Asus ROG 5870 Heat Issues?

[SpectreDev]

Hi there, I have had this video card for I think two years now, and it's served me well. The only thing is, it heats up to 80C while gaming and idles at 50C. Is this normal? I have proper airflow and am using an Antec 1200 which keeps things pretty cool inside. Why is the card so hot when it's said to be cooler than reference cards?

I've seen people get much lower temps on their 5870s who live in the same area. The card is not overclocked because not even the tools like Gputweak or any Asus overclocking tool works, and I can't change voltages and such.

Are these valid reasons to RMA?

[xeromist]

There could be an issue with the thermal interface of the heat sink or it could be that it really isn't getting as much airflow as you think and it's actually sitting in a dead zone. If you take the side panel off and point another fan at it do your temps change dramatically?

[SpectreDev]

Temps don't change at all when I place a fan on the side panel. I've increased RPM and all on the case fans, there's like a 1-2C change at most if lucky.

I've setup airflow correctly, I know how all that stuff works and which directions the fans are and all.

It's a little sad because I've sent this card in twice already. First was DOA. Second was probably overheated, gpu stopped working same day of arrival. This model didn't really get any support and was not stable.

So what do I do at this point?

[xeromist]

SpectreDev wrote:
So what do I do at this point?

If it was me I'd just pop the heatsink off and repaste it. Way faster and I'd know whether anything was amiss. Of course you have to be comfortable with that.

Otherwise, 80 seems a bit hot but still useable. It's not artifacting or crashing, right? You could call support and see what they say but it sounds like you don't want to be without the card again.

[kkn]

mabye its clogged up whit dust?

[SpectreDev]

kkn wrote:
mabye its clogged up whit dust?

Nah, I already used compressed air, and it's very hair for this card to get dust in it, which is good.

I will try opening the card up, and when I do, what's a thermal compound you recommend if needed?

[xeromist]

SpectreDev wrote:
what's a thermal compound you recommend if needed?

On the chip pretty much any aftermarket stuff will work. They're only a few degrees from each other at most. The areas that use a thermal pad should continue to do so as paste won't necessarily fill that gap properly. You can reuse the same thermal pads if you are careful.

[SpectreDev]

Opened the card up, and man the thermal compound was a mess! It was hard to clean, because the die of the GPU had been completely covered with a thick layer of thermal compound. You could tell that there wasn't very good contact between the die and heatsink. The paste was mostly on the sides of the die instead of the top.

Anyways, I applied some ZM-STG2 thermal compound, used a lot of Articlean to get every little bit of residue off. I'm hoping this works.

[SpectreDev]

I've reapplied thermal paste more than once, hoping for a change. There has been a change in idle temps, but load temps are still at 83C.

Maybe I should replace thermal pads? Or have I been doing it wrong? I spread it out with a credit card on the GPU with MX-4, seems to be a slight change, but not much.

I was looking on techpowerup and saw that the card was at 75C load like the reference 5870. And Asus claims the card is supposed to be around 20% cooler..

[HiVizMan]

For me the one question I would like to have answered is what is the ambient temperature. If your card is running at 50'C then ambient should be around 24'C based on my cards. And 80'C under load is not to far off. The fact you have now replaced the TM is a good thing and you should see some gains, not much but 2 or 3'C once it has cured a bit.

Not sure the what the marketing 20% improvement is based on so can not really comment there.