GTX 970 Jumping to 90 Celcius!

[Xanthic]

I need MAJOR help! My GTX 970 Turbo is overheating ! It just started today while playing Overwatch. I have reapplied thermal paste, and it has been going very hot. Is it time to hang it up? Get a new one? Any help is appreciated.
Also, just got a new liquid cooler for my CPU, I don't know why it would do anything though. Liquid cooler is at the top, (h100i v2) and theyre all plugged into fan headers on the motherboard. It didn't overheat the first day using the liquid cooler, so I don't think it's the liquid cooler. GPU is blower style anyway. Randomly revved up today to 100% fan usage and overheated.

 

[pete_101]

When did you reapply the paste and how much did you use? Just remember, it's more important on a GPU to get 100% coverage of paste on the processor as it doesn't have the heat spreader that CPUs have.

 

[Xanthic]

When did you reapply the paste and how much did you use? Just remember, it's more important on a GPU to get 100% coverage of paste on the processor as it doesn't have the heat spreader that CPUs have.

about a week ago, we put A LOT on there

 

[Chugalug_]

You're only meant to put a pea sized amount, otherwise it has the potential to increase temps, and given the crap cooler on your card i'm not surprised.
Get some isopropyl alcohol and a cloth, and wipe some of it off before reapplying.
Use the bottle to the cloth flipping method.

 

[Xanthic]

You're only meant to put a pea sized amount, otherwise it has the potential to increase temps, and given the crap cooler on your card i'm not surprised.
Get some isopropyl alcohol and a cloth, and wipe some of it off before reapplying.
Use the bottle to the cloth flipping method.

I'll try that asap. Thanks.

 

[pete_101]

You're only meant to put a pea sized amount, otherwise it has the potential to increase temps, and given the crap cooler on your card i'm not surprised.
Get some isopropyl alcohol and a cloth, and wipe some of it off before reapplying.
Use the bottle to the cloth flipping method.

No, there is no evidence using too much makes it run hotter, it just makes a big mess, and if it's electrically conductive, then you have a problem....but most paste isn't conductive. Using too little makes it run hot, but a pea size is about right.

 

[Achint2000]

I've successfully reapplied thermal paste on my Strix 970 twice by now, I reapply paste every year atleast. After you applied it, make sure it's spread all through the GPU core and the big metal heatsink piece is properly touching the CPU (much like your contact with the bed after a very tiring day xD ).

If there's any, ANY space between GPU Core and that metal heatsink, it'll lose massive efficiency and just won't work.
Just in case, try starting up a game again for about a minute and try touching the heatsink pipe (that big metal pipe) if you can see it. It should be burning hot if your heatsink is properly working.

Remove the backplate, remove the heatsink, stuff it all back in properly with the screws tightened, and do all of it carefully.

 

[Chugalug_]

Pls don't touch the heatsink pipe unless you want a scalding burn for a week...
It's mainly just that the cooler's crap.
Reapplying thermal paste won't do much if anything btw.

 

[Xanthic]

I've successfully reapplied thermal paste on my Strix 970 twice by now, I reapply paste every year atleast. After you applied it, make sure it's spread all through the GPU core and the big metal heatsink piece is properly touching the CPU (much like your contact with the bed after a very tiring day xD ).

If there's any, ANY space between GPU Core and that metal heatsink, it'll lose massive efficiency and just won't work.
Just in case, try starting up a game again for about a minute and try touching the heatsink pipe (that big metal pipe) if you can see it. It should be burning hot if your heatsink is properly working.

Remove the backplate, remove the heatsink, stuff it all back in properly with the screws tightened, and do all of it carefully.

I have the blower style card instead of open air, but thanks for the advice. And, you just made me want to sleep, thanks.

 

[Mojazz]

Make certain that you are not losing any air flow through your case. Check and make certain all your case fans are running and all fans and filters are free of any dust build up. Best of luck.

 

[Xanthic]

Make certain that you are not losing any air flow through your case. Check and make certain all your case fans are running and all fans and filters are free of any dust build up. Best of luck.

2 front intakes, and the 1 exhaust in the back. Thank you for the luck my man!

 

[pete_101]

Let back this up a bit. You replaced the thermal paste a week ago, but it was today that it started to run hot. Do you know what temperature it was running at before you replaced the paste, and what temperature after?
If it has jumped 10+ degrees today, then it's not going to be the cooler on the card or the case fans.

 

[Xanthic]

Let back this up a bit. You replaced the thermal paste a week ago, but it was today that it started to run hot. Do you know what temperature it was running at before you replaced the paste, and what temperature after?
If it has jumped 10+ degrees today, then it's not going to be the cooler on the card or the case fans.

78 - 80 while max, then it went up to about 86 today, got off. then later today i got on and it jumped to 90. I'm starting to think it was a snowball affect because this card has been running roughly 80C since the day it was bought,(christmas 2015). Maybe the high temps all days of the year are getting to it.

 

[pete_101]

Let back this up a bit. You replaced the thermal paste a week ago, but it was today that it started to run hot. Do you know what temperature it was running at before you replaced the paste, and what temperature after?
If it has jumped 10+ degrees today, then it's not going to be the cooler on the card or the case fans.

78 - 80 while max, then it went up to about 86 today, got off. then later today i got on and it jumped to 90. I'm starting to think it was a snowball affect because this card has been running roughly 80C since the day it was bought,(christmas 2015). Maybe the high temps all days of the year are getting to it.

It doesn't usually work that way, if the GPU is damaged it will just stop working. Normally an increase in temperature is due to a slow build up of dust and the thermal paste drying out.
A sudden jump is either the cooler has been bumped and has lost some of it's contact with the GPU or, you've installed a faulty driver, or there is some malware or virus that's taken over the GPU, this last one is easy to test for by looking at GPU usage when at idle.
Did you clean up the paste (as suggested) and reapplied, if so, how did you get on?

 

[Xanthic]

Let back this up a bit. You replaced the thermal paste a week ago, but it was today that it started to run hot. Do you know what temperature it was running at before you replaced the paste, and what temperature after?
If it has jumped 10+ degrees today, then it's not going to be the cooler on the card or the case fans.

78 - 80 while max, then it went up to about 86 today, got off. then later today i got on and it jumped to 90. I'm starting to think it was a snowball affect because this card has been running roughly 80C since the day it was bought,(christmas 2015). Maybe the high temps all days of the year are getting to it.

It doesn't usually work that way, if the GPU is damaged it will just stop working. Normally an increase in temperature is due to a slow build up of dust and the thermal paste drying out.
A sudden jump is either the cooler has been bumped and has lost some of it's contact with the GPU or, you've installed a faulty driver, or there is some malware or virus that's taken over the GPU, this last one is easy to test for by looking at GPU usage when at idle.
Did you clean up the paste (as suggested) and reapplied, if so, how did you get on?

We just cleaned up the thermal paste and along with that, dust.
We just installed a new liquid cooler and we were actually moving the GPU around a little bit in the PCIE slot. (Thanks for telling me this, btw.)
I have only reapplied thermal paste once, and that was a week ago. Unable to do it tonight.
I will check GPU usage, thanks. Just got the newest nVidia driver, just now.

 

[Achint2000]

I have an efficient Strix cooling aftermarket on my 970 so that's a bit different than yours. My card never ever went above 50% fan speed and 75C temps. Your card shouldn't run that hot all of a sudden.

Try opening your case's side window. Atleast the case will be a bit cooler.

Check if the GPU's fans are actually throwing out that much heat. In normal situations, it'll be your heatsink not properly put back in after reapplying thermal paste. If it is throwing that much heat, it's a different problem.

Also see if your new CPU cooler is, in any way, adding up heat at the GPU.

Get a heavy benchmark (Unigine Heaven), run it on extreme and see the GPU temps on a good monitor (GPU-z or GPU Tweak) at the side, to check if it actually hits that high temperatures.

 

[Xanthic]

Let back this up a bit. You replaced the thermal paste a week ago, but it was today that it started to run hot. Do you know what temperature it was running at before you replaced the paste, and what temperature after?
If it has jumped 10+ degrees today, then it's not going to be the cooler on the card or the case fans.

78 - 80 while max, then it went up to about 86 today, got off. then later today i got on and it jumped to 90. I'm starting to think it was a snowball affect because this card has been running roughly 80C since the day it was bought,(christmas 2015). Maybe the high temps all days of the year are getting to it.

It doesn't usually work that way, if the GPU is damaged it will just stop working. Normally an increase in temperature is due to a slow build up of dust and the thermal paste drying out.
A sudden jump is either the cooler has been bumped and has lost some of it's contact with the GPU or, you've installed a faulty driver, or there is some malware or virus that's taken over the GPU, this last one is easy to test for by looking at GPU usage when at idle.
Did you clean up the paste (as suggested) and reapplied, if so, how did you get on?

Hey,
just checked GPU load via Gpu-z and its 1% idle.

 

[Xanthic]

I have an efficient Strix cooling aftermarket on my 970 so that's a bit different than yours. My card never ever went above 50% fan speed and 75C temps. Your card shouldn't run that hot all of a sudden.

Try opening your case's side window. Atleast the case will be a bit cooler.

Check if the GPU's fans are actually throwing out that much heat. In normal situations, it'll be your heatsink not properly put back in after reapplying thermal paste. If it is throwing that much heat, it's a different problem.

Also see if your new CPU cooler is, in any way, adding up heat at the GPU.

Get a heavy benchmark (Unigine Heaven), run it on extreme and see the GPU temps on a good monitor (GPU-z or GPU Tweak) at the side, to check if it actually hits that high temperatures.

Will try.

 

[Mojazz]

Xanthic........let us know if any of these suggestions work for you. There have been numerous inquiries of late regarding 970 video cards running at 90 c even when not being stressed. Even they have tried paste reapplication without any positive result. Holler back.

 

[Xanthic]

Xanthic........let us know if any of these suggestions work for you. There have been numerous inquiries of late regarding 970 video cards running at 90 c even when not being stressed. Even they have tried paste reapplication without any positive result. Holler back.

Will do. Maybe nVidia did something, but I highly doubt it.

 

[Achint2000]

Well, there's nothing that Nvidia can do to make the temperatures are physically that high. Or maybe it can be a driver issue. Tried reverting back to old drivers with a clean reinstall?

 

[Xanthic]

Well, there's nothing that Nvidia can do to make the temperatures are physically that high. Or maybe it can be a driver issue. Tried reverting back to old drivers with a clean reinstall?

No it has always ran this hot.

 

[Achint2000]

If it's always ran this hot since day one and it's heating a little more than usual after a long time, there's nothing you can really do about it.

Well, you can open up the card and reapply some good quality thermal paste but it wont make that much of a difference but will void warranty as well.