ATI Radeon HD4870 running at high temps when idle?

[davgothic]

Hi I have had my Sapphire HD4870 512MB for a few years now and I'm getting sick of the fan noise, it's constantly up at 100% 5 minutes after turning on my computer.

I just ran GPU-Z to have a look at the readings and I'm not sure they are healthy. My card currently sat at idle is reporting:

GPU Temperature: 108 °C
GPU Temp.(DISPIO): 109.5 °C
GPU Temp.(MEMIO): 117.5 °C
GPU Temp.(SHADERCORE): 110 °C

The screen is currenly flickering every now and then and the GPU core clock is constantly jumping between 500MHz and 750Mhz.

Is there anything I can do to rectify this problem? I blasted it with a can of air yesterday but it has had no effect whatsoever.

 

[lavaheadache]

I would remove the heatsink and apply some new TIM. Secondly, I would try an air compressor to get the dust out of the heatink.

Your're card is definatly running way too hot

 

[blackened23]

As lava said you need to unscrew the shroud and remove all the years of dust buildup, and do a TIM reapplication. Its easy to do, just be careful because the screws are small and are easily stripped - be careful when re-assembling it.

 

[davgothic]

Thanks for the reply, I'm currently considering either doing as you suggested or buying a Sapphire HD7870 2GB GDDR5 from amazon.

If I were to decide to upgrade, are there any known issues with the HD7870 or are there any cards that would be a more suitable improvement over a 4870?

 

[postmortemIA]

fan should run on about 23-25% on room temperature.

 

[GotNoRice]

Yeah in many cases a can of air just won't get it done. The dust can really get caked in there.

 

[davgothic]

OK so I took your advice and put some Artic Silver on it and removed the dust (pictured) now running at a fairly quiet 68 °C at idle.

Thanks for all your advice, I'm still concerned about the temps especially after what @postmortemIA said so I may well buy the 7870 at some point in the future.

 

[Plimogz]

^nice.

Is that from around the fan area, like a little shag carpet across the heatsink fins?

 

[davgothic]

Indeed, it's what the fan had forced onto the heatsink. D:

 

[lavaheadache]

fan should run on about 23-25% on room temperature.

that only applies to 2d/idle