Extreme GPU Temperature

[xshockx]

So I used Skyrim Performance Monitor and SpeedFan today and I got a shock... my GPU usage is at 99% (which is not bad on its own) but the Temperature of my GPU skyrocks to 102 Celsius which is harmfull I think.

 

 

My PC is quite old (about 3 years) and my because budget is quite low I tweaked every game i play so that it runs fine and it never did harm to my PC I checked all other Games i have installed for Temerature issues but it never got over 80 Celsius just in Skyrim... and I played it way over 200 hours but my GPU didnt melt.

 

I use a ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series, 4gb RAM , AMD Phenom™ II X3 710 Processor 2.60 GHz and 

Vista (I know...) 

 

So I hope someone here could help me and/or explain me why there is such a high temperature and what I can do against that.

[Adam Jensen]

Well in that case, time to make an upgrade!

[lordofthedread]

Usually if a GPU goes beyond 100 degrees celcius it might very well cause damages to the GPU, if you PC is 3 years old and you never bothered to change the thermal paste on your GPU theres no wonder why it is overheating.

 

If you cant afford a new GPU I strongly suggest you try to clean the fan and dissipator of your graphic card and put some good thermal paste between the GPU and the dissipator.

[RitualClarity]

1) check the manufactures specs on the graphic card and see where the tolerance are. How hot can it go.. You may be just fine. It might be in the upper limit.

2) check for dust and blockages in your computer. There might be an air flow problem. If it has been working fine for this long then that might be the case. A purchase of a can of air can go a long way in keeping a computer running cool and efficiently.

3) if this is the same configuration and everything else is fine then it may have been running this hot all this time. It being 3 years old you might consider budgeting for new equipment and allow it to continue until failure and then upgrade (due to budget concerns) Even a modest upgrade isn't going to cost that much if needed.

4) finally if you are still afraid, don't have the ability to upgrade at this time, and no other problems such as dust or blockage is happening you might just have to lower some of the specs slightly until it get to a more better temperature that you feel comfortable with.

 

[xshockx]

I didnt found any accurate number what this card can handle, all I did found was that it is usually a hot card, but I dont thing 102+ are normal I mean it even runs at 57 Celsius without any load on it...             and what settings should I change that are highly dependent on gpu?

 

 

 

Also would it help to open the PC case for cooling till i changed the thermal paste?

 

 

 

[lordofthedread]

Usually opening the case is not helping as the case was designed to make an airflow, if you open the case the airflow is gone.

 

It would help to clean it tho, and no, 102 degrees on a Radeon 4600 is not normal at all, I had a 4670 for 3 years (great card btw) and it never went more than 75.

 

I dont know what are your settings right now but I do believe with this kind of card you already play in low-medium settings, so I would suggest trying low and lowering the resolution.

[Uriel]

That's Vista xD

Also would it help to open the PC case for cooling till i changed the thermal paste?

That depends. Do you have any case fans installed? If yes, you'll only make things worse in most cases.

Try to clean the dust from the radiator, look if the fan on your video actually runs(stuff happens...), check if the radiator is sitting tightly on the chip(careful!).

[xshockx]

 

I dont know what are your settings right now but I do believe with this kind of card you already play in low-medium settings, so I would suggest trying low and lowering the resolution.

 

My Settings are fairly high (everything is at high AA and that stuff is off) I think but I play with them as long as Skyrim is out.

I thought of Shadows but lowering them or even disable them didnt help. I play on 1200x900 Windowed without V-Sync. (FPS are between 30 and 60)

 

After minimizeing all Grapics that are editable the temperatures are still increasing and gpu load is 99% at all time.

[XanÃ]

GPU's are made to handle 100c but it's not healthy for it, so I suggest perhaps get a new one.

 

Do you clean your pc regularly?

like 1time each 2'nd week or month? 

[RitualClarity]

 

After minimizeing all Grapics that are editable the temperatures are still increasing and gpu load is 99% at all time.

If this is a new situation it might be a signal that the card is going out. It isn't able to handle the work it is given. Now that you lowered the settings and still have problems... As the above poster stated gpu's can handle quite a bit of heat...however more heat can lead to a earlier death.

 

By this time you should have your computer nice and clean, fans clean, dust and such out of the fins and the gpu has had a good blow out with a can of air. If this is the case and you lowered the settings I am afraid that it might be time to start to budget for a new one. .. bad news... good news is there are many far more powerful cards than what you have that are coming down in price and more should shortly with the new GPUs on the market. You can easily get a new one for below 100 dollars that should be more powerful than what you had. My suggestion would be to get the best you can afford.

[Rayblue]

@TS: have you used Coretemp? 

[xshockx]

Yay ;D after cleaning my PC from the inside out, the temperatures decreased by more then 15 degrees so that my gpu runs only at 80-99 % under heavy load instead of 99 at all time and just 45-48 Celsius with no load on it (below 85 Celsius with heavy load). 

 

But I will change the Thermal paste on top of it.

 

 

And I thank you all for your great help! 

[XanÃ]

cleaning always helps! ^^

[anubis]

 

... and I played it way over 200 hours but my GPU didnt melt.

 

 

 

careful what you wish for.....i fried my 2 year old GTX 260 about 2 month ago just because of tweaking the ENB settings while in play. 

 

as everyone mentioned, cleaning always help and always make the flow of hot air clear...if you can, just go put some 12x12 low speed fan to blow your GPU PCB, it helps alot.

[winny257]

hi xshockx !

Anubis is right, good air circulation is the most important ever.
Open the side hatch is the greatest error one can commit. because then no air can circulate more, that's the same principle when you open a refrigerator to achieve cooling, the space is not colder, warmer but that is a physical law.
you have to reach the front air is fed and sucked back again, you can reach the fan when you include additional.

 

Deutsch !

anubis hat recht , eine gute luftzirkulation ist das wichtigste überhaupt .
öffnen der seitenklappe ist der größte fehler den man begehen kann . denn dann kann keine luft mehr zirkulieren , daß ist das gleiche prinzip wenn man einen kühlschrank öffnet um kühlung zu erreichen , der raum wird nicht kälter , sondern wärmer ,daß ist ein physikalisches gesetz .
du mußt erreichen das vorne luft zugeführt und hinten wieder abgesaugt wird , man erreicht das wenn man zusätzliche lüfter einbaut

 

The Old Man Winny