Is my graphics card overheating?

Wlad

Wlad

New member
If you read the Skyrim thread you will have seen that I have been having some issues with it (and other games) crashing after a few minutes of play and I'm convinced it's my GPU that's overheating. Everything was working fine until Sunday afternoon when I booted up Skyrim for some adventuring. I played about half an hour before it crashed, but after that the crashes happened sooner and now I can't play for five minutes before it happens. It also only ever happens when I'm playing a game. I sometimes leave my PC on overnight downloading and it's always been on the following morning.

I downloaded GPU-Z to monitor the temperature and according to the log the moment Skyrim crashed, my GPU reached 104C and the fan speed was at 90%. Now I don't know much about what temperature a GPU should run at, but that seems pretty steep.

My specs are as follows:

Windows 7 32bit
MSi G43TM-E51
Pentium E5500 2.80 Dual Core CPU
Forsa Geforce GT 430 1GB DDR3
Corsair Dominator Memory 2 x 2GB (DDR2)

I checked nVidia's webpage and it says the maximum temperature of the GPU is 98C. I'm assuming that means if it gets any hotter than that, it cuts out?

I only bought the GPU in May last year so it should still be under warranty, but I'd like to know if it definitely is the issue before going through the hassle of taking it back to where I bought it.

Any feedback/advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
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That does seem rather high. Maybe check the airflow around the intake and outlet exhaust of the gpu. You also seem to be pushing the card quite hard. Possibly decrease your settings.

Otherwise, it might be a fault on the card, and maybe time to return it.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using MyGaming Android App
 
Any temperature above 80C is bad in my opinion. I don't really think that your Skyrim settings are too high since it would lag if is was - rather send the card back.
 
Also guys remember we have been having quite a few hot days , that contributes
check fans on gpu arnt blocked with dust make sure your case has good airflow .
From the temp you described I would say you don't have a large case , so heat is not dissipating .
Tell you what open your side panel and use a desk fan for about 35 minutes monitor the temp then take away and monitor for about 10 mins if the heat spikes , its your card if it stabilises at about 40 then its airflow .
 
Yeah, I also don't think it's the game's settings as they are mostly on low to medium. Witcher 2 I play on the lowest of the low.

I did check that the fan wasn't full of dust, but it's clean as a whistle and the airflow seems fine as well; nothing else inside the case is nowhere near as hot as my GPU. It sucks but I guess I'm going to have to return it. I just hope they can replace it immediately so I can continue playing Skyrim.

Thanks guys.
 
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WLAD .. your card should not go over 80-90 Degrees.

my friend has a 5870 twinfrozr 2

Im only putting it out there to proove a pint.

The twin frozr is 1 of the best coolers around and as soon as he was playing bf3 it would stutter like crazy. ran MSI afterburner. and found that he was running temps of 90- 100 Degrees,

We then took the side panel off and saw that his cables was a mess.

There was no airflow to move warm air away from the GPU.

We took the case to the garage .. put a lappie on tyre pump and blew all the dust out.

then we did some serious cable management to make sure that the front fan can actually pull air into the case and the read extractor fan can pull air out.

Now i dont know your setup but the default it 1 - 2 fans on the front pulling air in ( normally has arrows on the fans pointing directions ) then 1 - 2 on the back pulling air out.

Side panel i prefer having air blow in and if you have a top air vent it should blow out.

do this and you should see temp drops from the word go :D

If you take your side panel off.. Dont ! ! ! Put it back on
 
So I took it back to where I bought it and apparently it's the fan that's not working so good anymore. Something about the bearings being dry or something. They said they can send it in but it will take at least a month and I am not waiting that long.

My brother said he can fix the fan or just put a new fan on, but I'm not so sure and I'm considering buying a new one at the end of the month.

What's the best (cheapest) entry-level GPU that will give the same (or slightly better) performance as the GT 430? I saw a Radeon 6570 DDR3 on takealot for R860. Would that be a decent enough card or do some of you more hardware savvy guys have any better suggestions?
 
Thanks for the advice but I do not ever buy 2nd hand hardware, unless I know the seller very well.

I might look at that 5770 though, doesn't seem too expensive, even though I really do not want to buy a new GPU. Is it much better than the 6570? I'm not really concerned about the best hardware tough, just want to continue playing Skyrim and Witcher 2. I do most of my gaming on console anyway.

Also, I only have a 450W power supply so that is something to keep in mind as well.
 
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the 5770 only uses 120W of power so it should be good for your PSU .. and i had 2 x 5770s and id say they are better than the 6570.

why not look for a aftermarket cooler for your Gt430 ? might get one for R300-400?
 
The 5770 is brilliant. I play all my games at 1080p with mostly high settings. I would say it will be a good investment, it much faster than the 6570, hell it's much faster than a 6670 (6570 == 5570 as is 6770 == 5770, same cards with a different sticker for the most part).

Your 450W should be enough to power it, it has very low power consumption.
 
Thanks dudes. I think if I do decide on getting a new GPU I will go for a 5770/6770. I don't really want to spend more than R1000, but it definitely seems that it will be worth the extra odd R300.

I just hope my brother manages to do something with my GT430 so I can at least play Skyrim without it crashing for the time being.
 
At the moment I'm using my RAM's fans as well as a desk fan blowing into the case for extra cooling so I can at least play SKyrim for the time being. :p It's not ideal, but the highest temperature it's reached with this "set-up" is about 75C which seems OK?

I don't really want to buy an aftermarket cooler, I'd rather get a new GPU altogether. My plan was to upgrade my PC a little bit this year, so I might as well start of with a new GPU and the 6770 seems to be exactly what I'm looking for.
 
From personal experience there are usually graphical anomalies which start appearing on screen when your graphics card is starting to overheat.

If you PC is crashing outright, it might be more driver or power supply related.
 
It's definitely the GPU that's overheating. It only ever crashes when I'm playing a game and I monitor the temperature constantly now. In Windows it stays at about 40C (with the help of extra fans) and in a game it jumps to about a 70-80C. I also took it back to where I bought it and they tested it and concluded that the GPU fan is pretty much close to dead. I know I can replace the fan, but this is as good a reason as any for a little upgrade.
 
Wlad said:
It's definitely the GPU that's overheating. It only ever crashes when I'm playing a game and I monitor the temperature constantly now. In Windows it stays at about 40C (with the help of extra fans) and in a game it jumps to about a 70-80C. I also took it back to where I bought it and they tested it and concluded that the GPU fan is pretty much close to dead. I know I can replace the fan, but this is as good a reason as any for a little upgrade.
Click to expand...

Well as Isengard says the 5770 is an awesome lil card. I have one, and had it before I got my i5. I had an AMD dual core on par with your intel dual core and that 5770 wil last a lot longer then your cpu in terms of need for upgrade
 
I tend to try and keep my GPU under 40C

Just to note that the new nvidia drivers are a bit buggy so their very unstable.
 
That temp is crazy! Definitely something cooking with that fan! :)

Most fans in a pc have a sticker over the bearing. Ok most fans anyway..

Grab a sharp blade and lift that sticker. Peel it right off. Grab some clock oil or some hair clipper oil. It needs to be quite thin and smooth, not thick gooey stuff!

Drop in a little bit. Wipe the surface where the sticker was with some meths and reapply the sticker. Just be careful not to get oil where the sticker goes..

Good luck :)
 
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