[SOLVED] RTX 2080 overheating, thermal paste problem?

[Jeff_120]

Hello
I keep having overheating with my Gigabite RTX 2080 gaming OC card, if using 4k or Ultra with 1440p in all my games like Far Cry New Dawn, MS Flight Sim 2020, Just Cause 4....the temperature will reach 88c and the high noisy fans rpm will be activated.
Unfortunately my card is not under warranty anymore (1y only here in Lebanon) , so I am thinking to change the thermal paste myself as I am not finding any other reason for this overheating, unless you have some??
If it need thermal paste, which one is better? Grizzly Conductonaut or Cooler Master IceFusion?
Both are the only one available in my usual shop.
I also have a Grizzly thermal paste syringe that I partly used for my CPU 2 years ago, could it still work?

 

[Barty1884]

Repasting certainly won't hurt, but in titles like Flight Sim etc, you're really pushing a 2080 to it's limits at 1440p Ultra or 4K, so it's not surprising the card is reaching quite high temps - especially if you're in a case with not great airflow.

Thermal paste is one option, as would be improving airflow in the case &/or manually configuring a fan curve to run a bit more aggressively through the temperature climb, opposed to ramping up quickly at 80+'C

I also have a Grizzly thermal paste syringe that I partly used for my CPU 2 years ago, could it still work?

To be clear...Paste?

Since you already have it, there's no harm in trying first. You should know by looking at it whether it's maintained the same consistency etc after 2 years. I've used thermal pastes >2 years old without issue before, but I'm not sure what the proposed shelf life of any of the Thermal Grizzly stuff is. If it looks the same as it did, it should perform the same. If it appears to have changes in texture, viscosity etc, then it's probably time for some new paste.

]If it need thermal paste, which one is better? Grizzly Conductonaut or Cooler Master IceFusion?

Conductonaut is liquid metal, not thermal paste. It certainly can be used, but it's not recommended. There's already direct-die contact on a GPU, and the benefits (maybe 1'C peak) do not outway the risks of using an electrically conductive material, however small the risk might be or how well versed you are in LM applications.

I'm not familiar with IceFusion myself, but most aftermarket pastes perform within a coupleof degrees ofeach other

 

[Phaaze88]

Still kinda early to be considering something like a repaste, but bad paste jobs do happen sometimes.

I'd suspect weak airflow first.
Chassis make and model? Fan setup?
Even a picture would help - use either postimages.org or imgur.com.

 

[Jeff_120]

Repasting certainly won't hurt, but in titles like Flight Sim etc, you're really pushing a 2080 to it's limits at 1440p Ultra or 4K, so it's not surprising the card is reaching quite high temps - especially if you're in a case with not great airflow.

Thermal paste is one option, as would be improving airflow in the case &/or manually configuring a fan curve to run a bit more aggressively through the temperature climb, opposed to ramping up quickly at 80+'C



To be clear...Paste?

Since you already have it, there's no harm in trying first. You should know by looking at it whether it's maintained the same consistency etc after 2 years. I've used thermal pastes >2 years old without issue before, but I'm not sure what the proposed shelf life of any of the Thermal Grizzly stuff is. If it looks the same as it did, it should perform the same. If it appears to have changes in texture, viscosity etc, then it's probably time for some new paste.



Conductonaut is liquid metal, not thermal paste. It certainly can be used, but it's not recommended. There's already direct-die contact on a GPU, and the benefits (maybe 1'C peak) do not outway the risks of using an electrically conductive material, however small the risk might be or how well versed you are in LM applications.

I'm not familiar with IceFusion myself, but most aftermarket pastes perform within a coupleof degrees ofeach other

Sorry for Flight Sim it's 1440p medium settings, it started with 4k medium settings but it triggers the high fans rpm, I then set it as 1440p but it's till overheating.
Even Far Cry 4 in 1440p yesterday was making random overheating

Still kinda early to be considering something like a repaste, but bad paste jobs do happen sometimes.

I'd suspect weak airflow first.
Chassis make and model? Fan setup?
Even a picture would help - use either postimages.org or imgur.com.

I have the same case (Thermaltake Versa N26) with a total of 5 fans that are all working

 

[Barty1884]

Sorry for Flight Sim it's 1440p medium settings, it started with 4k medium settings but it triggers the high fans rpm, I then set it as 1440p but it's till overheating.
Even Far Cry 4 in 1440p yesterday was making random overheating

Regardless, the card is being pushed hard - Not that it 'can't' do it, it's just a stressful workload so high temps are not abnormal.

I have the same case (Thermaltake Versa N26) with a total of 5 fans that are all working

While the N26 has a bit of mesh down the front lower 2/3, a lot of the airflow blows right into drive cages before it provides anything to the GPU. Not the best case for a 2080, unfortunately, and probably not a whole lot that can be done here.

I'm not sure what your local availability is like, but from what I can find, Thermaltake is probably the most prominent case brand in Lebanon? If so, one of their full mesh fronted offerings like the J24 is probably the more economical routes to go.

 

[Jeff_120]

Regardless, the card is being pushed hard - Not that it 'can't' do it, it's just a stressful workload so high temps are not abnormal.



While the N26 has a bit of mesh down the front lower 2/3, a lot of the airflow blows right into drive cages before it provides anything to the GPU. Not the best case for a 2080, unfortunately, and probably not a whole lot that can be done here.

I'm not sure what your local availability is like, but from what I can find, Thermaltake is probably the most prominent case brand in Lebanon? If so, one of their full mesh fronted offerings like the J24 is probably the more economical routes to go.

So you don't think it's the thermal paste?
Why this overheating problem with very noisy fans was not present for the past 20 months and playing with the same games then?
Also it's going crescendo, when it started doing this it was 2 weeks ago and it was like once every 30 minutes, now it's very very frequent

 

[Barty1884]

So you don't think it's the thermal paste?

As I've stated, replacing the paste won't hurt.

Why this overheating problem with very noisy fans was not present for the past 20 months and playing with the same games then?

You hadn't stated this was a new problem?
Regardless, things change over time - Ambient temps in your room? Dust buildup? New drivers? Too many variables to conclusively say it's the thermal paste..... but an aftermarket paste application will usually provide a temperature reduction. How noticeable it will be is inconsistent & will depend on the quality of the paste/application from the factory. At <2 years old though, the paste shouldn't need to be replaced.

Also it's going crescendo, when it started doing this it was 2 weeks ago and it was like once every 30 minutes, now it's very very frequent

Again, you could look to a custom fan curve, which will mitigate some of the fast ramping up. More gradual, but faster at lower temps. The end result might be the same fan speed, but it'll be much less noticeable when it's a gradual increase opposed to ramping up from (example) 50% to 100% at 80'C

 

[Jeff_120]

As I've stated, replacing the paste won't hurt.



You hadn't stated this was a new problem?
Regardless, things change over time - Ambient temps in your room? Dust buildup? New drivers? Too many variables to conclusively say it's the thermal paste..... but an aftermarket paste application will usually provide a temperature reduction. How noticeable it will be is inconsistent & will depend on the quality of the paste/application from the factory. At <2 years old though, the paste shouldn't need to be replaced.



Again, you could look to a custom fan curve, which will mitigate some of the fast ramping up. More gradual, but faster at lower temps. The end result might be the same fan speed, but it'll be much less noticeable when it's a gradual increase opposed to ramping up from (example) 50% to 100% at 80'C

Thanks, I will try a clean install of the new geforce driver first.
The Grizzly paste I have is an "aeronaut" and is still kept in a zipped bag

 

[Schlachtwolf]

Just an idea here, I up-dated the Bios on my rtx 2080 last week to the newest Nvidia driver and my card is running 5-10c higher than it was beforehand with the same fan curve etc, I wonder as it was primarily a bios targeting the rtx 3000 series it has inadvertantly reset power/voltage thresholds in the 2000 series cards causing them to run hotter.

There is no dip or gain in performance and it goes to 75c max but 68c was the norm beforehand.

Just an idea as to a root cause of the issue, it would be great to hear if anyone else has noticed the same result fron the bios update on rtx 2000 series cards.

 

[Schlachtwolf]

I just ran a test with my 2080, I uninstalled all GPU drivers with DDU and reinstalled the Nvidia driver from 17.08.20 and well my temps were back to before while playing theHunter Classic and the more GPU heavy Mordor Shadow of War at Ulra settings. I thinks the newest Nvidia drivers are really geared to the 3000 series and have an temp effect on the 2000 series cards.

Admittedly this was a one sample and simple test but I did get my 5-10c lower temps as before with ONLY reverting to an older driver. This may help your issue as it may not just be thermal paste or cooling thing, the newest drivers may also be playing a part in temps rising.

 

[Jeff_120]

It's very weird, I can play hours Just Cause 4 in 1440p Ultra but once I put 4k in a matter of seconds I can hear the Geforce fans quickly increasing and hit the max
I think once the GPU is at 100% capacity it's overheating very fast. I used to play in 4k at this game without overheating before. I tried the latest driver but same result.
Should I follow this video to open the card and change the thermal paste?

View: https://youtu.be/rDvFYd-pPP0

 

[Phaaze88]

It's very weird, I can play hours Just Cause 4 in 1440p Ultra but once I put 4k in a matter of seconds I can hear the Geforce fans quickly increasing and hit the max
I think once the GPU is at 100% capacity it's overheating very fast. I used to play in 4k at this game without overheating before. I tried the latest driver but same result.
Should I follow this video to open the card and change the thermal paste?

View: https://youtu.be/rDvFYd-pPP0

@Schlachtwolf already posted that the latest drivers are increasing power draw.
Display Driver Uninstaller, and backtrack to a pre-Ampere driver to rule this out, please.

 

[Jeff_120]

@Schlachtwolf already posted that the latest drivers are increasing power draw.
Display Driver Uninstaller, and backtrack to a pre-Ampere driver to rule this out, please.

Tried an old July release, still overheating.
What about the bios of the 2080 itself?

 

[Solidjake]

I run FS2020 on my 2070S and don't have any heating issues whatsoever. Do you have a fan curve for the card? It seems like you don't since you mentioned the fans just ramp up to max when it gets too hot. With a fan curve you can have the fans hit a higher speed at a lower temp so it doesn't get to 88. My 2070s gets to around 65c max playing FS2020 on mixed med/high settings on 1440

 

[Jeff_120]

I am testing zotac firestorm tool, I set the gou power to 90% with max 80c, so far worked with Just Cause 4 in 4k

Edit: FS 2020 in 4k and High End settings working now without the very high fan speed, putting the GPU to 90% helped.
Though now I can barely get 30 fps with FS

Well I think it's the only way to still play with my 2080 while waiting for the 3070

 

[Phaaze88]

FS2020 isn't a good representation of performance, and won't be until MS gets their butts off DX11 only. Everyone's essentially cpu-bound in that game until they include DX 12 and the like.

Tried an old July release, still overheating.
What about the bios of the 2080 itself?

No dice, huh?

Vbios: about that... You are using a custom fan curve, right?
What happens to thermals if you set a static 100% curve?

 

[Jeff_120]

So I decided to change the thermal paste yesterday
I cleansed the old one with alcohol wipes (for eyeglasses) and applied a Grizzly Aeronaut one
Tested Just Cause 4 for about 20 minutes at 4k, temps didn't exceed 84c so the fans didn't hit the max
Then I tested FS 2020, it worked and the fans didn't get too fast but after 5 minutes the GPU stopped and I lost video signal! I was afraid something was wrong in terms of hardware after the thermal paste, I restarted the PC and the video signal went back thanks God. I searched in the Events Logs, and I found that the nvidia driver was he culprit....indeed I was still running the old July one and apparently the new one is very different from the old one and I shouldn't downgrade. So I updated the driver to the latest, it even needed a reboot.
I re-tried FS 2020 but the games look corrupt now, it will crash and return me to windows
Tried again Just Cause 4 for 30 minutes, no problems and the temps were again in the 84c max
Tried AC Odyssey, 4k with 90% resolution modifier as usual, temps didn't exceed 81c , though I had huge drops in fps from 60 to 15 and the RTX cards fans were barely turning, like if the card was downclockign from time to time. Dunno if it's the game bugging or the driver that is not yet well installed

Tried RE 3 remake, no problems whatsoever at 4k with textures to high instead of Ultra

So in the end I won some 7c at best ,good enough to not get into the red zone of 88c and the jet line fan noise

 

[Solidjake]

Can you post a screenshot of what your fan curve is?

 

[Jeff_120]

Can you post a screenshot of what your fan curve is?

It's the stock fan curve, I didn't change it

 

[Solidjake]

It's the stock fan curve, I didn't change it

Make it a little bit more aggressive and see if it keeps the temps down. An example would be 30% fan until 40C then have it go to 100% 70C