Resolved GPU overheating

I opened the PC to clean out the dust bunnies. took out the graphics card, CPU heat sink and cleaned them then put them back in. Also got the dust floating around the case.I put a hoover up to the back and sucked all the dust from the fans that was blocking the holes.

Now When i log on to play games, the temp skyrockets, it got up to 105 degrees before i logged out. Checked fans etc and all are spinning. It seems fine if i log in and look at a wall or just use the normal net but soon as i log in and move around it rises fast.

Its a BFG Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 OC

any ideas

 

Did you clean the heatsink, processor and reapply the thermal compound when you put everything back together?

 

He says they are Tony, but possibly 1 was replaced the wrong way round?

 

In answer to the posts. Yes all fans are spinning and GPU-Z monitoring program tells me the fan on the GPU gets up to 90% when the card is getting hot.
No I didnt remove the GPU fan or heatsink as I could remove the dust without doing so but did remove the CPU heatsink and fan. No I didn't use thermo paste, just found out about the stuff while looking for answers on the net. Will pick some up tomorrow.
The heatsink can only go back on th CPU one way can't it?? I thought the clamps would only fit one way. I'll have to check. Oh, and th heatsink and fan are connected and I didn't separate them so they have gone on the same way.

Putting paste on the CPU won't bring down the GPU temp tho, so I'm really at a loss

 

Running the CPU without (or reusing old) paste will drastically shorten the lifespan of your system and make it unstable though. Never a good idea to remove heatsinks without good reason, the thermal paste gets better during time not weaker.

Either way apologies regarding the confusion regarding processor but both GPU & CPU are processors and you didn't specify which one you removed the heat sink from

 

No worries. I'm glad to have any ideas thrown at me at the moment. I did think of one more thing. I downloaded new drivers thru the windows update thingie and they would have installed when I went to bed and I wouldn't have tested them befor the cleaning. Don't suppose that could have anything to do with it??

 

Possibly, can you revert back to the older drivers to test?

 

Is there a magic button in vista that will return it to previous drivers or will i need to uninstall the video card and reinstall it??

 

My bad. I checked the update log and it was 2 C++ updates and Explorer 9 not a video driver update. even less ideas now :_( I have now put the thermo paste on the cpu but not the GPU as i never removed it in the 1st place. Do you think it would help even though the above post says 'Never a good idea to remove heatsinks without good reason, the thermal paste gets better during time not weaker.'

Ive never removed one before though....

im really confused. I cant have damaged something as it still runs at a normal temp in windows and doesnt rise when idleing or surfing the net.

 

What was the highest temp you saw before you cleaned it? According to NVidia 105 is the max safe temp for that GPU.

 

I'm not sure exactly but never over 100. Probably around 85, maybe 90max. I only noticed it was going over 100 when I started to get those tell tale lines through the display when playing, then alt tabbed out and checked GPU-Z so I prob went over the safe temp and it cooled slightly as I opened GPU-Z

 

Maybe I damaged the motherboard somehow is what a tech guy said in a pc shop. Not sure if he was trying to scam me into buying another or not. Is there a way of checking?? A program or something as I can't see any physical damage.

 

The card came overclocked straight out of the box. I don't see why I should need to underclock it as it has been running fine for over a year, till I cleaned the pc anyway and that doesn't really solve the problem.

Looks like I have to bite the bullet on this and send my pc to get repaired. Can honestly say it will be a first. Always managed to do it myself

Will keep checking for posts incase anyone has any more ideas as I won't drop it off till the weekend. Just want to say thanks for all posts and for your time.

 

Yes Tony that card requires a 6 pin power connection.

 

HAHA sorted it!! and didnt even take it in.

I figured i've got nothing to lose so i removed the fan and heatsink from the card for the 1st time and replaced the thermo paste, and it worked!!

Had it running at a max of 69 last night.

Can't explain why the paste needed replacing, mabye i bumped it and broke the connection?? But at least its sorted.

Thanks again for ur help guys. It is MUCH appreciated.