Unexpected heat gains

[Nathn]

Hey guys,

I've got a Gigabyte GTX580 3GB on my original over clock I was getting temps not more then 65deg, I'm currently getting temps of 70+. It is getting into summer where I am but I have air condition that would keep the room temp and a cool temp.

My question is through updates to nvidia drivers and what not could this be the cause of higher temps?

Do graphics cards get higher temps as they age?

Cheers.

 

[airdeano]

dust in the heatsink is the most common. the lil dust bunnies collect in the small
heatsink. thats usually why the temps progessively increase. has your fan profile
changed? has the temp in case gone up significantly? dust filters on intake fans
can be clogged, starving the case for any air/hot or cold..

airdeano

 

[Nathn]

Now that it's mentioned there is a lot of dust in the filters so I think I might get a air compressor and clean it out.

To use a air compressor would be alright yeah?

 

[airdeano]

you can, how old are the GPU(s)?
if older than a year, it'd be best to remove the heatsink, fan and old TIM and
rework the cooling system. using a quality non-conductive thermal paste (NT-H1 or
MX-4), clean the fan blades, and heatsink.. kinda makes you learn the ease
of waterblocking a GPU... not extensive or difficult.

airdeano

 

[FTR.4500MHz]

Yes, dusting out everything is the first step to take. If your temps are still high then start working on the fan/heatsink assembly like deano suggested. If you use an air compressor without a moisture-trap dont power up your system right after undusting it because its common to have condensation in the tank due to the temperature difference between compressed air (very cold) and ambient. So make sure to let your components sit for an hour or so to give any humidity the chance to evaporate to avoid frying your components.

 

[SuB]

I've just recently had to RMA a 3Gb gtx580 with EVGA. I had a watercooled one and the temps were hitting 80~90 on full load. This was after almost exactly 1 year..

Got my new card through and now it's maxing at 45 the same as the other one All fans on *omg i can't hear that* setting

I wonder if it's just something that happens?

 

[Nathn]

Ended up going to a mates house and blowing the dust out with a air compressor.

Temps are now back to 65deg.

 

[Nathn]

What have you got your overclock settings at?

 

[FTR.4500MHz]

I've just recently had to RMA a 3Gb gtx580 with EVGA. I had a watercooled one and the temps were hitting 80~90 on full load. This was after almost exactly 1 year..

Got my new card through and now it's maxing at 45 the same as the other one All fans on *omg i can't hear that* setting

I wonder if it's just something that happens?

It can be caused by to much stress on the pcb since watercooled cards tend to be very heavy and always go in the same direction as gravity. This might have driven the waterblock not making proper contact with the core anymore? Or maybe the tim that EVGA apply on their hydrocopper series cards isnt that good ?

 

[SuB]

Edit: @FTR.4500Mhz - Yeah I guess it could easily be, even though they are thin, they are pretty hefty, although I wouldn't say it was significantly more than an air cooler. And the card has a full sized backplate to help it. They don't really 'bend' so much as 'sag' in the socket a little bit tbh...

cool on sorting it!

Err currently on both cards
810Mhz core (stock is 772?)
2004Mhz on memory (that won't seem to budge)
1.100v

both cards are 44~45 C on full load (bf3, unigine, planetside2)

These are settings i used when i got the first card and found stable I haven't pushed for much more really. I'm going to spend some time trying to eek some more Mhz out of the core soon I think. I've heard of 900+ overclocks, but that seems to be with the 1.5GB models not the 3GB ones.

 

[Nathn]

Really?

I'm running 1.1/900/2200. I use to never have problems with this overclock every now and then I will though.. and I cant figure out why. Possibly from nvidia updates? not sure but atm it hasnt had a problem on that over clock.

 

[SuB]

Well I got mine a while back, so I'll try for a much higher overclock! hehe nice to hear someone has one so high Gives me some confidence!

I found the ram was particularly tetchy for me but perhaps now I have two higher SKU'id cards they may be a little better

 

[Nathn]

If I get unstable from bf3 would you suggest to turn down the core clock or memory clock?

 

[SuB]

try both i'd suggest memory first personally.

What are the stock clocks on your card?

 

[Nathn]

I'm not sure from memory, be close to yours though. Do you lock vertical sync on bf3? might be the cause of my instability.

 

[SuB]

No i don't bother with vertical sync. I also upped the bf3 frame limit to 200.

Just starting clocking her up hitting 853 already. Feels stable in unigine!