Cleaning my Graphics card

[kuddlesworth9419]

I just bought a GTX 680 EVGA Classified edition and was wandering how to clean
it effectively. Or will I even need to clean it. Any input would be helpful. Also can someone tell me how to clean the back PCb as well because that was always a pain in the ass to clean on my 560Ti.

 

[Josh Weston]

A can of compressed air is always great for getting dust out of heatsink fins and off of PCBs, etc.
Generally speaking, I do a big system de-dusting once every 3 months or so, just to keep everything in check. As long as your system has good dust filters you should be just fine

 

[airdeano]

i was under the impression that the new series did a reverse fan burp to suck
dust from the cooler or is that just an aftermarket scheme?

airdeano

 

[kuddlesworth9419]

i was under the impression that the new series did a reverse fan burp to suck
dust from the cooler or is that just an aftermarket scheme?

airdeano

Its just the MSI cards I think

 

[airdeano]

i stand corrected.. i knew i heard, but didnt know if that was an nVidia thing or aftermarket.

thanks! +1

airdeano

 

[kuddlesworth9419]

will i need to clean the inside of the graphics card

 

[Josh Weston]

i stand corrected.. i knew i heard, but didnt know if that was an nVidia thing or aftermarket.

thanks! +1

airdeano

It's the Twin Frozr IV coolers that do it, which should include the Lightning cards, too. My 7850 does it, but I haven't had a look at how much dust has been left in the fins. I can tell you that it makes one hell of a noise when you boot the system up.

will i need to clean the inside of the graphics card

Aaah, I just realised what card you have. Unless temperatures begin to become an issue for you I wouldn't bother trying to clean the card. To do so would mean that you'll need to take the casing apart which, to me at least, just isn't worth it.
If you do go down the compressed air route (it's still useful for cleaning off dust filters, CPU heatsinks, etc.) don't be tempted to blow the air at the card's fan. Doing so can make fans spin faster than their bearings are designed to withstand.

 

[kuddlesworth9419]

It's the Twin Frozr IV coolers that do it, which should include the Lightning cards, too. My 7850 does it, but I haven't had a look at how much dust has been left in the fins. I can tell you that it makes one hell of a noise when you boot the system up.



Aaah, I just realised what card you have. Unless temperatures begin to become an issue for you I wouldn't bother trying to clean the card. To do so would mean that you'll need to take the casing apart which, to me at least, just isn't worth it.
If you do go down the compressed air route (it's still useful for cleaning off dust filters, CPU heatsinks, etc.) don't be tempted to blow the air at the card's fan. Doing so can make fans spin faster than their bearings are designed to withstand.

thanks for the tips man, if my temps get higher than 60 C i think ill take off the shroud and clean it by hand or with compressed air. I think the max temp i got so far was 62 C on far cry 3, on max settings, the card is a beast it really is probably the fastest 680 you can get without overcloking which i thought about but decided not to because its quick enough and i want it to last 6 years at least. after 6 years i will get the next 80 card and use the 680 as a physx card

 

[Josh Weston]

thanks for the tips man, if my temps get higher than 60 C i think ill take off the shroud and clean it by hand or with compressed air. I think the max temp i got so far was 62 C on far cry 3, on max settings, the card is a beast it really is probably the fastest 680 you can get without overcloking which i thought about but decided not to because its quick enough and i want it to last 6 years at least. after 6 years i will get the next 80 card and use the 680 as a physx card

60*C at load is perfectly acceptable, in fact it's really damn good. When the card gets to 60*C at idle, that's when you've got something to worry about
If your card gets into the high 80s at all, feel free to take it apart to clean it.

Also, dedicated physx cards are nice, but you can often hinder your card by using out dated hardware. For instance, you'd see a degradation in performance if you wanted to use a 480 as a physx card with your 680, and that's only a 2 year gap.

 

[dragoonk]

i stand corrected.. i knew i heard, but didnt know if that was an nVidia thing or aftermarket.

The Twin Frozers from MSI.

Temps in the 80's are also decent. the only bad thing about it is that it radiates heat troughout the computer heating other components as well.
A Can of compressed air should do it, don't take it appart if it is not necesary.

 

[KaraMurat]

Get a compressed air can and spray into the air vents, where the fan blade is and underneath the cover from the strips not covered, don't need to take it apart.

 

[kuddlesworth9419]

The Twin Frozers from MSI.

Temps in the 80's are also decent. the only bad thing about it is that it radiates heat troughout the computer heating other components as well.
A Can of compressed air should do it, don't take it appart if it is not necesary.

actually i don't see that being a problem with heat being radiated because the card blows air through the card and out of the exhaust openings at the back of the case which works really well because the heat coming out of the back is piping hot and has managed to dry the back of my wall and peeled off some of the paint. The cooler is probably one of the best i have seen on the market for efficiency and its really quite i mean you never heart it

 

[dragoonk]

Mine reaches an average of 82C and my CPU gets warmer than it gets when the graphics card is under load... and it works the same as yours, pulling air from inside the case and throwing it out the back. I wouldn't talk about it if I didn't have experience with it.

 

[kuddlesworth9419]

Mine reaches an average of 82C and my CPU gets warmer than it gets when the graphics card is under load... and it works the same as yours, pulling air from inside the case and throwing it out the back. I wouldn't talk about it if I didn't have experience with it.

82 c is a bit high ,y 560 ti never got past 72 c using furmark, although it did have an aftermark cooler.

 

[dragoonk]

Actually 82-85 C is a normal operating temperature for a 3870 X2. In every bios, I found the same exact fan settings 70C lowest temp - 106C max temp. The fan really starts spinning when the temperature reaches 80C. That way it's quiet, as the fan gets very loud when you manually turn up the RPM. The temps don't bother or worry me at all. It's been like this since I got it, and it still lives.

 

[kuddlesworth9419]

Actually 82-85 C is a normal operating temperature for a 3870 X2. In every bios, I found the same exact fan settings 70C lowest temp - 106C max temp. The fan really starts spinning when the temperature reaches 80C. That way it's quiet, as the fan gets very loud when you manually turn up the RPM. The temps don't bother or worry me at all. It's been like this since I got it, and it still lives.

the fan in the evga 680 classified is locked in to not go any higher than 20% speed, which tells me that 60c at max load is really good for the card and if the fans are put at 50% or 60% the temps might be 50c on load, this is assuming you don't mind the noise

 

[dragoonk]

Ofcourse, 60C is a very good temp. It must have a very good cooler if the fan doesn't go over 20% and it keeps the temps around 60C. It doesn't sacrifice alot of low temp to reduce the noise. Very good temps for such a powerful card.