[SOLVED] New paste and case, GPU still overheating

ribasmudj

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I got a used Zotac 1080 Ti AMP! card a few months back and at first, it's temps were pretty wild. At max usage, they were usually in the 75c+ region and with OC applied, easily going over 80c most of the time. Then I tried to replace the thermal paste with a better one, and they dropped to 75c max with OC on, so a 5c drop in all scenarios. After a few weeks, they started to go back to their initial highs so I decided to get a new case as it was long overdue.

Now I have an NZXT h440 with solid airflow, as opposed to my last no-name case that had no fans at all, and once again the temps were fine at first. Around 69-71c and 74-75c with OC applied, the weird thing is that temps were some 3-4c lower than these numbers when using benchmark programs, hardly ever going above 70c, but in games, the numbers are consistently higher for whatever reason.

Now after a few weeks once again, temps are in the upper 70s, highest that I've seen being 78c. So now basically, with a new case that has actual flow, I'm getting the same temps that I had with the old one prior to even changing the thermal paste, which makes no sense. I'm also running with an open case, both with the old and the new one.

It's almost like there's some thermal sort of a "memory leak" that slowly ramps up temps over time. It's not that these temps are super high or worrying but they get high enough to start throttling clock speeds down, and I mostly wonder why I can't keep them down no matter what I try. I didn't try replacing thermal pads so maybe that could be the reason? Is there a way to check if they are causing higher numbers?
 
Solution
You are playing 4k with a 1080Ti thats why your temps are like that... Its really nothing to be concerned about. The founders edition 1080TI ran at about 83-85C, and the best air cooled 1080TI ran at around 68-72. So your middle of the pack Zotac is running as expected. Also you cant just replace fans on cards like that. They are generally hard to source replacements and will probably be no better. If you really want better temps over the stock cooler, you should look into water or maybe the Arctic Accelero Xtreme IV.

ribasmudj

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https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/zotac-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-amp-extreme,5055-5.html

That model does seem to run hot per this review.

However the temps your are seeing are within normal for this GPU.

It's even worse for my AMP! Card (non Extreme version), as it has less fans and far worse temperatures it seems. A friend has the Extreme version of the card and it never goes above 70c, whereas mine nearly hits 80s. Do you know why the numbers are higher in games as opposed to benchmarks lik Furmark, Heaven, 3DMark etc? I always thought it should be the other way around.
 

hutchl

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My 1070TI from Zotac ran from 75-80 very regularly with Thermal Grizzly Cryonaught on it. Also if you are allowing your GPU to run full tilt in games with no frame rate limit these temps are to be expected. If you limit your FPS to match your refresh rate you might see lower thermals due to less stress on the GPU. Also the longer the GPU has a load the higher the ambient temps will be in the case. Which in turn will increase the temps on the GPU its self. This is one of the downfalls of open air GPU coolers, its recirculating its own hot air.
 
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ribasmudj

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Nov 7, 2019
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My 1070TI from Zotac ran from 75-80 very regularly with Thermal Grizzly Cryonaught on it. Also if you are allowing your GPU to run full tilt in games with no frame rate limit these temps are to be expected. If you limit your FPS to match your refresh rate you might see lower thermals due to less stress on the GPU. Also the longer the GPU has a load the higher the ambient temps will be in the case. Which in turn will increase the temps on the GPU its self. This is one of the downfalls of open air GPU coolers, its recirculating its own hot air.

I do use both vsync and RTSS to cap frames at 60 but GPU is usually near 99% usage anyway since I game at 4k. So do you think I should run with case closed? Also is there any point to replacing GPU fans with better ones or is it pointless in the end.
 

hutchl

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Apr 3, 2014
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You are playing 4k with a 1080Ti thats why your temps are like that... Its really nothing to be concerned about. The founders edition 1080TI ran at about 83-85C, and the best air cooled 1080TI ran at around 68-72. So your middle of the pack Zotac is running as expected. Also you cant just replace fans on cards like that. They are generally hard to source replacements and will probably be no better. If you really want better temps over the stock cooler, you should look into water or maybe the Arctic Accelero Xtreme IV.
 
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