[SOLVED] Graka overheats possibly because of bad airflow. Need tips for improvement.

[pklempe]

Hey everyone.

In the last few weeks I noticed that while playing demanding games my RTX 2080 TI nearly immediately reaches a temperature of around 85C°. Then every few minutes the temperature will go up to 86C° and some form of emergency cooling kicks in which makes its fans spin with a lot more than 100% speed.

I noticed that when I remove the glass panel of my case (Fractal Design Meshify C) my graphics card will never reach such temps and even under load it will be 10-15C° cooler than before (I made some benchmarks with 3DMark), meaning most of the time the temps will be around 70C°. My CPU temps are mostly fine. So with this information gathered, I think there's something wrong with my airflow and I would like to improve it. This is my current setup:

https://imgur.com/a/8bhLx6Z

View: https://imgur.com/a/8bhLx6Z

I have 2x 140mm intake fans in the front, and 2x 120mm exhaust fans in the top left. There are two additional fan locations in the top and bottom right.

Would it make a difference if I put additional intake fans in said locations or is there anything else I can do to prevent my graphics card from frying itself?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[Dj0gany]

First off all, have you cleaned the dust from the GPU?
Have you thought about repasting it?
What are the idle temps of it?

 

[Phaaze88]

The Elgato card right below it probably isn't helping things: it's blocked off 1.5-2 out of the 3 gpu fans, and has denied air intake from the rear.
Only the front is feeding it - when the chassis is closed, I mean.

 

[pklempe]

First off all, have you cleaned the dust from the GPU?
Have you thought about repasting it?
What are the idle temps of it?

Thanks for the quick answer!

There wasn't any dust visible when I took it out a few days ago but I will order some air spray to clean everything in my PC regardless.

I thought about repasting it (even though I never tried it with a graphics card before) but I have two years warranty left (out of four in total) so I don't really want to risk voiding it.

Idle temps are around ~33C° with the side panel open.

 

[pklempe]

The Elgato card right below it probably isn't helping things: it's blocked off 1.5-2 out of the 3 gpu fans, and has denied air intake from the rear.
Only the front is feeding it - when the chassis is closed, I mean.

That's a good point. But I can't really put it somewhere else, so it seems that removing it would be my only option... I will test this tomorrow and see if it improves anything.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Kona45primo]

Could also make a baffle. Flat piece of cardboard or moldable plastic. Mount between the 2 front fans and angled down to the graphics card to make the lower 120mm fan vent towards the gpu

 

[pklempe]

The Elgato card right below it probably isn't helping things: it's blocked off 1.5-2 out of the 3 gpu fans, and has denied air intake from the rear.
Only the front is feeding it - when the chassis is closed, I mean.

So I removed the capture card and I think this improved things a little bit. The effect will probably be bigger if my case is closed. But while testing I noticed something new.

Even though I mentioned in my original post that my temps are 10-15C° cooler with the side panel open I realized that this isn't the case for one particular game. It's called "A Plague Tale: Innocence" and even on the lowest graphic settings possible, the graphic card starts at ~73C° and reaches 84C° after a few minutes. There was even one time when the mentioned emergency cooling kicked in again. So now I'm not so sure anymore if the air flow alone is to blame for my problem. I also realized that when reaching such temps the graphics card exhausts rather "cool" air on its right side and hot one on the left. I don't know if that's to be expected.

Here are two screenshots:

 

[Phaaze88]

Even though I mentioned in my original post that my temps are 10-15C° cooler with the side panel open I realized that this isn't the case for one particular game. It's called "A Plague Tale: Innocence" and even on the lowest graphic settings possible, the graphic card starts at ~73C° and reaches 84C° after a few minutes. There was even one time when the mentioned emergency cooling kicked in again. So now I'm not so sure anymore if the air flow alone is to blame for my problem. I also realized that when reaching such temps the graphics card exhausts rather "cool" air on its right side and hot one on the left. I don't know if that's to be expected.

So, does 3D Mark run just as hot as this game with the CC removed, or..?
If it runs hot too, then it'll be time to dust and repaste the gpu cooler. You'll also have to be careful not to tear the thermal pads when removing the cooler; torn pads can't do their job correctly and will need to be replaced.

No 2 games are made equally, so some will be easier for your 2080Ti to run than others, and those lightweight titles can allow it to run cool without getting toasty.

 

[pklempe]

So, does 3D Mark run just as hot as this game with the CC removed, or..?
If it runs hot too, then it'll be time to dust and repaste the gpu cooler. You'll also have to be careful not to tear the thermal pads when removing the cooler; torn pads can't do their job correctly and will need to be replaced.

No 2 games are made equally, so some will be easier for your 2080Ti to run than others, and those lightweight titles can allow it to run cool without getting toasty.

I've tried it just now with the "Time Spy" benchmark and my graphics card reached 79C°. But I would like to mention that I've installed "Asus GPU Tweak 2" this afternoon and set a more aggressive fan curve with it.

I think repasting it will be the only solution because I really don't have the time to struggle with Gigabyte's Support let alone not having a PC possibly for the next few months.

Do you have any additional tips regarding the repasting of a GPU? I've done it multiple times with CPUs but I never tried it with a graphics card.

 

[Phaaze88]

-Don't yank the heatsink from the PCB. That's an easy way to rip and break the short fan cables.
-If you're having trouble getting it off, warm it up for a few minutes with a stress test or a game and try again.

-The gpu's silicon die is a lot like glass. The more watery, or runny, pastes get pushed out more easily when mounting the cooler, opening up the possibility of uncovered hotspots on the die.
Thicker pastes should work better here, such as Cooler Master's Mastergel Pro, Noctua's NT-H2, and Thermal Grizzly's Hydronaut(not Kryonaut!), for example.

 

[geofelt]

First of all, graphics cards do run hot, but they are built to tolerate heat.
80c. is a typical target temperature.
The card will perform as best it can and try to maintain that temperature.
Hence the increase in fan speed. That is normal.

If you want better, increase the intake airflow.
Noctua makes some nice 140mm fans that will run up to 3000 RPM.
You could replace the lower 140mm fan with a higher rpm version that will provide more airflow over the graphics card.
The price you pay will be noise.

As a minor suggestion, remove the rear I/O slot covers that are not being used.

 

[Dj0gany]

First of all, graphics cards do run hot, but they are built to tolerate heat.
80c. is a typical target temperature.
The card will perform as best it can and try to maintain that temperature.
Hence the increase in fan speed. That is normal.

If you want better, increase the intake airflow.
Noctua makes some nice 140mm fans that will run up to 3000 RPM.
You could replace the lower 140mm fan with a higher rpm version that will provide more airflow over the graphics card.
The price you pay will be noise.

As a minor suggestion, remove the rear I/O slot covers that are not being used.

"As a minor suggestion, remove the rear I/O slot covers that are not being used. "
That matters with GPU airflow?
Just curious.

 

[geofelt]

"As a minor suggestion, remove the rear I/O slot covers that are not being used. "
That matters with GPU airflow?
Just curious.

Removing such covers, particularly the one directly under the graphics card will allow air to flow out the back of the case, carrying heat with it.
Some such covers are slotted which is good, but no restriction at all is even better.
It is easy enough to try.

 

[pklempe]

-Don't yank the heatsink from the PCB. That's an easy way to rip and break the short fan cables.
-If you're having trouble getting it off, warm it up for a few minutes with a stress test or a game and try again.

-The gpu's silicon die is a lot like glass. The more watery, or runny, pastes get pushed out more easily when mounting the cooler, opening up the possibility of uncovered hotspots on the die.
Thicker pastes should work better here, such as Cooler Master's Mastergel Pro, Noctua's NT-H2, and Thermal Grizzly's Hydronaut(not Kryonaut!), for example.

I actually have some "Noctua NT-H2" laying around because I repasted my CPU a few days ago, so that sounds great. Thanks for the tips.

 

[pklempe]

First of all, graphics cards do run hot, but they are built to tolerate heat.
80c. is a typical target temperature.
The card will perform as best it can and try to maintain that temperature.
Hence the increase in fan speed. That is normal.

If you want better, increase the intake airflow.
Noctua makes some nice 140mm fans that will run up to 3000 RPM.
You could replace the lower 140mm fan with a higher rpm version that will provide more airflow over the graphics card.
The price you pay will be noise.

As a minor suggestion, remove the rear I/O slot covers that are not being used.

But do you really think it's normal that it reaches 85C° under a few minutes during gaming even though the fans spin with 100% speed? Let alone spin with 150% speed (I don't know the actual percentage because Aorus Engine doesn't show me) every few minutes because the card even reaches 86C°? This emergency cooling shouldn't happen that regularly.

I already ordered a 120mm Noctua for the bottom so that I will have three intake and two exhaust fans in my case. I also switched to a more aggressive fan curve for all of them. I will see if that improves anything.