Overheating AMD HD 5700 series crossfire.

[Lazrah]

Hello,
I hope I am doing this right as it is my first post. I have recently been noticing high temps from my gpu1 and hoping to get some answers. First I will give some system info,

Alienware Aurora
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Intel Core I7 930 @2.8 GHz quad core
6144MB ram
crossfired 5770 gaphics cards core clock 850MHz, Memory clock 1200MHz (stock speeds)


I recently noticed my gpu1 temp was getting very hot (100+C) while my gpu2 would stay down near what I would assume safe temps (55-65C depending on load). Even on idle my gpu1 was atleast 10C higher than gpu2. So, I started searching for info. I cleaned my case out with compressed air, making sure it was all clean as I could get it.

I read on a forum to clean the Gpu more. I didn't realize I could open up my gpu housing to clean the heatsink and replace the thermal compound. I picked up some Arctic Silver 5 from ratshack and opened up both of my cards (didn't think cleaning only one would be a good idea). Gpu1's heatsink was pretty caked with dust and the thermal paste had a maliable clay feel to it. I cleaned the heat sink and gpu with 99% alcohol, and replaced the paste with about a rice grains worth of paste. Gpu2 was clean already and paste was the same as the first.

With both cards being freshly cleaned it worked great! both idling even temps (40C) and not getting over 65C on load. I was very happy the first full day. The second day gpu1 shot back up to 100+C under load! I thought maybe I put too much paste, or maybe too little. Upon opening it up again I saw the paste was spread all across the plate and no overflow at all. I cleaned it again and added fresh thermal paste. Once again it worked like a charm for a full day (yesterday) Today it is hitting 100+ within 2 minutes under load.

Is my gpu1 shot now? I have read to make sure there is good airflow. All of my other temps are fine. I had both GPU fans runnng at 100% and my 4 other fans all running high rpm to try to compensate but they did nothing to help.

I appreciate any help! Thanks.

 

[Graphite946]

What paste are you using?

Remember, it has a cure time based on heat cycles.

 

[renz496]

did you have any space between the 1st and 2nd card? maybe you can use the 1st and 3rd slot of your mobo. those spaces really does help in helping the top gpu to stay lower in temperature. other than than i think your 1st gpu fan may already breaks its limit and needs replacement.

 

[Lazrah]

Hello guys, and thanks for the response!

@Graphite946 I am using the Arctic Silver 5, the 99% silver stuff. I had read it has a "cure time" but they also said it should provide a good temp reduction and then get even better as it cures. Maybe some more time is what I need..

@renz496 I only have the two slots in my mobo for gpu's. I was concerned about the spacing as well. I would say there is about 1/2 inch between the two. I can feel the fan running and Afterburner shows both GPU fans operating ok, the gpu1 fan is of course working harder but seems to me like it should be based on temps.

Speedfan shows only 1 of my 2 gpu's fan speeds. Could it be afterburner is giving a false reading and SPeedfan is correct in saying the fan isn't even running?

again, Thanks for the advice.

 

[renz496]

did speed fan reports 2 gpu fan speed prior to this problem? if that's the case then maybe your 1st gpu fan could be very well died already.

 

[Lazrah]

I wish I knew... I didnt get speedfan until I started getting high temps in my afterburner. I only got it to check the afterburner numbers. Afterburner will still show speeds changing on both of my gpu's fans. I just want to be thorough.

Wish I had shown more care prior to this.

 

[rachet]

Hi! Manually check whether the GPU1 fan is spinning and if necessary, run each separately while monitoring to further identify any anomalies between them. From there we can help you make better informed diagnosis.