AMD HD 6870 Temp. 160 degree celsius, Overheating

[indu111]

Hey all!

I have a Powercolor HD 6870 1 GB. Its more than an year old now.

Up until last week I was able to play games just fine. I have played many recent games like Battlefield 3 at ultra settings just fine with load temperatures of 70 C. But a few days back I was working on After Effects in Element 3D (a plugin that uses GPU for rendering) and caused a display crash with grey colored screen. I had to hard reboot.

Since then I just cannot play any game at all. Not even games which I previously could play using my integrated onboard graphics.

Every time I try playing a game like Team Fortress 2, display crashes and I got to hard reboot. But when I play a game like ALAN WAKE (NOTE: which a week ago I played just fine on high settings), the moment the main menu shows up, the display crashes BUT resumes back to desktop and I get the following error:

"Alan wake: Could not lock vertex buffer hardware device was removed"

Windows pops up with its own error: "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered"

I tried GPU-Z and recorded the detailed log in a text file that I am uploading. I have separated the section which indicates the duration when the game was running.

GPU-Z LOG FILE: http://www.mediafire.com/?91bbagrs5ku6b6u

The overall GPU temperature was 59C under load, so were GPU #1 Temp - 59C and GPU #3 Temp - 69.5C
but GPU #2 Temp showed a massive 159 C !!!!

I think the culprit is this GPU#2 Temp that rises so instantly over a 100 degree C that it causes the card to auto shutdown.
But what is this GPU#2 Temp and how do I reduce it?

Also here are the screenshots:
1) AT IDLE:
http://i50.tinypic.com/2wd1s1u.jpg

2) A FEW SECONDS AFTER CRASH:
http://i48.tinypic.com/1045gya.jpg

GPU Specs: http://i45.tinypic.com/kdtt3l.jpg

I have the following system specs:

Motherboard: Asus M4A78T-E
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz
Graphics Card: AMD 6870 1 GB
RAM: Transcend 6 GB DDR3 (4 GBx1, 2GBx1)
PSU: Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold 600 W
HDD: Seagate 1 TB + Seagate 500 GB
OS: Windows 7, 64 bit

Someone on some thread suggested to re-install OS which would be too much of a hassle. Please help me fix this problem! I can't play ANY GAME AT ALL!
Everything crashes.

 

[Sunius]

Looks like your graphics card is dying. I'd contact the warranty service. It doesn't seem like a software issue at all.

 

[indu111]

Looks like your graphics card is dying. I'd contact the warranty service. It doesn't seem like a software issue at all.

This card is a replacement to the original one I had bought almost 2 years ago. It worked fine till now. Its probably out of warranty.
But what is this GPU#2 Temp? My overall temperature under load still seems pretty good - 59 degree celsius.

 

[simmons33]

I think the gpu is in its final death throws. Fresh Install of an OS never hurts but like Sunius said, I doubt its a software issue. Could try and take the gpu apart and reapply a new thermal compound to get a little more use out of it. This probably voids the warranty though. But I still think its on the verge of death.

 

[Sunius]

This card is a replacement to the original one I had bought almost 2 years ago. It worked fine till now. Its probably out of warranty.
But what is this GPU#2 Temp? My overall temperature under load still seems pretty good - 59 degree celsius.

No idea what's that.

Though - check your warranty terms. They come in either 2 or 3 year warranty, and if you bought it earlier than 2 years ago, it's still up for sure.

 

[cliffro]

With my 7950 I see 3 temps, GPU Temp, and 2 VRM temps. So my guess would be that it's a VRM temp that's out of whack.

What you can do:
Blow out the dust, if you haven't cleaned it in a while, cleaning it can improve airflow dramatically if the dust is built up heavy enough.

Do a clean install of the drivers. Use Driver Sweeper(now called Driver Fusion) in safe mode after doing a normal uninstall(from Programs and Features) and only choose AMD Display Drivers. Reboot and install AMD drivers again.


You also might mention if you RMA again that your VRM temps were sky high.

 

[indu111]

With my 7950 I see 3 temps, GPU Temp, and 2 VRM temps. So my guess would be that it's a VRM temp that's out of whack.

What you can do:
Blow out the dust, if you haven't cleaned it in a while, cleaning it can improve airflow dramatically if the dust is built up heavy enough.

Do a clean install of the drivers. Use Driver Sweeper(now called Driver Fusion) in safe mode after doing a normal uninstall(from Programs and Features) and only choose AMD Display Drivers. Reboot and install AMD drivers again.


You also might mention if you RMA again that your VRM temps were sky high.

I am planning on getting an air compressor/blower by tomorrow to clean up the system though right now I did clean off as much dust as I could.
Also I just realized that I purchased the card on 29/12/2010. So I still have 5 days of warranty.
But here's a question: If I give the card back to the vendor for repair or a new product and I get it back after 29/12/2012, then does the new card/repaired card still hold some warranty?
I am asking because the vendor I bought it from is a prick. He will quick fix it, give me the repaired card after 29th and then when it still won't work, I will have no other option but to pay him the next time I get it repaired.

Is there any policy under which if this card goes faulty, I can get a brand new one?

 

[indu111]

Ok so I was browsing videos on Youtube for like half and hour and this happened.

http://i49.tinypic.com/2nw3o9l.jpg

The screen glitched and distorted and froze like that. Had to hard reboot.
What is happening to my graphic card?
Please help!

 

[Sunius]

It's dying

 

[scout_03]

time for a new graphic card do it now if you dont have a onboard video chipset or mobo will be out until you get another one .

 

[nukemaster]

I am with cliffro on this, looks like somehow the VRMs are overheating. Does the card have a reference cooler or something else.

Either way, those temps can lead to the VRM's overheating and the power becoming very unstable.

If you can get it warranty fixed then hell yeah do it. If not, maybe we can see another solution.

 

[indu111]

Hey guys!
Took time to reply back as I am on another computer right now.
Took your advice and gave it back under warranty. Also gave my motherboard back as two RAM slots and one PCI-E slot wasn't working.
They said I would get a new piece only if the card and the mobo are faulty beyond repair.
Lets hope they are. Would be great to get a new card/mobo on new year's.
Will test the card as it comes back with the mobo and update you guys.