Radeon HD 7970 unbearable temperatures after gpu repasting

[yesyesloud]

Update: It turns out the problem was the thermal compound only. Beware: That gpu, this specific model at least, doesn't seem to enjoy silver. I bought a 6.5w/mk evga frostbite silver paste, but the results were the same as a cheap 1.8w/mk generic silver paste. An outdated gray thermal grease (only 4w/mk) did the job, my max temps under full load won't go past 80ºc without OC. There's some sort of mirror between the graphic processor and the sink, it probably has some effect on the whole cooling system, reducing affinity with a few sorts of thermal grease.

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Hello there. I own a 7970 (XFX double d black edition), its temperatures have always been a little hotter than I would like, but I used to keep them below 80ºc since it's broadly known this is not a bad limit for this card at all.

Unfortunately, it suddenly started to hit above 95ºc. Quite odd, even for the summer. I decided to repaste the GPU. I am used to dealing with hardware, I thought it wouldn't be a big deal. I was wrong, now my temperatures go past 110ºc under ridiculous load (1-3%) and my computer shuts down on its own, obviously. Fans are running very well.

Ok, I used some cheap paste I already had (HC171, silver, 1.93 w/m.k) and I knew it wasn't the best decision of my life, but... is such paste really that bad or has my gpu been fried?

My computer boots, hdmi audio works, games load, I can play videos, but gpu temperature hits above 100ºc in a matter of seconds. Really, games intros and youtube videos do that.

Should I change the paste or assume my card is going to the gpu heaven?

Any ideas?

 

[crisan_tiberiu]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-performance-benchmark,3616.html
as the article above states, for GPUs normally you would need some kind of dedicated pastes. Yes, thermal paste is your issue here..

 

[bharathitman]

You might want to check in with the manufacturer. 95 under full load should be OK, but not 110 certainly. That too with 1-3% load, are you sure your heatsink is in good contact with the chip?

 

[yesyesloud]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-performance-benchmark,3616.html
as the article above states, for GPUs normally you would need some kind of dedicated pastes. Yes, thermal paste is your issue here..

I took a long read on that article, thanks for the link. According to the tests, it seems almost all those products can be used on both cpu and gpu though.

I hope the one I applied on my gpu isn't that great, otherwise my card is certainly wasted. As mentioned, thermal compound was properly applied but temperature hits 100 in a matter of seconds under 3% of gpu usage and the system soon shuts down. I've even passed through the pasting process all over again to make sure. No luck so far. I'll try another sort of paste. The fact that the system boots, the display driver loads and graphical intensive applications work is what actually raises some hope.

 

[yesyesloud]

You might want to check in with the manufacturer. 95 under full load should be OK, but not 110 certainly. That too with 1-3% load, are you sure your heatsink is in good contact with the chip?

I am quite sure the heatsink is in good contact with the chipset. And yes, that 3% load raising the temperature to 110%+ until the system powers off sure is alarming, I can only hope that this paste is inefficient on gpus.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I'm afraid I cannot see thermal paste as the sole reason for the temperature jumping +15C. There has to be something else at work here. Check your fins to ensure they are clear and allowing airflow. Check to make sure that you didn't use too much or too little paste. A change of paste brand shouldn't cause a +15C jump because every comparison I've ever seen had at most a +/- 8C variance from best to worst.

 

[yesyesloud]

I'm afraid I cannot see thermal paste as the sole reason for the temperature jumping +15C. There has to be something else at work here. Check your fins to ensure they are clear and allowing airflow. Check to make sure that you didn't use too much or too little paste. A change of paste brand shouldn't cause a +15C jump because every comparison I've ever seen had at most a +/- 8C variance from best to worst.

Fins are shiny clear, and the gpu was repasted once again just to make sure everything was right. Airflow is fine, my case is open. Maybe this generic, cheap paste (with considerable specs) is not good enough for hot amd gpus. Or I lost the card.