[SOLVED] Ways to reduce GPU temperature ?

[thesub3001]

Currently, my setup is an asrock h410m-hdv with an intel i3 10100, 16gb ram and a gtx 1060 3g. The 10100 is using a stock intel cooler and during high loads it generally goes around 60-65 degrees. My gpu on the other hand, during high loads in games, good example is cyberpunk, reaches about 73 degrees and gpu is at 99-100 usage(barely outputting over 30fps at 1080p, shame). Now, mostly it will sound picky but those temperatures are at 20 degrees C ambient.

During the summer it got me worried because generally, it gets up to the 30-33 degrees C range which would mean I will hit the thermal limit at 83 degrees if I am not mistaken. I've recently done a complete clean up of the case and the cpu/gpu using the Arctic MX-4 thermal paste which actually nailed me about 5 degrees off of both the gpu and cpu but that's all. The case I have is a Powercase JX188-2, 4 fans included running as 3 intake and 1 exhaust fan. I suspect the main problem with the gpu temps is because it's arguably the worst cooler designs, it's the Palit StormX 1060 with a single fan. The heatsink on it has no pipes and is really fairly small.

Is there any point in considering changing the gpu cooler or that's too much of a cost for the gains ? I've tried setting up a more aggressive fan curves but this seemed to have made a 1 C of a difference if any. The other idea I have is going for an aftermarket CPU cooler(currently looking at hyper 212 evo) in hopes that if I use one, it will drop the average temp in the case itself, maybe allow me to maintain 55 degrees on the CPU which should lower the temp in the case allowing the gpu temps to drop down as well?

On the other hand I know that after 83 degrees the gpu will thermal throttle but I am not sure if I will reach it during the summer, I am trying some preventative maintenance if that makes sense. It's not as much as a problem as looking for possible ideas and feedback on what I should do or if I should do anything at all.

Last but not least because I forgot to mention, the case also has the ability to put 2 exhausts/intakes on top of it, would doing that make a difference?
Last side note: The gpu has not been touched for OC at all, I am allowing it to do whatever it has to on stock specs.

 

[InvalidError]

Are your fans already at 100% speed? If not, a rise in ambient temperature will cause fan speeds to go up and the net temperature change will be much smaller than the ambient temperature rise.

 

[punkncat]

You could consider lowering settings, undervolt/clock your GPU, open a side panel, window unit in the room to keep ambient down.....

Our home office/game room gets crazy hot in the summertime. I typically have to modify (game) time or settings in order to get the type of performance I want without feeling like I am roasting.

 

[Phaaze88]

The problem is the aluminum heatsink under the shroud more than anything else. It's cooling capacity is poop. The Asus Phoenix has a similar cooler and also runs hot and loud.
It's the same kind of heatsink used on those Intel stock coolers. They really can't handle much.

I think the best thing you can do here, without spending a ton, is to fire up Msi Afterburner and use the Curve Editor.
There are multiple voltage points of which to use - you can't manually adjust voltage at all on these cards.
Monitor what kind of voltages the gpu normally asks for in game, then go to the Curve Editor, and test using lower voltage points. Lock them down by pressing the L key and click the Apply button on the main HUD.
When you are done playing, remember to restore defaults so the gpu can idle like it normally does.

 

[hotaru.hino]

A thing of note is that even if you add another 10C to ambient, it doesn't mean the part is going to raise by 10C. It still depends on how hard the cooling solution is working. In my setup, I have a gradual increase in the fan speed of both the case fans and GPU fans so as to optimize cooling performance and noise. My room's gotten down to 18C with my GPU sitting at 61C, but recently it's gotten up to around 27C and the GPU only went up to 65C.

One thing of note is since most video cards these days just circulate the air around them in the case is to make sure that the air around the video card can flow freely around to an exit point. Looking at your case, the vented expansion slot covers may help, but the solid backing next to it isn't probably doing the airflow any favors. There was a trick I did as an experiment where I placed a fan just above the video card pointing up to help suck out the air around the area. It actually worked pretty well.

 

[thesub3001]

Are your fans already at 100% speed? If not, a rise in ambient temperature will cause fan speeds to go up and the net temperature change will be much smaller than the ambient temperature rise.

From what msi afterburner says the fan has never gone up beyond 60% and I've never really seen them go up to 100%. It is worth to mention that when I set them to 100 manually, it changes 1 to 2 degrees at best and I feel like my pc is now a drone.

 

[thesub3001]

You could consider lowering settings, undervolt/clock your GPU, open a side panel, window unit in the room to keep ambient down.....

Our home office/game room gets crazy hot in the summertime. I typically have to modify (game) time or settings in order to get the type of performance I want without feeling like I am roasting.

For my case during summer opening a window means allowing more heat than keeping it closed. The gpu is already starting to show its age and underclock would make it worse especially when it underclocks itself. I am trying to prevent it not really doing it manually myself. Opening my side panel funnily enough gave me exactly no difference maybe like 1 degree but that's within margin of error. The case's airflow is pretty decent. Thanks for the suggestions tho.

 

[thesub3001]

The problem is the aluminum heatsink under the shroud more than anything else. It's cooling capacity is poop. The Asus Phoenix has a similar cooler and also runs hot and loud.
It's the same kind of heatsink used on those Intel stock coolers. They really can't handle much.

I think the best thing you can do here, without spending a ton, is to fire up Msi Afterburner and use the Curve Editor.
There are multiple voltage points of which to use - you can't manually adjust voltage at all on these cards.
Monitor what kind of voltages the gpu normally asks for in game, then go to the Curve Editor, and test using lower voltage points. Lock them down by pressing the L key and click the Apply button on the main HUD.
When you are done playing, remember to restore defaults so the gpu can idle like it normally does.

If I do reach the thermal limits the custom fan curve is my go-to for now. The other guy said that difference in ambient doesn't always add up like +10 ambient equals to +10 on the high load. Thanks for your input.

 

[thesub3001]

A thing of note is that even if you add another 10C to ambient, it doesn't mean the part is going to raise by 10C. It still depends on how hard the cooling solution is working. In my setup, I have a gradual increase in the fan speed of both the case fans and GPU fans so as to optimize cooling performance and noise. My room's gotten down to 18C with my GPU sitting at 61C, but recently it's gotten up to around 27C and the GPU only went up to 65C.

One thing of note is since most video cards these days just circulate the air around them in the case is to make sure that the air around the video card can flow freely around to an exit point. Looking at your case, the vented expansion slot covers may help, but the solid backing next to it isn't probably doing the airflow any favors. There was a trick I did as an experiment where I placed a fan just above the video card pointing up to help suck out the air around the area. It actually worked pretty well.

I have a couple fans left over from previous builds I could put them in and do some tests. Good suggestion would you consider an exhaust fan if I could fit one right beneath the gpu where there is openings for additional pcie cards to act as exhaust and maybe add 1 exhaust at the upper side of the case.

 

[Phaaze88]

If I do reach the thermal limits the custom fan curve is my go-to for now. The other guy said that difference in ambient doesn't always add up like +10 ambient equals to +10 on the high load. Thanks for your input.

Less voltage = less power = less heat.
Undervolting via the Curve Editor is just another means to an end.

 

[Fiorezy]

The best thing you can do is to downvolt the GPU which will result in less heat, but you need to make sure that it is stable, if you are interested, there are plenty of guides out there.

You can also ramp up the speed of the intake fans.

Adding one or two exhaust fans at the top will also help with the temperatures, but you need to make them run slower to prevent exhausting the cool air coming from the front fans.