Geforce gt 640 overheating

Mrmambo

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Jul 25, 2015
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My card is reaching absurd temperatures while playing games with low graphical requirements ( FTL, Dead state, Dota 2). For all of these games I generally hover in the mid 90's sometimes reaching 100c. Idling I sit around 45-50. I've dusted it pretty thoroughly and all fans are operational.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Solution
Did you uninstall and reinstall the drivers?

Rising temperatures in the card could mean many different things. And benchmarks for the 640 show a load temperature of only 54° with idles around 30.

I really hate to suggest this, but my only advice is to replace it or get a GT 740 if you can afford it. You can find them for around $50 USD on eBay and Amazon.

Something is causing the card to use more power than it should. And it could be that the card is somehow going bad, or something else in the system is causing it.

And it would be terribly difficult to give you tech advice on testing the power supply over the Internet.

MakoRuu

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Jan 8, 2013
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The GT 640 is an older, low profile card, designed to use less power in smaller systems.

It should not have reached over 60° even under load.

Unfortunately without being there I couldn't tell you what's wrong, exactly. But I can help you to narrow down if the card itself is either going bad, or there's simply poor air flow to it.

- How long have you had the card?
- And how long have you been monitoring these temperatures?
- Why is this only an issue now?
 

Mrmambo

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Jul 25, 2015
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Thanks for the quick response. Also that sounds like terrible news...
-A little over 2 years
-I'm not what you would call computer savvy. Dota 2 was the culprit. Whenever I played it it would auto restart my computer no BSOD I was told I could change a setting to prevent the restart and show me the BSOD but it didn't work. So when Dota 2 started crashing about a month ago I started checking the temps.
-I've avoided playing any graphically heavy games since Dota began crashing. It was only recently that I noticed little 2d games were also causing overheating.
 

MakoRuu

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Then it does sound bad. DOTA is not graphically demanding. Even the older 640 should have been able to handle it at max settings without a hiccup.

When a graphics card over heats, it normally does not cause a total system shut down.

The problem can be attributed to a failing power supply, a hard drive malfunction, or even a corrupted driver.

The first solution is to completely remove your graphics card drivers, turn off the PC, and remove the card itself. Dust it completely and take care to check for any cracks in the PCB or any hemorrhaged coils. (They will look like tiny metal cylinders on the inside of the card near the fan and the heat sink. If they are busted they will appear split with white strands of insulation coming from the sides.)

Once you've determined the card is not at fault, reseat it into the PCIe slot and power the computer back on, then do a clean install of the graphics cards with the latest version of Nvidia.

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

You can completely remove your drivers with this utility.

This will test and see if the card itself is the problem... If it is not, then we have to move on to another component of the system until you find what the problem is.
 

Mrmambo

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Jul 25, 2015
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OK no damage to the card. The idling temp dropped a little after I cleaned the card. It sits at a constant 50 (what I said earlier was temps taken with the case off and 2 fans pointed at it). I've noticed that whenever I play a game the temp slowly increases as I play regardless of how graphically intensive the game is. When I alt-tab from the game the temp slowly drops. Not sure if that helps.
 

MakoRuu

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Did you uninstall and reinstall the drivers?

Rising temperatures in the card could mean many different things. And benchmarks for the 640 show a load temperature of only 54° with idles around 30.

I really hate to suggest this, but my only advice is to replace it or get a GT 740 if you can afford it. You can find them for around $50 USD on eBay and Amazon.

Something is causing the card to use more power than it should. And it could be that the card is somehow going bad, or something else in the system is causing it.

And it would be terribly difficult to give you tech advice on testing the power supply over the Internet.
 
Solution

MakoRuu

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Jan 8, 2013
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Well. I can't tell you to safely use it because I don't know if it will damage your system.

But if you absolutely have to, make sure you keep your eye on the temperatures. 85° is the highest you should let it get.

Take breaks? Maybe keep the side wall off for better air flow.


I'm sorry we couldn't figure out more of the problem.
 

Mrmambo

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Jul 25, 2015
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Yeah that's all I can do for now I guess either way you were a huge help!

Update: I have the case open with two fans pointed at it and it tops out around 70 while playing Dota 2. It'll do for now.
 

MakoRuu

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If you do consider upgrading, I might suggest figuring out what your power supply is so I can tell you the best card to get for the money.

Because right now the R7 250X is killing the $80 sweet spot for entry level gaming cards.

But it requires a 400 watt power supply and a supplementary six pin PCIe lead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gIAt0t9Msg

EDIT: I just found out the Passive R7 250 from Sapphire doesn't require additional power. Check out that youtube video for it's review.