Graphic Cards Graphic Card Heating Problem

cybermaniac

cybermaniac

Novice
Hi,
I have a SPARKLE Nvidia Geforce 9500 GT 1GB DDR2 graphics card. I know its quite old. But it is enough for my needs.
It was working fine till now. But now it has started to Heat a lot. The temperatures reach enough that it shuts down itself. When I monitored, the temperatures were near 60C.
Everything else seems to work fine. The fan also works fine. Also I have never overclocked this thing. In-fact I have never tweaked anything in my PC.

Please help me find a cure to this heating problem. And is there a need to change its Thermal Paste?

Here are the Pics for identification:
SX95GT512D2DPtop.JPG
SFPX95GT1024U2HP.jpg
SFPX95GT1024U2HPio.jpg
prod_6469751821
 
saumilsingh said:
An idle temperature of 60C is very hot indeed.

A thorough cleaning and reapplying of thermal paste might be in order.
Click to expand...
Yeah I agree but I am a little scared about reapplying the thermal paste. I hope this does not make the GPU totally useless plus I don't know which paste would show the best results.
 
regarding that video: is that how everybody applies thermal paste? looks very weird. quantity is just too much and the youtube guy's comments show that he doesn't know how thermal paste works.
 
Yeah, he uses too much.

There are various schools of thought on this, but imo a tiny X shaped goop in the center of the core, or alternatively manually applying a thin layer with a credit card works best.
 
That Youtube guy mentioned that anything extra will only help in transferring heat. But that's not the concept of using thermal pastes. Heat sinks have tiny dips which trap air and hamper efficient heat transfer. The idea is to fill those gaps/troughs with thermal paste (which often contain metals), so that the end result is maximum 'contact' between CPU/GPU and heatsink. People think that there has to be a layer of thermal paste in between CPU/GPU and heatsink - but the efficient way is to eliminate that gap as far as possible.

people target for this (layer of thermal paste between jagged surfaces):

\/\/\/\/\/\
=========
/\/\/\/\/\/

but the idea is to achieve this (smoothen both the surfaces for max contact):

___________
___________

Regarding "various schools of thought" on the thermal paste usage: There are people, including me, who polish CPU/GPU metal surfaces and the heatsink to a mirror finish. That way, there's a very tiny layer of thermal paste and maximum metal-to-metal contact.

And yes, using credit card as a spreader works better because it just fills the troughs.
 
Mirror polishing is the absolute ideal scenario, but really it's not needed for 90% end users.
Simply cleaning both contact surfaces thoroughly with acetone and spreading thermal compound in between will do the trick just fine.

The need for thermal compounds arose due to the fact that there are microscopic imperfections on any surface in which air can get trapped, and these gooey micro compounds would fill those air pockets.

The power user can go that extra mile and sand down surfaces to reduce those imperfections themselves.
But for the casual user who isn't comfortable taking a sandpaper to their hardware, simply cleaning with acetone and applying the paste is enough.
 
Applying a thicker coat of paste is OK, but not the best. If possible, a thin layer which will help with the heat transfer to the heat sink is what is needed, without any air pockets.
 
I always stick to the usual single grain method for both cpu and gpu and its very easy to apply + you get best cooling effect.
 
before you go about re-applying thermal paste, clean out all the dust from the heatsink fins.
you can use a q-tip or old toothbrush to clean the fan blades and a paint brush for the heatsink fins.
if the temp rise happened suddenly then perhaps the fan is dying. does it spin freely when you move it with a finger?
 
Thnx to all for your suggestion. Will surely apply them all to my best use.

Crapmypants said:
before you go about re-applying thermal paste, clean out all the dust from the heatsink fins.
you can use a q-tip or old toothbrush to clean the fan blades and a paint brush for the heatsink fins.
if the temp rise happened suddenly then perhaps the fan is dying. does it spin freely when you move it with a finger?
Click to expand...
Yeah totally. There's no problem with the fan. I am suspecting the rise in temperature after a use of 7 years. Maybe everybody's right, Changing the Thermal Paste might bring it back to life
 
Damn.........!
Although i had removed the card from the system till i apply the new paste onto it . But yesterday , just for the curiosity, i thought to try and use it one more time in an expectation to see normal running temperatures.
And what i was shocked to see was the idle temps where hovering around 68C- 69C at idle just after switching on the system. See this i immediately turned off the system to protect it from further damage. I was thinking of noting the temps while at load, but i don't see that happening until i reapply the paste.
 
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