85°C GPU, too high? If so, what to do?

RdeFuijk

Honorable
May 3, 2013
46
0
10,530
I use an Asus HD 6950 1GB DirectCUII. Lately I've noticed that during full load my GPU warms up to a max of 85°C degrees. So far I've tried to replace the thermal paste, running the fans at 100%, and I even have an extra fan underneath my graphics card to make sure enough cool air get's to the GPU. I have noticed though that the themps are even higher after replacing the thermal paste. Could it be that I've put too mutch on it? My dad did it for me and he assured me that it wasn't too mutch. Opening up the case doesn't make the themps any lower though.
My case is a little small though and has not too mutch airflow, but I don't think that would cause these high themps, and if it would, opening up my case would help then.

So far I've noticed that the GPU get's this high in Guild Wars 2 and Skyrim. I run both of those at the highest settings on a 1920x1080 resolution. But Battlefield 3 doesn't get higher than 78-80°C.

I am considering buying to buy a new graphics card soon, but I think that one will get hot then as well.

Any help would be appreciated, and sorry if my english is not that great.

 

Fishwithadeagle

Honorable
Nov 30, 2012
260
0
10,810
It is rated to go higher, but what would concern me is the temperatures of the vrm. From what I know, the vrm are not cooled on the asus model, which would mean that they are going past 100 C. I don't like that, but they are rated to go up to ~120, still a little hot in my book. My 6970 ran at about ~75C on the core underload for a couple of hours, so I think that you may have an issue with the fans on your board. Have you tried increasing the auxiliary power under you overclocking tool? I know that when I had my 6970, my psu was not powerful enough and therefore whenever the card would run at full, the fans would drop ever so slightly. Lastly, try cleaning the fans and the case. I am surprised that changing out the thermal paste did not help with the issue though. I wish the best of luck to you.

Oh, fyi, thermal paste should be about a larger pea sized drop on then you smooth it out very thin, you want to make sure that there is enough to make contact, but you don't want it like icing on a cake.
 

RdeFuijk

Honorable
May 3, 2013
46
0
10,530




Thanks, what I've tried now is in MSI Afterburner to put the Power Limit (%) to max. I'm not sure if this is what you meant. And my dad had putten way more then just a pea sized drop of thermal paste on it. So i think i've got too mutch. Could this be the cause of the higher themps? Because before I replaced the thermal paste the GPU usually didn't get higher than 75-78°C. Btw my PSU is a Corsiar TX650w, so i suppose that's more than enough.
 

Fishwithadeagle

Honorable
Nov 30, 2012
260
0
10,810
That power level is not quite what I am talking about. Depending on whether your card supports it or not, there is a slider that is labeled auxiliary power. This is what controls the fan power level. My guess is that increasing the power switch as you had stated might actually cause your card to crash more if it is the power supply. If it causes it to crash less, the power being provided to the card previously was too low, therefore your overclock might be too high to run at stock settings. If everything stays the same and crashes the same amount, I would still say that it is the psu.
 

RdeFuijk

Honorable
May 3, 2013
46
0
10,530



Ok, I'll look in to the Auxiliary Power, the only thing is MSI Afterburner doesn't have a auxiliary power slider, only Core Voltage (mV) which I can't controll, and Power Limit (%) like I said before. And you said it could cause my card to crash more often, but now is never crashes, just high temps. And fact that I've put too mutch thermal compound on the GPU doen't make it run so hot? Because it started running at ~85°C since the day I replaced it.