[SOLVED] Gigabyte R9 390 G1 gaming temperature above 92 degree celcius.

Anzar412

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Nov 24, 2012
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Hi Guys,

I bought Gigabyte R9 390 G1 Gaming graphic card in 2016. I have been using it with no problem until recently.
When I bought the card I did rigorous testing of it using 3dMark, Unigine and Furmark. The temperature of card never crossed above 80 degree.
I checked temperature and performance of card by playing games like Crysis 3, Batman Arkham Knight, Battlefield 4, etc. The temperature of card never crossed above 78 degree.
Days passed and I never had any issue.
Recently, while playing The witcher 3 wild hunt I observed some pixels in the game, like black small pixels in rectangular shape blinking and covering 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 or whole screen. I thought its because of poorly optimized game. However, later I observed same issue in other games as well. I tried to find the exact cause on Internet, and came to conclusion that issue could be overheating of GPU.
I tested again with benchmark Furmark, Unigine Superposition. Initially temperature remains around 60 degree but within a minute or two gradually increases to 93 degree. Pixels started to show once it crosses 85 degree. This card is designed to throttle down the clock speed to maintain the temp, so it doesn't go above 95 degree.
Similar observation while playing games Witcher, Crysis 3, etc. Sometimes in Witcher, I observed big black rectangle box as well.
Cabinet airflow is fine where I have 2X120mm fan intake from front and side, and 2X120mm fan out from back and up. Room temperature is around 35 degree as it is hot here.
I set the GPU fan speed to maximum which is I guess 3600 rpm. It didn't help.
I cleaned the graphic card by removing GPU fan and cleaning the heat sink. It didn't help.
I kept cabinet open from one side, It did increase the time by a minute to develop issue.

I am left with only option of open GPU and replace thermal paste, which I can but afraid to do it.

Please give me your inputs. What you guys suggest I should do. How much time do I have before this card die.
 
Last edited:
Solution
Thank you everyone for your inputs.
Today I opened my GPU and reapplied thermal paste. Reverted the power limit.
Now temperature is well under control and doesn't go beyond 82 in any game.

FoxVoxDK

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Option 2 is your best bet, it may be time.
I do not have an AMD card and I am not versed in its use, but I would use MSI Afterburner and set a max temp 75-80 or adjust my power limit, while running furmark until the temp remains below your artifacting threshold.
 
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Anzar412

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Option 2 is your best bet, it may be time.
I do not have an AMD card and I am not versed in its use, but I would use MSI Afterburner and set a max temp 75-80 or adjust my power limit, while running furmark until the temp remains below your artifacting threshold.
Thank you for the input.
below testing which I did after your suggestion.
I reduced power by 10%. Unigine benchmark, temp shoots to 93 at the end of benchmark which is around 2 and half minute.
I reduced power by 15%. Unigine bechmark, temp touched till 89.
I reduced power by 20%. Unigine benchmark, temp remained at 78. Furmark for 5 min, temp touched till 82. Played Crysis 3 for 45 min, temp reached till 80.

I used Radeon app to reduce power. I will keep this setting for a while. Of course, it will reduce my gaming experience little bit. 😞

Thermal re paste will be done only after lock down.

Anymore suggestion is welcomed.
 

n00bguy84

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Dec 12, 2014
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AMD cards are known to run hot and loud and the 390 is one of them. I don't know what the other cards run like but from what I have heard it's the same way, hot and loud. But that's too hot.

I have a MSI R9 390 Gaming. I never say a temp higher than 85 degrees Celsius in a Fractal Define R5 with 3 fans. 2 140mm Fractal fans in the front and 1 140mm in the back.

It still works. I haven't used since 2018 cause that's when I switched over to a GTX 1070 Ti also made by MSI. The 390 was the original GPU in my first PC build back in 2016. It was a pretty good hard other than the getting warm and loud. Of course I didn't play games a lot on it. It didn't see really heavy use.

You can try to reapply some better thermal paste. You don't have anything to lose. You can't use the card anyway. If you mess up and break it doesn't matter cause you can't use it with the overheating issue. If you break it you have to get another one some how. I would say go ahead and try the new thermal paste. Get some good stuff though.
 

Anzar412

Distinguished
Nov 24, 2012
44
1
18,545
Thank you everyone for your inputs.
Today I opened my GPU and reapplied thermal paste. Reverted the power limit.
Now temperature is well under control and doesn't go beyond 82 in any game.
 
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Reactions: FoxVoxDK
Solution