[SOLVED] After applying new thermal paste to my GPU, temperatures are rising to 80C°

[bobbyboi]

It's a GTX 960 and I noticed it was very dusty. I took it out to clean the dust as well as applying new thermal paste. The paste I used has a thermal conductivity of 6.5 w/mk and was produced by Duratech. I normally sat on 65C° while gaming on Fortnite however now it's a consistent 80C°. I spread out the paste on my GPU with a credit card and put more on than the 'pea' size. What should I do because it's really worrying me.

 

[zotn_dre]

Have you checked if you changed your fan profile ? My other thought is you put too much and should open it once more and reapply but use less (less is better here). Also make sure the screws are tightly fit.

 

[bobbyboi]

Have you checked if you changed your fan profile ? My other thought is you put too much and should open it once more and reapply but use less (less is better here). Also make sure the screws are tightly fit.

I opened it back up and reapplied less. However, I think the main issue was that the thermal pads actually fell off. There are two screws on my GPU that go through a little hole in the thermal pad holder however when I first screwed everything in I think I screwed in little too far which causes the pads to fall off without me noticing. This time I screwed everything back in like normal however I didn't use the last two screws that went through the thermal pad holes as I couldn't correctly position it. In the end, I'm now sitting on a minimum of 65°C to a maximum of 70°C. Still not the best performance but this is a massive improvement compared to a consistent 80°C.

Edit: Lowering my in-game settings also reduces temperatures to a consistent 60°C. I don't think it's smart leaving out the remaining two screws but I think the thermal pad glue has gotten a little weak and if this is my best bet, I'll take it. I'm just thankful my PC doesn't sound like a jet engine!

I'll select your comment for 'Best Answer' because of the helpful tips you provided.