Question GPU temps fine during gaming, but higher when watching movies

Jun 17, 2022
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Anyone know why my GPU (Radeon RX-580 8gb ddr5) is hotter during video streaming than it is while gaming
(currently playing a heavily modded Skrim se).
I just rebuilt my PC due to an overheating issue so I do not recall if this is new or not.
I really do not want to have to do this again so I wanted to share my setup & see if anyone flags a potential problem with it
I live in a trailer in the desert & my previous 240mm cooler-master as an exhaust configuration failed due to the ambient temp always being quite high in here
I had to upgrade my case to a Lian Li 011 mini to accommodate a NXZT Z63 280mm cooler & rearrange the airflow
Now my fans on the bottom & front are intake & I am using fans on both sides of the cooler as a sort of push pull configuration into the case. The rear & top are now exhaust (9 fans total)
With intake below the GPU as well as the lower front intake fans I would expect the GPU to be cooler. When gaming the GPU fans are on & temps around 45-50ce.
Streaming Amazon right now my GPU is 55cs. The GPU fans are off & the CPU is a happy 28cs. (CPU performance is excellent with the new configuration)
It overheated quite a bit before I figured the problem out & again after the rebuild after a bad molex/sata adaptor failed (don't do that again)
The machine is:
i9-10850k processor
Gigabyte Aurous Z490 mb
16 GB Crucial Ballistix RAM (DDR4/@3600)
NXZT Z63 280mm cooler
Lian Li 011 case w. f/b intake
Just the intel tuner now with the Ram running @3600. Might retweak it but its ok for now
 
When gaming the GPU fans are on & temps around 45-50c.
Streaming Amazon right now my GPU is 55c. The GPU fans are off & the CPU is a happy 28c.
50C is pretty dang low period. I wouldn't expect that while gaming. Something more like 75C would be normal. 50C GPU WHILE gaming tells me the GPU isn't being used at all. Is the monitor cable connected to the GPU or the ports on the mobo rear port cluster?

At/below 55-60C, the GPU fans should be off. When being passively cooled, case airflow is important. If case or rad fans are spinning faster in one scenario, that would lower the [passive] GPU temp. Probably while gaming, the CPU fans and possibly case fans would be spinning faster since the CPU is under a higher load, so your results make sense.

Again, nothing to worry about until GPU hits/exceeds 80C.
 
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joan16v

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Jan 27, 2021
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If you want you can set another Fans Curve with MSI Afterburner software. You can activate GPU fans before the 50 degrees, or even 45. I set my GPU fans remain quiet before 45º, but they activate on 45º at 20% for example, and then the GPU temperature remains around 45º.