Could my CPU cooler (NH-D14) cause my GPU to get really hot?

JosephDuffy

JosephDuffy

JosephDuffy

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21 Jan 2011
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Hi,
I've got a Noctua NH-D14 on an i3 3.07GHz [email protected], which idles at about 40-45C.
However, my GPU gets very hot. It idles at about 55-60C, and gets up to about 90C (partly why I've not been gaming too much lately).
Lately I've been BSODing, and then when it reboots, the fan on the GPU spin up to the point where I can hear them.
In my opinion, the issue could be one, or both of these:
  • The CPU cooler is far too large, it practically sits on the GPU, making it hot
  • The fan on the GPU is not starting up, it just sits at 25%
The GPU is a stock HD5850, and the motherboard is micro-ATX.
My current idea is to get an Arctic Cooler Freezer 13 Pro since it's smaller, and has an extra fan on the bottom to help distribute the air flow, and/or try and fix my GPU fan not turning up when it gets hot. What's your thoughts/opinions?
 
I'm assuming you have cleaned the GPUs Fan and heatsink of dust? I would start there and seeing as it's an old card if you've had it some time reapply some good thermal paste too.
 
It's not very likely that the Noctua cooler contributes much towards the temperatures of your HD5850.

Heatsinks such as that behemoth don't rise in temperature very much above ambient so that wouldn't add anything to your GPU. It's proximity might be an issue if the cooler were obstructing the fan intake, but it doesn't as that's on the other side. PCB temps of the graphics card might be a touch higher but they aren't critical like GPU temps.

Still the Noctua is overkill for an i3 but I'd never swap it for a smaller heatsink. Big is always better in terms of noise and cooling.

HD5850 are hot running cards. Stock coolers suck big time. A buildup of dust inside the card will add several degrees to load temps. Give it a clean.
 
idle temps sound very high for that combo cooler and cpu.

What direction is the cpu cooler blowing? bottom to top? front to back?

What fans do you have in there currently, and in what case?
 
Same questions as eyetrip.

If heat from CPU / D14 is not leaving case the case could be running 35-40c... meaning GPU at 55-60c is 15-25C above case temp. But if case is at normal temp of about 25c the GPU would be 40c.
 
You've probably got a 5850 with a broken bios.

Mine had the same problem. The bios doesn't control the fan at all. It just runs at 25% all the time, regardless of how hot the thing gets.

The solution is simple. Install afterburner and set up a graph to control the fan so it speeds up when the card gets above 60 or 70c.
 
jimbob27 said:
You've probably got a 5850 with a broken bios.

Mine had the same problem. The bios doesn't control the fan at all. It just runs at 25% all the time, regardless of how hot the thing gets.

The solution is simple. Install afterburner and set up a graph to control the fan so it speeds up when the card gets above 60 or 70c.
Click to expand...

Thank you for that, it has really helped. I will have to do some more tests, but I think that's cured it!
I might still get a new CPU fan, if not just for it to be a little quieter, but I don't want my temps to get too high, so we'll see.
 
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