R9 280x Running Extremely Hot: Change Thermal Paste?

[GBattaglia]

I currently own 3x Powercolor R9-280x video cards which were purchased new from a private seller on ebay (not a business). Currently I'm running into an issue on one that while under full load, it reaches absurd temperatures and doesn't perform as well as the other two. Absurd temperatures = 95C.

The other two cards hardly break 70C under the same load. This is the exact model for better reference: http://www.powercolor.com/global/products_features.asp?id=483

Right now I'm thinking it just has an issue with conducting heat to the heatsink, and uninstalling the heatsink and replacing the thermal paste should do. Am I right in this assumption to your guys' knowledge? What else could cause this odd behavior?

 

[Trikki]

My friend had the same problem on his gigabyte r9 280x.It's defective,send it back

 

[GBattaglia]

My friend had the same problem on his gigabyte r9 280x.It's defective,send it back

Issue with thermal paste could also be considered "defective". I'm worried I may have an issue with the warranty due to being a "second hand" buyer in a sense. Also, the time on RMA will be pretty bad.

 

[Trikki]

My friend had the same problem on his gigabyte r9 280x.It's defective,send it back

Issue with thermal paste could also be considered "defective". I'm worried I may have an issue with the warranty due to being a "second hand" buyer in a sense. Also, the time on RMA will be pretty bad.

That may be the case.I was thinking,since the card is fairly new.How could the thermal paste go bad so quickly?
Just check the paste,doubt it that it will help you.

 

[GBattaglia]

My friend had the same problem on his gigabyte r9 280x.It's defective,send it back

Issue with thermal paste could also be considered "defective". I'm worried I may have an issue with the warranty due to being a "second hand" buyer in a sense. Also, the time on RMA will be pretty bad.

That may be the case.I was thinking,since the card is fairly new.How could the thermal paste go bad so quickly?
Just check the paste,doubt it that it will help you.

Not saying the paste went bad, but that it was possibly misapplied. That is, when manufactured they just slopped an erroneous amount.

 

[Robert Ostrowski]

if you can still return it to the seller, then do. if not rma it, running that hot can be considered a defect.

 

[Arcanine300]

It does seem as if that gpu has the thermal paste misapplied but the cards are meant to run at 95C so that's fine. If you are getting less performance from that card however you could try taking off the heatsink and re-apply your own thermal paste or just buy a new one/ send it back if you don't want to take off the heatsink. Either way you don't really need to do anything if the decrease in performance isn't that bad.

 

[rostrow416]

The r9 290s are meant to run at 94.
The r9 280 is the rebranded 7970, which are NOT meant to run at 95.