Gigabyte 6970 Second Card High Load Temperature

[Matt34533]

Hi, I have a strange issue with my PC. First of all, here are the specs:
GFX: Two Gigabyte 6970 Windforce in Crossfire
CPU: i7 2600k @stock
RAM: 8GB Team Elite RAM
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Pro Gen3 Fatal1ty
Power Supply: Cougar 1000W
Case NZXT Phantom (Put Top 200MM on side to cool GFX Cards, haven't added any more than the stock fans yet)
ASUS DVD Drive
500GB 7200RPM HD

Here's the issue:
GPU1 Has a max load temp of ~70C
GPU2 Has a max load temp of ???C because I end the Heaven Benchmark v2.5 before it goes above 100C.
The air coming out the sides of GPU1 is hot.
The air coming out the sides of GPU2 is pretty cool for a 100C+ card, much much cooler than GPU1!

Questions:
1. What's going on here?
2. How should I go about resolving it? RMA the extremely hot card?

Thanks,
Matt

edited for clarity

 

[clutchc]

Have you tried swapping the cards around to see if it is the same results... bottom card high temp, top crard blowing warmer air?

 

[unksol]

def switch them around to see.

is GPU1 your top card? in any case those non reference coolers look like they'd be horrible for a crossfire setup. is the side fan blowing the right way?

 

[clutchc]

Have you tried running Furmark and watching the temps in the graph?

 

[Matt34533]

Switched them all around in every combination possible, crossfired and not crossfired.
One Card (the SAME card) always overheats while the other stays at 60C when alone and 70C when crossfired.
I'm sure that it is the one card that's having issues. Even when its by itself.
And the way I understand it, GPU1 should have higher temps since it has less space to suck in air than GPU2 but that is not the case.

 

[clutchc]

More importantly, the top card is pulling in the rising heat from the bottom card. You don't need much space between for the fan to draw in air. Air molecules are quite small...
Yes, it sounds like one of your cards is faulty. If still under warranty, RMA. If not, remove the cover and take the HS off the GPU, clean the thermal compund from both, and use some Arctic 5.

 

[Matt34533]

More importantly, the top card is pulling in the rising heat from the bottom card. You don't need much space between for the fan to draw in air. Air molecules are quite small...
Yes, it sounds like one of your cards is faulty. If still under warranty, RMA. If not, remove the cover and take the HS off the GPU, clean the thermal compund from both, and use some Arctic 5.

Its still under warranty however here's what happened:
I purchased these cards "New" from a guy who said he wanted to water cool but they weren't compatible with water blocks. Maybe he took off the cooler to try it out on the one that's having temperature issues and botched the reinstall job. If that's the case what do you guys think I should do? Is it still under warranty or is that voided?

 

[Earnie]

Its still under warranty however here's what happened:
I purchased these cards "New" from a guy who said he wanted to water cool but they weren't compatible with water blocks. Maybe he took off the cooler to try it out on the one that's having temperature issues and botched the reinstall job. If that's the case what do you guys think I should do? Is it still under warranty or is that voided?

tough one...can you still get a hold of the guy you purchased them from and ask if he did indeed remove them and what he did to reset the cooler to the gpu?

might also want to contact gigabyte and ask what there warranty policy is regarding aftermarket coolers.I know with sapphire it voids the warranty.

 

[DelroyMonjo]

I have GTX 460's SLI'ed and installed a side fan. It lowered temps by 10C overall and both cards run at the same temp. Sounds like a bad card.

 

[Matt34533]

tough one...can you still get a hold of the guy you purchased them from and ask if he did indeed remove them and what he did to reset the cooler to the gpu?

might also want to contact gigabyte and ask what there warranty policy is regarding aftermarket coolers.I know with sapphire it voids the warranty.

Yeah, I'm going to try giving the guy a call today around noon and tell him that I need to know what he really did with the cards.

 

[Matt34533]

I have GTX 460's SLI'ed and installed a side fan. It lowered temps by 10C overall and both cards run at the same temp. Sounds like a bad card.

Thanks for the confirmation, now I can be 100% sure it is in fact the card.

 

[clutchc]

If the only issue you have with the card is high temp, at least you know if worse comes to worse you can re-do the thermal compound and probably have a good card.

 

[Matt34533]

If the only issue you have with the card is high temp, at least you know if worse comes to worse you can re-do the thermal compound and probably have a good card.

That's what I'm hoping. The guy moved to Germany(hes in the military) so i have to email him.

 

[Matt34533]

He verified that he did not remove the heatsink, so it looks like I'm good to RMA it. Any steps I should take before sending it in like taking pictures ect.?

 

[clutchc]

If you're sending it to Gigabyte, just be sure to follow their RMA instructions to the letter. They may not accept it unless they first issue the RMA number for to you to use in labeling the pkg. Probably even provide a mailing label printout with bar code, etc.

 

[joenanez]

Always make sure ur case has good airflow. And make sure auto fan speed goes up with temp. If not set it higher to lower temp. IF u test both card single and they work u know its a problem with dead hot air inside computer. The phantom cases r really good when u add some high cfm fans to it. Most important is to get that hot air out of the gpu area.

 

[Matt34533]

It actually turned out that on gpu 1 there was a thermal pad between the thermal paste and the gpu! It was the strangest thing, so I removed it and applied some thermal paste and everything works great now.

 

[clutchc]

Glad to hear all's well. Strange that there'd be a thermal pad AND thermal paste. Sounds like some one took it apart and tried to add paste without removing the pad first.