
 
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