gtx 960 overheating

[polish_soccer_goalie]

My graphics card has been showing its age by overheating more and more over the years. It's an asus strix gtx 960 4gb option that i bought about 2.5 years ago. I believe for the past couple months i started paying attention to the temperatures and realized that they are abnormally high when playing games. On idle it will sit around 45 - 50 degrees Celsius and under full load it will be around 85 - 95 degrees celcius.
What could possibly improve my temps? I know that i have a really bad computer case which could prevent good airflow but surely there's more right?
my specs:
i7-4790
gtx 960 4gb
12gb ddr3
750psu
some unknown acer mobo

 

[volkgren]

Aside from airflow the thermal compound between the processor die and the heatsink becomes dry and loses its ability to transfer heat after so long. Replacing the thermal paste would help, but it may also void your warranty with ASUS. ASUS doesn't like their customers removing the heatsink.

I would work on improving airflow. What case do you have? How many fans?

 

[Bob125484]

leave your case open and check your temp at idle and gaming. If temp drops a lot, you work on improve air flow. If it is a small drop, adding fans will not help much so you check on your GPU.

 

[ddferrari]

If your card is getting hotter over time, it sounds like dust build up. When was the last time you cleaned it out with a can of compressed air?

If your case was to blame, your card would have been running hot all along.

 

[polish_soccer_goalie]

Aside from airflow the thermal compound between the processor die and the heatsink becomes dry and loses its ability to transfer heat after so long. Replacing the thermal paste would help, but it may also void your warranty with ASUS. ASUS doesn't like their customers removing the heatsink.

I would work on improving airflow. What case do you have? How many fans?

I think you're right about my thermal compound is dried up. Seems like the most accurate scenario. I also haven't cleaned the dust out in a while so i'm going to do that and see any differences. Thanks