GTX 980ti Temps - New paste required?

Benny · 17 Jul 2020 at 10:48

Hoping I can get some advice on my cards temps.

Had this EVGA GeForce GTX 980Ti Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ 6144MB for about 4 years now. Just noticed the temps sitting pretty high on desktop just idling. Currently at 40oc. Last night after gaming for 3-4 hours it was around 77+ and starting to experience some lagging and dropped performance.

I tried increasing the fan speed to 80-100 (also had a large desktop fan blowing into case with the side off to test) but it seemed to make little difference. I have 140mm (I know it isn't great) fan for intake and 3 x 120's on the top for exhausting the warm air. The Corsair H80 AIO cooler is set to also exhaust air. The case is a Corsair 800D. I know to expect higher temps due to the current weather but what is bothering me is having the fan running at 90-100% doesn't affect the temp in the slightest. I'm using MSI afterburner for fan control and temp monitoring.

Is it time for new thermal paste? I haven't applied paste to a GPU in a long time. Think my AMD 4870x2 was the last time. Could anybody recommend a paste and a potential take down guide? If people think it will actuallly make any difference.

Any pointers or advice greatly appreciated.

Cheers

B

ttaskmaster · 17 Jul 2020 at 11:39

Mine is a standard Gigabyte one, no overclock or anything, and it's still idling at 30ºC under a very good watercooling loop. Ambient is currently 23, but the room itself has crap airflow.
You will reach a point where no more airflow can bring your temps further down, though.

If you want to repaste, I'd vote for Thermal Grizzly. I tend toward the Kryonaut, myself.

Doobedoo · 17 Jul 2020 at 12:28

ttaskmaster said:
Mine is a standard Gigabyte one, no overclock or anything, and it's still idling at 30ºC under a very good watercooling loop. Ambient is currently 23, but the room itself has crap airflow.
You will reach a point where no more airflow can bring your temps further down, though.

Same as that I get under 30 idling in the summer and around 50 under load. That’s with a fairly hefty overclock but I’m running 2 x 60mm thick 360mm rads.

Benny · 17 Jul 2020 at 14:05

ttaskmaster said:
Mine is a standard Gigabyte one, no overclock or anything, and it's still idling at 30ºC under a very good watercooling loop. Ambient is currently 23, but the room itself has crap airflow.
You will reach a point where no more airflow can bring your temps further down, though.

If you want to repaste, I'd vote for Thermal Grizzly. I tend toward the Kryonaut, myself.

ok thanks for the reply tt have read a fair few posts in the past and seen Grizzly recommended. Would a 5.5g tube of the Kryonaut be sufficient for a 980ti chip?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ther...ance-thermal-paste-5.5g-1.5-ml-th-001-tg.html

would I require any thermal pads? I'm really not sure once the H/S is taken off what state they will be in. I prefer to be prepared in advance.
Could you recommend what size I would require if they in fact will be needed at all.

ttaskmaster · 17 Jul 2020 at 14:18

Benny said:
ok thanks for the reply tt have read a fair few posts in the past and seen Grizzly recommended. Would a 5.5g tube of the Kryonaut be sufficient for a 980ti chip?

Well, I've never measured, but I expect that would be enough to do about 40 graphics cards!!

Benny said:
would I require any thermal pads? I'm really not sure once the H/S is taken off what state they will be in. I prefer to be prepared in advance.

Probably not, but 1mm thickness is probably good enough if you really feel the need. They squish down, anyways and Nvidia supposedly use quite soft pads anyway.

Benny · 17 Jul 2020 at 14:38

ttaskmaster said:
Well, I've never measured, but I expect that would be enough to do about 40 graphics cards!!

Probably not, but 1mm thickness is probably good enough if you really feel the need. They squish down, anyways and Nvidia supposedly use quite soft pads anyway.

ha ok, needed to be asked

thanks for the info, will get some of that and might grab a thermal pad strip just in case

Cheers

postmanfw · 17 Jul 2020 at 15:19

What temps were you getting before with it?

My Zotac 980ti would sit at just under 80c even with the fans ramped right up....i also had it in an 800D case...bad airflow for a gpu...i fitted extra fan just under gpu to pull air through the lower shelf holes but still had to have side off the case...desktop fan blowing in should sort any airflow issues out though

Benny · 17 Jul 2020 at 20:13

postmanfw said:
What temps were you getting before with it?

My Zotac 980ti would sit at just under 80c even with the fans ramped right up....i also had it in an 800D case...bad airflow for a gpu...i fitted extra fan just under GPU to pull air through the lower shelf holes
but still had to have side off the case...desktop fan blowing in should sort any airflow issues out though

Yeah the 800D is more set up for Watercooling I guess, as it is huge. I just prefer towers and think at the time it caught my eye. After I realised it had quite poor airflow for just an air based system.
I also had a second fan set up from the bottom to pull more air inwards. One at the very bottom then my 140mm sits midshelf. I keep it free of dust as I bought a powered air cleaner so regularly
clean the entire system. Temps were always about 24-30 idle and about 50ish under load during winter/ Summer idle about 40 idle Load at about 60-65 (depending on the length of the gaming session).
I used to live in an old house which was freezing in winter. Great for keeping my system cool, not so good for me though

. I have the PWM fans running full welly for intake and extraction using the bios
on my ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z.

Yeah I have had the side off today playing Sea of Thieves as per last night and it has kept the temps in the 60's But this fan is pretty industrial. I will try and apply some new paste soon and see how it goes.

I have a new system ear marked but thanks to the current climate it is on hold potentially for another 6 months maybe longer. :/

koooowweeee · 18 Jul 2020 at 06:13

The pads will be fine. But I'm sure they are 1mm and 0.5mm. better to check as you don't want a gap or to much pressure on the card

Devrij · 18 Jul 2020 at 11:33

I repasted my 980ti and it made a huge difference.

heatonpkmassive · 18 Jul 2020 at 13:43

Benny said:
Yeah the 800D is more set up for Watercooling I guess, as it is huge. I just prefer towers and think at the time it caught my eye. After I realised it had quite poor airflow for just an air based system.
I also had a second fan set up from the bottom to pull more air inwards. One at the very bottom then my 140mm sits midshelf. I keep it free of dust as I bought a powered air cleaner so regularly
clean the entire system. Temps were always about 24-30 idle and about 50ish under load during winter/ Summer idle about 40 idle Load at about 60-65 (depending on the length of the gaming session).
I used to live in an old house which was freezing in winter. Great for keeping my system cool, not so good for me though . I have the PWM fans running full welly for intake and extraction using the bios
on my ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z.

Yeah I have had the side off today playing Sea of Thieves as per last night and it has kept the temps in the 60's But this fan is pretty industrial. I will try and apply some new paste soon and see how it goes.

I have a new system ear marked but thanks to the current climate it is on hold potentially for another 6 months maybe longer. :/

Your original temps sound about right for such a case. I have a similar sized case and the graphics card idles around 28c and the CPU 30c. When gaming, GPU goes to around 65c and CPU around 60c, all on air. I think a repaste will sort you out.

roachyuk · 18 Jul 2020 at 18:31

I have a evga 980ti with aftermarket evga hybrid cooler i find i have to repaste it every few months as the temps gradually get higher so i might give the https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ther...ance-thermal-paste-5.5g-1.5-ml-th-001-tg.html a go and see if it helps me out.

Unseul · 19 Jul 2020 at 12:03

Sorry to jump on the topic, but didn't want to start one for not much, what sort of temps are considered fair? I've read that upto 90C or so shouldn't be worried about too much, but then I'd question why fans tend to max out far earlier. Got a 1070ti, but would assume that needs to aim for similar temps. It's 2nd hand, but only 2 years old, and it's sitting around the mid 60s when gaming in 1440p at the moment (that's with full case fans and full card fans, fan noise doesn't bother me too much).

Obviously mid 60s is fine, but I'm wondering if that then means I could use the potential thermal headroom to try overclocking a little?

Devrij · 19 Jul 2020 at 16:21

Unseul said:
Sorry to jump on the topic, but didn't want to start one for not much, what sort of temps are considered fair? I've read that upto 90C or so shouldn't be worried about too much, but then I'd question why fans tend to max out far earlier. Got a 1070ti, but would assume that needs to aim for similar temps. It's 2nd hand, but only 2 years old, and it's sitting around the mid 60s when gaming in 1440p at the moment (that's with full case fans and full card fans, fan noise doesn't bother me too much).

Obviously mid 60s is fine, but I'm wondering if that then means I could use the potential thermal headroom to try overclocking a little?

Yeah you have room to play with. I like to keep temps under 80 max during gaming, purely for longevity, although you're right under 90s is still fine (but your card won't be boosting to max clocks at those temps).

Remember that more volts = more heat so you'll hit a wall where the card won't boost because it's too hot.

Juniper · 10 Aug 2020 at 21:06

@Benny did you replace the paste? I've got a 980ti that's idling high and hitting 78 in gaming and I'm contemplating repasting it.

Benny · 13 Aug 2020 at 11:09

anewhope said:
@Benny did you replace the paste? I've got a 980ti that's idling high and hitting 78 in gaming and I'm contemplating repasting it.

I haven't yet mate. Life getting in the way at the moment. When I do use the system I just pull the side panel off and have a large fan blowing into the case for additional life support. Not ideal.

pugheaven · 13 Aug 2020 at 11:22

ttaskmaster said:
Mine is a standard Gigabyte one, no overclock or anything, and it's still idling at 30ºC under a very good watercooling loop. Ambient is currently 23, but the room itself has crap airflow.
You will reach a point where no more airflow can bring your temps further down, though.

If you want to repaste, I'd vote for Thermal Grizzly. I tend toward the Kryonaut, myself.

Same pasyte I've used on my Xeon... is it any better than Arctic, who knows but it's working so result. Yeah personally I think after a couple of years themral paste on GPU's can become a bit crap so, advice is yeah just take off clean up and new stuff on. Dont' rforget in current weather everything is running a lot hotter though.

kola · 13 Aug 2020 at 15:33

i installed a Accelero Xtreme IV its a beast but made a huge difference in my temps

Juniper · 16 Aug 2020 at 11:25

Benny said:
I haven't yet mate. Life getting in the way at the moment. When I do use the system I just pull the side panel off and have a large fan blowing into the case for additional life support. Not ideal.

Worth a go, I did mine in the week took maybe 10 minutes tops. Haven't really noticed much difference as the paste was still good but replaced it with Thermal Grizzly and it's taken maybe 2 degrees off the top end temps in MW down from 78 to 75/76 now.

Benny · 17 Aug 2020 at 13:40

anewhope said:
Worth a go, I did mine in the week took maybe 10 minutes tops. Haven't really noticed much difference as the paste was still good but replaced it with Thermal Grizzly and it's taken maybe 2 degrees off the top end temps in MW down from 78 to 75/76 now.

do you have a reasonable takedown guide for the evga 980ti? or are you pretty au feit with GPU's as a whole. Last one I took apart was my 4870x2 years ago.
I guess I can YT some options. I can't afford to stuff it up as currently using this rig for my bread and butter whilst working from home.