Overheating Video Cards

g-bebe · #1 10-15-2007, 05:48 PM

I'm running an amd 3200+, nvidia 6600gt, 2gb ram pc that's a little over two years old now (recently put in an extra gb of ram). Generally use it for school related stuff, the internet, and gaming.

I just bought TF2 and it seems my vid card is dying. After a minute or two of gameplay, I'm getting tons of artifacts all over my screen like this (only happening very rapidly):

I downlaoded a few utility programs and monitored my temperature whlie I was out of game and in game. Just idling or browsing my GPU was around 65 degrees celsuis, and when I got into any 3D game I was running (once it caught up to speed) between 100 and 105 degrees. The last thing I want to do is fry my card.

I'm trying to figure out why it's running this high. It is a 128mb card after all, but should it really be going this nuts? Could it be a problem with my heatsink? I think I'll get a can of compressed air and flush out any dust that might be clogging the fans or anything, but I really don't expect that to help much.

highlife · #2 10-15-2007, 06:08 PM

holy [censored] 105 C? that is really hot! never heard of a GPU getting that hot and not just frying out.

Definately blow it out really well with compressed air, and you also might want to consider rigging up a cheap case fan to run constantly on the card as well.

funkyworms · #3 10-15-2007, 06:10 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I think I'll get a can of compressed air and flush out any dust that might be clogging the fans or anything, but I really don't expect that to help much.

[/ QUOTE ]

This could easily reduce your GPU core temp by 20 degrees if there is a significant amount of dust in there. This is likely the case if you have had the computer for 2 years and never cleaned it with compressed air.

g-bebe · #4 10-15-2007, 06:36 PM

Well, I opened up the case to see if there was visibly a ton of dust, and it didn't seem too bad. I always clean my computer out when I get home fo rth esummer and before I take it back, so really it's only been sitting here for a month and a half, which is why I don't really seem to think dust will be that significant of a problem.

At laest, when I peeked inside the case today, the vidcard fan (it is stock) seemed to be spinning alright, with a bit of dust around it. Oh well, I'll deifnetly give it the air.

g-bebe · #5 10-16-2007, 12:53 AM

Well, I opened it up and took out my airduct and card and used some compressed air on it. It was defintely more dusty than it looked from just looking with the side of my case off. Cleaned it off and now it seems to be running at about 55-60 degress idle, and 75-80 in-game. Looks like I've found the problem, whew.