Should i replace thermal paste?

[jamesuk85]

Hi all!

Im currently running 2x nvidia gtx 280, everything has been fine for the last 3years or so. But now with any "average" game my cards hit 110-115 and the computer will die. The only game i can seem to manage at the moment is football manager and even then my card will hit 90c. With SLI on, my second card will hit 100+ and with SLI disabled my first card will hit 100+

Should i have to apply thermal paste? I've never done it before and i've had gfx cards longer than this in the past. When my cards hit 100+ and with the fan speeds at 100% i hardly see any decrease in the temps.

Im getting a whole new computer soon, but i'd like to fix this problem if i can.

thanks in advance!

 

[gurusan]

Try getting a can of compressed air and blowing it through the heatsink assembly. Paste does tend to dry out over time but the first thing to do would be to make sure it's not a dust problem.

 

[Freakbro]

This does sound more serious than needing new thermal paste..my first thought would be the fans not working at all, or as above at least take them out and give them a good clean out

 

[jamesuk85]

Thanks for the reply

Doesnt seem to be much dust, the fans are spinning also. When i take the side of the case of theres quite a bit of cold air i can feel but the cards feel hot. If i turn the settings way way down, i can play games and the temp stays around 90-95.

Maybe i'll just pickup a new card. Doubt i will ever go back to SLI.. i just dont notice the difference -.- apart from the cards sitting near enough on top of each other.

thanks again

 

[moogle]

I've got the same problem sort of, my card hits 80-85c only in newer games. I put new thermal paste on and it didn't really help that much.
The fan spins up to the max sometimes. I had the same problem when I originally bought the card and had to rma it to get the problem fixed.
Thermal pads seemed a bit worn out too. The air coming out the back of the case is really hot though and so is the card backplate.

If you google the problem there seem to be many threads about the 280's overheating.

 

[jamesuk85]

Yeah i did look on google and noticed a lot of people saying they overheat. just odd how its fine for 3years and then packs up. Could it be the drivers making it worse?
playing wow in window mode atm with everything on low and hitting 85-95c :|

hoping the 580 doesnt have these problems!

 

[moogle]

Well I think maybe yours might need some new thermal paste.
Right now in GPU-Z mine shows two temps and one is 55c and the other is 46c (25c room temp).

All my previous cards are still going in other PC's just fine, might be that the 280's weren't that great at lasting long.

If you're worried about the 580 having the same problems then get one with a manufacturer with a good warranty period. Although I did for this one at the time and now I've just seen they've ceased to exist so it's still never foolproof.