Graphics card gets hot

kansas_dude

Distinguished
Apr 2, 2013
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There's no dust or anything else in my tower but lately I've noticed that my graphics card gets hot (not the card it self but the metal fins that surround the fan), fan does spin and right after I quit my game, fanspeed shows my GPU is 102c than it starts going down (or up, I don't understand the Celsius readings) to 55c........I've never checked it before today after gameplay but is that normal for gameplay usage?
 


I don't know what kind of case, factory hp case (hp pavilion a6337c) i guess....I could probably take off the case cover to relieve the heat that builds up inside the tower/case..........I do have a portable fan aimed at the vent holes at the back but I think it pushes the hot air back into the tower
 


the temp in my room changes alot, right now it's 82 but hasn't changed yet as I just turned on my window a/c and the card is GeForce 520 GT
 


I hate say to it but the reason for your high temps is very likely be the fact that your GPU is seriously old and unefficent.
 


or it gets too hot inside my tower/case during gameplay?
 


Well how many case fans/empty fan slots do you have?
 


it's a factory case (I think, not sure.....was bought at a garage sale sometime last year and the card was bought new about 3 months ago) so there is no space for extra in case fans but I have a portable fan on high blowing into the back and took the cover off the case which seems to help alot......instead of 102 right after gameplay, it's now 89 right after gameplay
 


How do I increase air flow (don't really like to leave the cover off)?
 
102 to 55 doesn't seem normal.
And a 520 is just not powerful enough to be able to reach those temperatures at all(except if you remove the heatsink 😛).
are you sure it's not 102F? Idle temperatures of those ranges are possible if you have a fanned card.
 


case has no free slots for fans and there is not enough space for a bigger case
 
Even though you said your case doesn't have dust, one guess of mine is that there's dust you haven't spotted. Blow it all out very thoroughly with an air compressor.

Also, I'm a bit skeptical of that temperature reading. If it really that hot, touch a wet Q-Tip to your GPU's metal heat fins. If it's as hot as your gauge says, it will steam and quickly evaporate the water. If not, then your card isn't actually as hot as the software says. That's the simplest check. Do it and report back. There's some things you can try if your card is actually as hot as the software says.
 


A similarly sized case with more slots is one option.