[SOLVED] Cleaned my graphic card

[ArieFrille]

Hello all,

so as the title said, I cleaned my graphics card today, like I always do every couple o' months. It was fairly dusty

Installed the card again. Booted up my favorite game, but after like 0-2 minutes the FPS starts to drops and my monitor mentions "No signal" and I can't do anything after that. Except for re-booting my PC. So what can the problem be? The game and my PC worked fine before the clean up, so it probably has something to do with my cleaning or re-installing it.

PC works fine when im on YT, browsing the web, scrolling mindlessly on social media.
I have tried updating Windows and graphic drivers, but that did not do anything. Also there are no beeps when starting up the PC so the card should connect.

If its any use, I have a Nvidia Geforce GTX 760 (192 bits)

Anyone familiar with this issue? Pls help

 

[Lutfij]

Always list your specs like so:
CPU:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:

...when posting a thread of troubleshooting nature. Include the age of the PSU and the version for your OS. You should also look into your version for the BIOS. Also to note, have you tried uninstalling your GPU drivers using DDU and then reinstalling the last known working drivers? If you're on Windows 10, please install drivers manually.

 

[ArieFrille]

Thanks for your reply

CPU: Intel core i7-4770 3.40 ghz
Motherboard: Medion MS-7848
Ram: 8192MB Ram
SSD/HDD: I have both?
GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 760 (192 bits)
PSU: Dont know
Chassis: Dont know
OS: Windows 10 Home 64bit

Sorry I'm not very clever with these things.

"...have you tried uninstalling your GPU drivers using DDU ...", I dont know what DDU is. But I have been installing drivers manually, via the Nvidia website.

 

[ilijadanil]

Did you use thermal compound while reattaching the GPU cooler back to the card?
Since it is an old card, changing the thermal compound can help a lot, and the issue might be with your GPU overheating when you start a game so it turns off.

 

[ArieFrille]

Did you use thermal compound while reattaching the GPU cooler back to the card?
Since it is an old card, changing the thermal compound can help a lot, and the issue might be with your GPU overheating when you start a game so it turns off.

There was enough paste left over though. And the PC isnt gasping for air, its really quiet now. Also its not a high GPU demanding game (WoW), I even have it on quite low graphics..

Tested it again, FPS drops drastically after 2 mins till about 30 FPS, and then my monitor says "nope!" and I need to reboot the PC.

But I dont think its a temperature issue.

Its quite clear to me, before the clean up it worked fine, but the fan was loud. So I cleaned it. Put it back together and now the fan is quiet, but the GPU/monitor crashes.

 

[ilijadanil]

There was enough paste left over though. And the PC isnt gasping for air, its really quiet now. Also its not a high GPU demanding game (WoW), I even have it on quite low graphics..

Tested it again, FPS drops drastically after 2 mins till about 30 FPS, and then my monitor says "nope!" and I need to reboot the PC.

But I dont think its a temperature issue.

Its quite clear to me, before the clean up it worked fine, but the fan was loud. So I cleaned it. Put it back together and now the fan is quiet, but the GPU/monitor crashes.

The thermal compound doesn't last forever. The performance of it decreases over time.
The fan is quiet? Did you check if it is spinning at all? If it is blocked or not properly connected it can cause crash of the GPU, though as i said, the temperature wont rise up to 100 Celsius to be noticeable, but non proper cooling while temperature spike on the GPU can cause it to fail and shut down

 

[Ketchup79]

There was enough paste left over though. And the PC isnt gasping for air, its really quiet now.....

This poses a question.... did you just dust the card, or did you take the cooler off? If you removed the cooler, you will most definitely need to replace the thermal compound.

Second thing - you said it is really quiet now - check and make sure the video card fans are actually spinning.

 

[ArieFrille]

So If i removed the cooler (the metally bit right) I have a re-do the thermal paste?

 

[ilijadanil]

So If i removed the cooler (the metally bit right) I have a re-do the thermal paste?

You would definitely want to clean up both sides and put on a new thermal paste. Make sure the fans are properly plugged in and nothing obstructs their movement while assembling it back again as well. As i previously mentioned, you still didn't give a clue whether the fans are spinning at all.

 

[Ketchup79]

So If i removed the cooler (the metally bit right) I have a re-do the thermal paste?

YES!

 

[lynx1021]

You can see your GPU temperatures with GPUZ here https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/
Any thing that uses thermal paste has to be repasted if the contact is broken. That means cleaning with 91% alcohol and apllying new paste. A lot of video cards have thermal pads on the memory also. I f they are broken they need to be replaced. Example

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGvUHeoDbQo

 

[lynx1021]

Since you did not tell us the exact model of your 760 here is a list of videos https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thermal+paste+Geforce+GTX+760
Also in my opinion you should only blow them out and not mess with the heat sink unless you are having an over heat problem.