GPU Sudden increase in temperature (overheating)

[Kieran260]

So my HD 7870 with no overclocks is suddenly reaching temperatures of 90+ degrees, and eventually burning out and shutting down at 95, which is very unusual considering the fact that I've been using this card for a long time and haven't seen it go over 85 degrees, ever. At idle this card sits very comfortably at 30-40 degrees which is what it is at right now.

I've updated my drivers (Driver Packaging Version
16.15.2211-160321a-300865C) and I've been trying to work out for days on how to fix this issue 🙁 The fans are spinning and there appears to be not much dust built up on the card. My case has alright cooling, with 1 intake and 1 exhaust fan, but again this problem has only happened recently and I have not made any changes to the cooling setup or the card's fans, I haven't even had the case open. The CPU's temperature is also fine, which probably means the case cooling isn't the issue.

One thing I will add is that the card is not stock, it has an aftermarket cooler which is the Icy Gelid Vision cooler.

I will leave any edits posted as a reply if I have any luck, thanks.


Specs below for reference:

CPU: i5-4460 @ 3.2ghz
Mobo: Asus H81m-Plus
RAM: Patriot 8GB DDR3 (1x8gb) 1600mhz
GPU: HD 7870 Tahiti LE (Gelid Icy Vision cooler)
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD
HDD: Seagate 1TB Hard Drive
PSU: Corsair CX600 (600 watts)
OS: Windows 10 64 bit

 

[Kieran260]

It is most likely just old age. This is common for old PC parts, It is possible that the thermal paste has dried up (On top of the GPU, it is like a grey goo). You could google "how to replace GPU thermal paste" or attempt to get a refund through warranty. This video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDLQ7FjPMf8 will show you how to replace it but it will void your warranty. You could also check the fans are spinning, maybe they have slowed down or have fully stopped. It is hard to say what the problem is but I would assume it is a thermal compound (paste) issue or a slowed fan.

Thanks for the answer, after reading a bit more online, I have found that the low idle temps and high load temps could be that the fans are struggling to handle the higher temps, and making the temps gradually get higher, I'm going to take a look to see how the thermal paste and see if it makes a difference.

 

[Kieran260]

Are the fans spinning at 100% speed? Using AMD crimson control center you can manually set the fan speeds. Try setting it to 100% and see if the problem is solved.

I have tried changing the fan speed using msi afterburner, but the RPM stays the same, I changed it to different percentages but I think due to having an aftermarket cooler it makes the fans run at the same speed all the time.

 

[dudio]

As much as I hate the answer for everything being 'reapply thermal paste', in this case I agree !
That would be my first step. Since it's not the original paste application, it could be in question. ..and clean out the dust while you're at it.
See where that takes you.

 

[Kieran260]

As much as I hate the answer for everything being 'reapply thermal paste', in this case I agree !
That would be my first step. Since it's not the original paste application, it could be in question. ..and clean out the dust while you're at it.
See where that takes you.

I will try it, however I'm really worried on taking it apart scared of breaking something

 

[Kieran260]

As much as I hate the answer for everything being 'reapply thermal paste', in this case I agree !
That would be my first step. Since it's not the original paste application, it could be in question. ..and clean out the dust while you're at it.
See where that takes you.

I will try it, however I'm really worried on taking it apart scared of breaking something

GPUs are not easy to break. The only thing that can go wrong is cracking the GPU's Motherboard. If you take it apart, change the thermal paste and put it back together nothing will go wrong. The chances of something breaking is small and it is rare that somebody cracks a motherboard. Just make sure you remember how everything went and put it together the same way. Don't take a part of and leave them lying around, they could scratch/ get lost and break. Has the question been answered? Keep us posted and pick the best solution when you are confident and know what you are doing.

Going to take a look later, thanks for the help, I'll keep you posted.

Best answer chosen.