LeadTek A400GT TDH (6800GT) overheat issue

[ElementalDragon]

Ok..... for some odd reason my video card recently has been overheating like crazy. it seems to idle slightly hotter, and even if i'm playing WoW with all the settings on high (which doesn't make it look like THAT great of a game) it still overheats and restarts my computer entirely. just started probably a week or two ago. it's getting ridiculous. last night i opened my case up even though it was a royal pain to move..... and cleaned off some of the paint and dust particles that were clogging the fan grill on it, and it seemed to do the trick, but it just did it again a minute ago. the temp dropped to what it usually idled at before, but it still overheats. it idle's around 54-58 i think...... usually after it restarts and i check the temp, it's around 69. would it be possible that there may still be some paint particles or something maybe under the HSF between the flat bottom of it and the actual board for the card that are close enough to the GPU that they hold a bit of heat from it? any kinds of pointers?

P.S. no, it's not wet paint like i spray painted my case with everything in it yet. it's just from when we remodled our living room. brother spraypainted the room, but didn't have the greatest seal around my computer room door, and that got in a few places. also might check my CPU fan for paint particles or somethin...... when i get around to it. that could also be the problem.

 

[zeke_mo]

I would take the card out and inspect the fan and make sure the HS is clean. If you can, remove it and clean it with some good ol Ispropyl

 

[zeke_mo]

69C underload isnt all that bad, mine soar into the 70's. I dont think your gfx card is the one causing these problems, I would look into maybe checking your PSU or even a bad OC(make sure you have a PCI/AGP lock). Lemme know if it keeps happening

 

[LeeJend]

Blow off the chipset, cpu, and case fans / heat sink fins with "canned air".

Blow out the power supply thoroughly. You will know when you get it right by the cloud of dust that comes out.

Warning: Have a window open and a fan going when you do this. Or go it in the garage. Canned air is not air, it is actually toxic.

If the problem is still there the vid card fan may be dying. I have no idea why, but there seems to have been a big upsurge in failed vid card fans in the last month.

 

[ElementalDragon]

well..... doubt it's the PSU, and i don't know how that would cause my video card to overheat. and i haven't had the thing OC'd for months and months since it first overheated during a long time of playing Star Wars: Republic Commando.

LeeJend: i'm probably gonna try taking the heatsink off the card to see if there's any paint particles stuck under there. already looked in the fins of the heatsink, didn't see anything stuck in there, and i already cleaned the fan and fan grill, which kinda gives me the hint that the fan is still working. boy was that crap caked on the grill.

Zeke: that 69 degrees is what it says after the computer restarts and i get the chance to look at the temperature settings part of the NVidia control panel. i'm sure it's into the 70's when it overheats.

 

[ElementalDragon]

well.... just used a high pressure air nossle for an air compressor to blow the crap outta my case (at a kinda far distance, since i didn't want to risk damaging anything too seriously), but now i think i might have slightly damaged my CPU fan (which i also now think is what was overheating, and NOT my video card) because sometimes it would spin pretty fast, or backwards. when i first turned my computer on after doing so, the CPU fan was making a slight kinda grinding sound, but not very loud. now it seems to have stopped, and the CPU fan is still spinning. dunno, but i guess i might be looking for another one soon..... boy was that thing caked with paint particles.

 

[zeke_mo]

I would take the fan off, then look for a little sticker on it, then remove the sticker, and with any luck you will find a man-hole cover looking thing, remove it and put a few drops of lubericant in it, I personally like Tri-flow, but WD-40 works great(can get messy). I keep all my fans nice and lubed, keeps them quiet and running nice

 

[ShepsCrook]

I have the exact same card and have not experienced this yet. I would remove the Heatsink on the card and inspect the thermal paste. You might be experiencing lack of or dried thermal paste. Right now I see 56c idle. And my ambient is 39-40c

 

[ElementalDragon]

yeah. that's about where i'm at now ShepsCrook. i think it was actually my CPU overheating, and not the video card. think usually when the video card overheats, it just drops it's clock settings down to the point where even Windows is hard to use. lol.