Replaced thermal paste on GPU - now I get random restarts

[Telebubbies]

Hey guys. I have a EVGA gtx 1070 superclocked. My GPU temps was hitting 90c at times - and around 60 at idle. so I thought I would replace the thermal paste. I replaced it with V1 IC Value thermal compound from Cooler Master, and cleaned out the dust in the heat sinks. 

Cleaning the old thermal paste was a hassle. I used 95% alcohol and coffee filters (lint free). The old thermal paste that was pre applied was hard. It came off in chunks and was so dry. I cleaned up and applied my thermal compound. I did not overdo it, and was pretty conservative with the paste.

Anyway, I booted my PC up and I got 55c at idle, which was a big improvement.

Then I tried gaming.. I opened up Red Dead Redemption. I was not even 2 minutes loaded into the game, and my screen went black, but I could still hear audio for about a minute, until my PC restarted. This keeps happening. And I can get about 30 minutes to an hour with my PC if I am not gaming, until the same thing happens.

I removed my GPU and I am now using intel graphics, and there is no restarting.

 

Is my GPU done for? Has anyone else had this? I am willing to try anything to fix this.. A RTX 2060 is 350 euros, which I will not be able to get for at least 3 months..

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

6 minutes ago, Telebubbies said:

and was pretty conservative with the paste.

On a GPU you need to be liberal with the paste, not conservative. It is imperative that the entire surface of the die is covered.

 

Also ensure that you did not remove or move-out-of-place any of the thermal pads that keep your memory ICs and VRMs cool.

[.Apex.]

5 minutes ago, Telebubbies said:

Is my GPU done for? Has anyone else had this? I am willing to try anything to fix this.. A RTX 2060 is 350 euros, which I will not be able to get for at least 3 months..

you mentioned idle temps but not load temps after you changed the thermal paste, there could be bad contact and is causing the GPU to overheat.

[Quickstrike]

Add more thermal paste and check that you replugged your fans correctly.

 

[KaitouX]

Please stop trying again before reapplying the paste properly, you might actually kill the GPU if you get unlucky if the cause of the shut down is the bad contact causing parts of the die to overheat.

Also never be conservative when applying thermal paste that isn't electrically conductive, there is no reason to do so, apply as much as needed to make sure the entire die is covered properly.

[Telebubbies]

1 hour ago, Syn. said:

you mentioned idle temps but not load temps after you changed the thermal paste, there could be bad contact and is causing the GPU to overheat.

Load temps were 80-85c instead of 90-95 I used to get

[Telebubbies]

1 hour ago, HairlessMonkeyBoy said:

On a GPU you need to be liberal with the paste, not conservative. It is imperative that the entire surface of the die is covered.

 

Also ensure that you did not remove or move-out-of-place any of the thermal pads that keep your memory ICs and VRMs cool.

I opened up my gpu and checked it again. It was covering the entire die completely. Anymore paste and it would have leaked out onto those dot connectors. I can clean it off and try again with a bit more paste. Is it okay if it spreads out and touches those little connectors?

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

4 minutes ago, Telebubbies said:

Is it okay if it spreads out and touches those little connectors?

Your thermal compound is non-conductive, so it doesn't matter.

 

This too:

3 hours ago, HairlessMonkeyBoy said:

Also ensure that you did not remove or move-out-of-place any of the thermal pads that keep your memory ICs and VRMs cool.

 

[Telebubbies]

Just an update: I redid the thermal paste, and I was very generous. I then put the graphics card back into my PC and booted it up, and the light on the GPU went on for like 5 seconds then turned off, while all my other PC components were running. My GPU fans were still running while the lights were off. I am 100% sure that the card is dead.

 

I ordered a MSI rtx 2060 venus xs and was able to pay in monthly payments for 4 months, which is pretty disappointing since it isn't much of an upgrade.. Was gonna upgrade to the RTX 3060 when it came out. Plus I am sure this card I just bought is gonna have a price drop when Ampere is announced