[Question] PNY 9800GT Overheating

volzear418

January 7, 2012 5:31:53 PM

I've had my PC for roughly 11 months now. I bought a pre-built PC from BestBuy and put a new power supply and video card in it (the PNY 9800GT). World of Warcraft is the primary game that I play on this PC and lately I noticed that occasionally my frames per second would drop to between 5-10 (average is 30-60) and after a while would return to normal.

I have nTune installed and pulled up the system monitors and found that my card was getting as hot as 110 degrees Celsius. The pattern I've found is that it runs okay until it hits 110 (although I know that temperatures that high are not good for the card) and then the FPS drop occurs.

The card idles at around 60-70 degrees and with the case open and a desk fan pointing into the case it still gets up to 90 degrees, which, as far as I know, it still way too hot. Some friends of mine suggested that I may need to replace my power supply, and that I should do it quick before it burns up my card. I'm about to buy a new one (current one is 400W) but I want to make sure that this is the problem.

I have cleaned the card/all of the fans in the PC and nothing helps except opening the case and using a desk fan. I'm absolutely broke at the moment and can only spare $25-30 for a new PSU. I have seen some with 480W on Newegg for $25. But I know there is more to it than wattage, and that brand matters.

Any help is appreciated.

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volzear418

January 7, 2012 5:32:30 PM

I accidentally posted this in the Overclocking section. Moving it now, sorry.

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assasin32

January 8, 2012 6:13:17 AM

Dust collects in the heatsink of GPU's you can't see it but its there. So when it's off I suggest blowing compressed air into it from both the intake and exhaust point of the card to get it out, assuming this is a GPU that takes up 2 PCI slots. If not depending on the style of the heatsink/fan this may still apply.

Also don't buy a cheap PSU you regret it, it will probably blow out on you and might take everything with it. But post what kind of PSU you have and all the specs we can tell you if it's adequate or not.

Oh and the reason why your card slows down is because it's overheating and its throttling down if I remember correctly you should be around the point it does that at. Not quite sure as I don't recall seeing anyone actually let their GPU get that high. A new PSU probably won't fix a heat issue and I can't think of any reason why it would.

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volzear418

January 8, 2012 4:39:14 PM

assasin32 said:

Dust collects in the heatsink of GPU's you can't see it but its there. So when it's off I suggest blowing compressed air into it from both the intake and exhaust point of the card to get it out, assuming this is a GPU that takes up 2 PCI slots. If not depending on the style of the heatsink/fan this may still apply.

Also don't buy a cheap PSU you regret it, it will probably blow out on you and might take everything with it. But post what kind of PSU you have and all the specs we can tell you if it's adequate or not.

Oh and the reason why your card slows down is because it's overheating and its throttling down if I remember correctly you should be around the point it does that at. Not quite sure as I don't recall seeing anyone actually let their GPU get that high. A new PSU probably won't fix a heat issue and I can't think of any reason why it would.

My PSU is a Dynex 400w psu. I'll find the exact one later. The 9800gt is a single slot card. I'll get some compressed air and try. I think my friends were suggesting the PSU because they were thinking it might be putting too much power into the card and causing it to overheat.

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