Question GPU fans to 100% at 69C

[thxcobra]

Hello there.
I've recently run into a problem with my MSI 2080TI. I rebuilt my computer recently and mounted my GPU vertically in my case with the Cooler Master vertical mounting bracket. It works quite well, and the GPU sits in the middle of the case and receives the same amount of airflow as it would sitting normally.

However, since that rebuild, my graphics card has been acting weird. Whenever it hits anywhere from 68-71C, the fans immediately ramp up to 100%, until the temp comes back down to 67-68. Then it slows back down, but naturally the temp quickly comes back up to 68-71, and the fans go back to 100%. This is quite annoying because the card is very very loud when the fans spin at 100%. (I believe the fans can reach something like 3600RPM).

I am monitoring the temperature in Afterburner, and one thing I've noticed is that Afterburner doesnt know the card ramps its fans to 100%. When the fans go crazy, Afterburner still thinks they are sitting at 38-40%. I just thought that was kinda weird.

So is my GPU's temp sensor broken or something? It seems to me that the card somehow thinks its overheating whenever it reaches 68-71C, and starts ramping the fans up regardless of what Afterburner wants it to run at.

Here are my full system specs:
I9-9900k
Trident Z 3600Mhz 32Gig RAM
MSI RTX 2080TI
MSI MPG Z390 Motherboard
M.2 SSD main storage
Sata SSD extra storage.
HX1000 Platinum power supply.

I recently reinstalled windows completely from scratch to verify it wasnt a software problem. Only thing i have installed right now is Afterburner pretty much.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave suggestions below!

 

[Phaaze88]

It works quite well, and the GPU sits in the middle of the case and receives the same amount of airflow as it would sitting normally.

I wonder about that.
Your experience with V-gpu is telling me otherwise.

What is the exact Cooler Master case?

The temp readings are an average of three:
-gpu core
-VRM
-memory
One of these 3 is likely running warmer than it used to when it was in the horizontal position...

Have you tried it back in the horizontal position?

 

[thxcobra]

I don’t see any reason it WOULDN’T hit 100% at 70c, that’s pretty warm. Unless you create a custom fan profile or increase airflow somehow it’s either going to be loud or overheat.

Cant tell if you're joking or not lmao. 70c is not at all warm for an aircooled 2080ti. It was running at 76C with a decently aggressive fancurve before i mounted it vertically. And with that fancurve the fans never hit above 55%. Sorry but 70C being "pretty warm" and requiring your fans to go 3600RPM is just not true. I have a custom fan curve, thats not the problem, the problem is the card is overriding that fan curve and going to 100% when it hits 69/70c, which is WELL WITHIN this cards thermals under load. It shouldnt blast the fans to 100% before something hits 86-88C.

I wonder about that.
Your experience with V-gpu is telling me otherwise.

What is the exact Cooler Master case?

The temp readings are an average of three:
-gpu core
-VRM
-memory
One of these 3 is likely running warmer than it used to when it was in the horizontal position...

Have you tried it back in the horizontal position?

I used a cooler master bracket inside the Corsair 680X Crystal. It is perfectly centered and has two intake fans blowing directly at it with 1100RPM each.

I have not tried putting it back in the horizontal position no. These vertical brackets require modification of the case, so all the back "slots" that i used to have were cut off and replaced with the back side of the bracket, meaning i cant really put it back to a horizontal mounting position.

Any recommendations for a program that can monitor all those 3 temps individually so i can see if anything is running hotter than it should?

 

[thxcobra]

You have no clue what you are talking about, good luck.

Hahaha, says the dude coming in here telling me my fans are supposed to go overheat mode and run at 100% when hitting 69C. You are outta your mind friend You need to google some 2080ti temperature benchmarks. Quite honestly thought you were joking.

 

[Phaaze88]

This kit, right?

Vertical Graphics Card Holder Kit | Cooler Master

www.coolermaster.com

I have not tried putting it back in the horizontal position no. These vertical brackets require modification of the case, so all the back "slots" that i used to have were cut off and replaced with the back side of the bracket, meaning i cant really put it back to a horizontal mounting position.

Bummer.
Welp, since that's not an option anymore, can you test with the side panel off?

Any recommendations for a program that can monitor all those 3 temps individually so i can see if anything is running hotter than it should?

One doesn't exist. You need special equipment to do that, like thermocouples.

All you did was change the orientation of the gpu. Now the fans run faster as a result.
I think it only makes sense because one of the 3 parts is running warmer than it used to.

What WAS happening with the gpu in the horizontal orientation:
-gpu was drawing in air from the front, bottom, and rear
-heat is exhausted out the 'sides' - front, side, rear - which then rises, some of which is then exhausted out the rear case fan or absorbed into the cpu heatsink/water block, to eventually be released out the top, or rear.

What I believe is happening NOW:
-gpu is drawing in air from the front and side of the case - well, trying to. It can't really draw from the rear anymore; that way's been blocked.
-heat is still being exhausted out the sides, but due to the change in orientation, the heat is now being exhausted downwards as well instead of the original 'sides' and then upwards.
-the heat being exhausted downwards has probably created a dead zone in the case, and the gpu is likely warmer near the PCIE slot

2080Ti PCB below:

Spoiler

There are a few memory chips right there next to the gold pins as well as some VRM modules not too far from there either.
That's what I believe has caused the fans to run higher.

 

[thxcobra]

This kit, right?

Vertical Graphics Card Holder Kit | Cooler Master

www.coolermaster.com

Bummer.
Welp, since that's not an option anymore, can you test with the side panel off?


One doesn't exist. You need special equipment to do that, like thermocouples.

All you did was change the orientation of the gpu. Now the fans run faster as a result.
I think it only makes sense because one of the 3 parts is running warmer than it used to.

What WAS happening with the gpu in the horizontal orientation:
-gpu was drawing in air from the front, bottom, and rear
-heat is exhausted out the 'sides' - front, side, rear - which then rises, some of which is then exhausted out the rear case fan or absorbed into the cpu heatsink/water block, to eventually be released out the top, or rear.

What I believe is happening NOW:
-gpu is drawing in air from the front and side of the case - well, trying to. It can't really draw from the rear anymore; that way's been blocked.
-heat is still being exhausted out the sides, but due to the change in orientation, the heat is now being exhausted downwards as well instead of the original 'sides' and then upwards.
-the heat being exhausted downwards has probably created a dead zone in the case, and the gpu is likely warmer near the PCIE slot

2080Ti PCB below:

Spoiler

There are a few memory chips right there next to the gold pins as well as some VRM modules not too far from there either.
That's what I believe has caused the fans to run higher.

Yup that is the bracket Im using.
So if the temp in Afterburner is an average based on those 3 sensors, wouldn't it be higher? When i ran the card horizontally, it would hit 74-76C under load. If one of the sensors are now getting very warm (86-88C?), and the other two are atleast 70C like normal, the average would be higher than 69-70. To get 70C average with one of the sensors being 86-88C the other two would have to be <65C.

I do see what you mean though, hot air would pool under the card when its mounted vertically. However i do have an intake fan thats blowing fresh air in the area under the card, so it should get moved around atleast until it finds its way out.

Ill try to run some games and benchmarks with my sidepanel open and see if that changes things.

 

[thxcobra]

This kit, right?

Vertical Graphics Card Holder Kit | Cooler Master

www.coolermaster.com

Bummer.
Welp, since that's not an option anymore, can you test with the side panel off?


One doesn't exist. You need special equipment to do that, like thermocouples.

All you did was change the orientation of the gpu. Now the fans run faster as a result.
I think it only makes sense because one of the 3 parts is running warmer than it used to.

What WAS happening with the gpu in the horizontal orientation:
-gpu was drawing in air from the front, bottom, and rear
-heat is exhausted out the 'sides' - front, side, rear - which then rises, some of which is then exhausted out the rear case fan or absorbed into the cpu heatsink/water block, to eventually be released out the top, or rear.

What I believe is happening NOW:
-gpu is drawing in air from the front and side of the case - well, trying to. It can't really draw from the rear anymore; that way's been blocked.
-heat is still being exhausted out the sides, but due to the change in orientation, the heat is now being exhausted downwards as well instead of the original 'sides' and then upwards.
-the heat being exhausted downwards has probably created a dead zone in the case, and the gpu is likely warmer near the PCIE slot

2080Ti PCB below:

Spoiler

There are a few memory chips right there next to the gold pins as well as some VRM modules not too far from there either.
That's what I believe has caused the fans to run higher.

Sidepanel open makes no difference. As soon as the temp hits 69 the fans go to 100%, once its back down to 67-68, they go back to my normal fan curve, and at 69 back up to 100%. I put my hand under the GPU and it didnt feel any hotter below the GPU compared to over it. It has quite a lot of space below it and with the intake fan pushing air below it, it seems like its getting rid of the air below quite effectively.

I think if one of the modules were overheating, it would take longer for the fans to start blasting ass, cause it would take a while for hot air to pool at the bottom and make the bottom half warmer. But the fans go to 100% straight away. Like the card was sitting at 44C idle after i booted my PC, and then 25 seconds after opening a game the fans were already going crazy cause it had hit 69.

Any other suggestions? Honestly seems to me like something is wrong. How common is it for GPU temp sensors to malfunction?

 

[thxcobra]

BTW, it is worth noting i didnt have this problem from the beginning. It started not too long ago. The card has been running fine in the vertical mount for a little while. It started some day while i was playing Escape From Tarkov, the fans started going crazy and i was like "huh, thats weird". And its been doing it since. I mentioned the vertical mount since thats the only thing ive changed on my PC recently.

 

[Phaaze88]

The bottom intake is rather weak, and is fighting with the air being exhausted downwards from the gpu. That's creating a dead zone.
At least with the side panel off, that stalled air has somewhere to go.

Any other suggestions? Honestly seems to me like something is wrong. How common is it for GPU temp sensors to malfunction?

It's not very common. How often, I couldn't say.

BTW, it is worth noting i didnt have this problem from the beginning. It started not too long ago. The card has been running fine in the vertical mount for a little while. It started some day while i was playing Escape From Tarkov, the fans started going crazy and i was like "huh, thats weird". And its been doing it since. I mentioned the vertical mount since thats the only thing ive changed on my PC recently.

Does it do this with all your games?

Scan your PC with Adwcleaner: https://www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner/
It sounds like your version of EFT installed with a bitcoin miner, and it runs whenever you startup the game.

 

[thxcobra]

The bottom intake is rather weak, and is fighting with the air being exhausted downwards from the gpu. That's creating a dead zone.
At least with the side panel off, that stalled air has somewhere to go.


It's not very common. How often, I couldn't say.


Does it do this with all your games?

Scan your PC with Adwcleaner: https://www.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner/
It sounds like your version of EFT installed with a bitcoin miner, and it runs whenever you startup the game.

This happens with any game, or any application that makes use of the GPU to a point where it goes above 69C. As i said in the original post; Just a couple days ago i completely formatted my drives and installed a completely new version of windows, so no programs would have carried over. I dont currently have EFT installed on my PC either.

 

[thxcobra]

The bottom intake is rather weak, and is fighting with the air being exhausted downwards from the gpu. That's creating a dead zone.

Apologies, i think i explained it wrong. I have no intake fans directly below the GPU. What i mean by intake fans blowing air under the GPU is that the bottom fan of my 3 front intakes is mounted so that it is pushing air from the front of the case, under the GPU.

 

[Phaaze88]

You explained that it started with Escape From Tarkov, so that's where I got the idea that the game may have installed a miner on your PC.

What i mean by intake fans blowing air under the GPU is that the bottom fan of my 3 front intakes is mounted so that it is pushing air from the front of the case, under the GPU.

The bottom has become an exhaust now due to the new orientation. The front airflow is running perpendicular to the gpu's bottom exhaust, and some of that warm air is rising up along the side glass panel and being pulled back into the gpu.

Aside from the airways being changed due to the vertical gpu mount, I don't know what else could be causing it.

"I mounted my 2080Ti vertically."
That's quite literally all you did. Now...
"Gpu's fans now run higher for some reason."
I shouldn't have to explain why gpu fans run faster... and since you modded the case in such a way that it's no longer possible to go back to horizontal gpu to troubleshoot a possible airflow issue, we're then left with second guessing ourselves.

 

[thxcobra]

You explained that it started with Escape From Tarkov, so that's where I got the idea that the game may have installed a miner on your PC.


The bottom has become an exhaust now due to the new orientation. The front airflow is running perpendicular to the gpu's bottom exhaust, and some of that warm air is rising up along the side glass panel and being pulled back into the gpu.

Aside from the airways being changed due to the vertical gpu mount, I don't know what else could be causing it.

"I mounted my 2080Ti vertically."
That's quite literally all you did. Now...
"Gpu's fans now run higher for some reason."
I shouldn't have to explain why gpu fans run faster... and since you modded the case in such a way that it's no longer possible to go back to horizontal gpu to troubleshoot a possible airflow issue, we're then left with second guessing ourselves.

It started with EFT yes, but the GPU had been running just fine like it used to for about a week before it occurred. If the airflow was fine for the first week, i dont see why it suddenly isnt okay anymore. I changed nothing since the problem started.

It is not just "gpu fans run a bit faster". The cooler on the MSI card is pretty good, and before this problem it kept the card below 76C with only 40-50% fan speed.
My problem is that the card WILL NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCE let itself get above 71C. As soon as it hits 69, it overrides my fan curves or anything i set the fan speed to in Afterburner, and goes to 100%, to prevent itself from going beyond 71C.

I also ran tests with the sidepanel off to rule out airflow problems remember? Even with the sidepanel off it immediately overruled my Afterburner settings and ramped the fans to 100% at 69C.

 

[Oussebon]

I have not tried putting it back in the horizontal position no. These vertical brackets require modification of the case, so all the back "slots" that i used to have were cut off and replaced with the back side of the bracket, meaning i cant really put it back to a horizontal mounting position.

What about that kit requires modification of the case such that you couldn't remove it and try the horizontal orientation of the GPU again? I've not used one of those cooler master kits but I thought the idea was that you just removed the 7 PCIe brackets, and slotted the kit in, screwing it in place using the regular mounting points.

Edit: Oh, right - in some cases you might need to cut the horizontal bars between the brackets out to get the display connectors - I guess you had to with yours. Are you sure you can't fit the GPU back in horizontally anyway?

 

[thxcobra]

What about that kit requires modification of the case such that you couldn't remove it and try the horizontal orientation of the GPU again? I've not used one of those cooler master kits but I thought the idea was that you just removed the 7 PCIe brackets, and slotted the kit in, screwing it in place using the regular mounting points.

Yep that is how you mount it, however the mounting points on the Corsair 680X dont have much support when you cut off the PCIe brackets, so i ended up breaking a few of the mounting points. The bracket only needs to be screwed into 2 points, one at the top and one near the bottom, those two didnt break, but a few of the others did around where you would normally mount it horizontally, so i cant screw it into those mounting points anymore.

 

[Oussebon]

Could you change the orientation of the case so that the GPU is horizontal, albeit with its fans pointing upwards rather than downwards? Since the only change seems to have been in the orientation of the GPU (other than the clean Windows install, and the physical handling of the card during the rebuild).

If you could rule in/out the orientation it might give you something to go on when contacting MSI.

Although you did a clean Windows install, you could DDU the drivers anyway. And possibly experiment with an older driver version.

 

[thxcobra]

Could you change the orientation of the case so that the GPU is horizontal, albeit with its fans pointing upwards rather than downwards? Since the only change seems to have been in the orientation of the GPU (other than the clean Windows install, and the physical handling of the card during the rebuild).

If you could rule in/out the orientation it might give you something to go on when contacting MSI.

Although you did a clean Windows install, you could DDU the drivers anyway. And possibly experiment with an older driver version.

Now that i think about it, im pretty sure i updated my drivers right around the time the problem occurred. Ill try rolling back to a previous driver version and putting my case down on its side to allow the card to run horizontally and see if the issue persists. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Oussebon]

Use DDU to sweep the older drivers
https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

 

[thxcobra]

Use DDU to sweep the older drivers
https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

Used DDU to clean, then reinstalled an older driver. Same issue, 68-69C the fans go crazy to keep the GPU under 71C. Tried moving the case so the GPU was relatively horizontal for a few minutes, but didnt seem to stop the fans from going crazy either

 

[thxcobra]

Ok so - update, im very Removed confused

I've been testing the card for a while and figured out a way that the card would let itself get hotter than 70C without going Removed apeshit.

I ran RDR2, and as expected the fans went to 100% at 69C. However, if i launch the escape menu ingame, and press the discord window on my second monitor (essentially tabbing out of the game), the GPU will still be utilized 65% to render the escape menu and part of the game. But now the GPU went all the way up to 73C while maintaining its normal fancurve and not going crazy. As soon as i tabbed into the game however, the usage went to 99% (as expected), and the fans went apeshit again to get the card back under 70C.

So i guess its not a temp sensor problem? If it was i dont see why the fans are sticking to the normal fancurve when tabbed out and still reaching 73C.

Im really out of ideas. I dont see how being tabbed into a game suddenly changes how the GPU reacts to its temperature. Again - being tabbed into any game the GPU will not allow itself to reach above 70C, but tabbed out it doesnt care at all, it sticks to the fancurve ive set.

 

[Oussebon]

Any differences with games in Windowed / Borderless Windowed aka Windowed Fullscreen/ Fullscreen aka Exclusive Fullscreen?