Overheating GPU - Airflow Problem? See pic

[tfitch11]

Hello everyone, I am posting this on behalf of my boyfriend. Here is what we're working with:

Motherboard: M5A99X EVO R2.0
CPU: AMD FX-6300 OC to 4.2 GHz, Bus Speed 211
RAM: 16 GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz DDR3
Storage: 50 GB SSD and 500GB HDD
GPU: SAPPHIRE NITRO Radeon R9 380, 4GB
CPU Cooler: CM Hyper 212 Evo
Case Fans:4x 120mm Fans, Pictured below (3 Thermaltake RIING 12 and 1 Enermax Cluster Advance)
Case: Corsair Carbide SPEC-01 Mid Tower Gaming Case
PSU: EVGA 850W

And the airflow diagram:

So here's what's going on. We were playing League of Legends last night and his GPU was superclocked (he said he increased core speed to 1100 MHz). He was streaming the gameplay at 60fps, 1920x1080 as well using XSplit Streamer.

This went on for about an hour and a half and then his GPU started failing. The game flickered in and out, the screen would go back and then recover. The entire time, the CPU temp was at 40C max but the GPU temp peaked at almost 90C, but was at 85C when the flickering started. When he noticed this starting to happen, he opened up the side of the case and stopped the stream. He also lowered the graphics settings on the game to low. When this did not help, he shut down his computer immediately.

Questions we (I) have:

1. This sounds like a classic case of an overheating GPU to me. Please confirm.

2. If any specs are wrong or extreme, please advise

3. I have attached a diagram of his case and airflow, and welcome any feedback on how to improve

4. How do we avoid this happening going forward, or fix it?

5. Recommendations on additional fans are welcome, please advise of placement.


Thank you for your time!

 

[Hellrott]

Created my own account here. I'll make the adaptations you mentioned above, madmatt30. I was mostly just trying to learn something new and see what this processor could do. Do you anticipate that causing any kind of issues streaming at a high quality? Or is that something that's more reliant on GPU (judging by last night's little escapade, the CPU's regular temp, and the overheating GPU I am assuming the answer to that is yes).

One last question, I was toying with overclocking the GPU as well though I read that they're pretty much at their limit as it stands so there isn't much that can be done. I did tiny alterations one the core clock settings but I want to ensure I have undone those. I uninstalled TriXX but I think the settings were saved in the AMD Control Suite. I reset to 0 but I feel the GPU is still idling too hot (around 40-50c) and I'm worried that it's either still overclocked or, worse, I damaged the video card.

 

[Hellrott]

After the above changes, I am down to a 3793 MHz where the FX 6300 is rated at a 3500 MHz, so at least it's a little bit overclocked haha. Thank you guys

 

[madmatt30]

The settings I gave you are to be done in bios mate.

If you're using overdrive to overclock then my advice is don't - it overinflates voltages massively.
The only thing I use overdrive for is monyor the CPU thermal margin (temp) as its ultra reliable for that.

Those settings in bios will give you a max load clock of 4.2ghz .

Regarding GPU overclocking - the trick is baby steps mate.


Download MSI afterburmer (by far better than trixx)
Your idle temps are likely down to a zero fan profile under 60c (masses of cards seem to do this nowadays - I personally don't like it)
Afterburner will let you set a custom fan profile.
I'm just in from work at the minute but will try & help a bit later if you have any trouble using it.

 

[Hellrott]

Ahh, I see what I did wrong, I got it to the 4200 MHz. You're awesome man, thank you. MSI Afterburner is so much better than TriXX, thank you again. You've been super helpful. This website is awesome.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

TRIXX and the EVGA variant are garbage.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

I would also mention that front, side and bottom fans should be intake and top and rear fans should be exhaust. From the diagram I see it looks like your top fan is being used as an intake ( heat rises, you should help it ) and that can create some dead spots in the overall airflow. Everything else looks good now.

 

[madmatt30]

The top front intake was my recommendation solely due to the fact he's had to mount his CPU fan to the rear of the sink in a pull configuration