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Overheating GPU nightmare

Goose

Goose

Goose

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,826
Location
Kent
I started a topic here because my GPU temp looked funny.

The short story is that i tried playing the Mafia II demo having not played a graphically intensive game in many months. I couldn't figure out why it kept crashing after 7 or 8 minutes. The problem is that my GPU is running hotter than the sun.

According to GPU-z at 0% load the temp is 73c! I've taken the card out to check it and whatnot and the fan is working and dust free. However, according to GPU-z the fan is only spinning at 54% speed. I've no idea why it would be doing that.

I dont know why this problem has occurred because the card has actually had very little use in the year or so i've had it and i had no problems playing Modern Warfare 2 a few months ago. The problem must have developed since then but i have no idea when or why since i haven't been messing around with my computer at all.

Any thoughts?

[Edit] The slow fan is not actually a fault. After doing some googling Catalyst Control Center controls fan speed and can be manually altered. I've set it to 100% (its LOUD) and idle temp is down to 63c. I'll run Furmark and see what happens and i'll try mafia 2 again.
 
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I ran Furmark and watched as the GPU temp reached 109c (!) after a few minutes. I had to leave the room for a few more minutes and when i came back the computer had shutdown, which is exactly what it does when i play mafia II for 7 or 8 minutes.

My CPU idle temp is 35c so i dont think it can be a of lack cooling (i have 2 front intake and one exhaust rear) inside the case messing up the GPU.
 
After googling a bit it seems this problem isn't uncommon and it is often the case that the heaksink needs to be removed, thermal paste reapplied and then re-sit the heatsink.

Of course, i have no idea how to remove the heatsink from a Sapphire HD 4850 512mb, no idea how to remove old thermal paste and no idea what thermal paste i should use.

Can anyone offer any help?

Thanks
 
I got mine down to manageable temps but unclogging the heat sink fins of dust. The plastic that covers the whole thing makes it hard to get at, i just used a very long, thin screwdriver to gently dislodge the dust. When i can be bothered i'll remove the heatsink and apply some MX-3 and hopefully get rid of all the remaining dust.
 
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