Graphics card suddenly hotter?

[downhiller80]

I could be imagining this, but I don't think I am. I've had this in my PC for a few weeks now, and normally the heatsink is "hot" to the touch, but not too hot I can't touch it, unless I've been playing a game.

Today I've played no games, just coding and internet etc, but my GPU heatsink is too hot to touch. nVidia monitor reports 86C, I *think* it used to sit on about 70 or so under normal (non-gaming) use?

Like I say, I could be imagining it all, but is there anything that could cause this?

cheers

 

[Keysplayr]

What was the weather like a few weeks ago compared to today? I ask because ambient room temperatures could change component temperatures. Although going from 70C to 86C is pretty drastic. Also, check and see if you have any dust accumulation on your ventilation ducts, fans, heatsinks etc. Something had to have changed to make temps shoot up like that.

have you changed drivers since your original installation?
What is the ambient temp in your case?
Have any fans stopped working?

Could be a lot of variables. Did you have the side of your case off when you first tested the 8800GT, and now the side of the case is back on?

Are you overclocking at all, but was not a few weeks ago? Those who overclock a CPU that high, will generally try to overclock everything in their systems. Check your CPU temp and see, if under load, if it has gone over that 62C you have in your sig.

Lot's o' questions to be sure, and more coming. Maybe we can figure this out.

 

[downhiller80]

I think you're right, I think it's a combination of several small things which have made 1 big difference.

1) It probably is a bit warmer in here today

2) I had my case on it's side which stops heat rising off of the fins as they're designed - now I've put it back upright temps have dropped to 79C already

3) I put a slower fan in my tuniq (an 800rpm one) - while my proc runs fine it runs hotter (idles high 40s, but the quietness is more important to me than coolness) and some of that heat is probably affecting my GPU which is only about 8mm away from the bottom of my Tuniq (due to me having to use the top PCI-E slot to get x16, bastards!)


Panic over


FWIW the 800rpm fan is a temporary replacement for the noisy one that came in the cooler, am ordering a slightly quicker but hopefully just as quiet one, because at the moment if I run orthos temps hit 75+ and I BSOD.

 

[Skunkwourk]

Just curious whats size is the 800rpm fan? You can always go for larger fans with lower rpms if you're concerned about noise.

 

[downhiller80]

It's one of these:
http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-g...s/120mmfans/nf-s12-800

I bought it for use as a case fan but since I have the side off my case at the moment thought I'd try it in the cooler see if it copes. Problem is the cooler has very tightly packed fins and the fan's fins are too far apart and small so although it blows "enough" air in a free space, in the cooler it doesn't have the pressure to move the air through the fins.

Have ordered a
http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-g...ducts/120mmfans/nf-p12

to replace it. I'm hoping if I run that at 1100rpm it'll give me sufficient cooling without being noticably audiable.

This PC is SO quiet at the moment. I have each hard disk sat on a block of foam and the GPU has no fan, the CPU fan is so silent I often can't tell if it's running. The only noise now comes from the PSU fan, if I stop that it's hard to tell the PC is on. Raptors aren't loud, they just vibrate a lot. Get them on foam and it's all good