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A friendly reminder to always replace thermal paste on used GPUs

chckovsky
By chckovsky
in Graphics Cards
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Posted

/ story time

I recently downsized my 7700K/GTX1080 rig to a more modest 3570K/RX5704GB (don't worry I have a 8086K/1080ti as well). I got the Sapphire Pulse RX 570 cheaply, as bought it from a miner (who claims he hadn't used this specific card for mining). According to him he had just pulled it out of his PC when I picked it up. When I got home I installed the card in my 7700K rig and fired up 3Dmark. Less than five seconds into the test the GPU fans go to 100% and my monitor turns off. It crashed. Oh-oh. I try again, same result.

The seller was really helpful, suggesting changes might've been made in the VBIOS, helping me navigate through that, but this was not the solution (it was bone stock). He offered me to return the card (it had worked fine in his possession), but I wanted to figure out what was wrong. Running Afterburner while under load quickly told me the GPU core was reaching 80-90c just before the crash. I also noticed the heat sink was quite cold, especially considering the core had likely just reached shutoff temperatures (which on this card is 94c).

 

Then it dawned on me. I present to you the arch nemesis to every GPU owner: Crusty thermal paste. The core itself was easily cleaned, but the paste had severely hardened and would not come off the heatsink, even with a generous amount of Isopropyl Alcohol (?). I had to use a piece of hard plastic to scrape it off. Now, with a fresh coat of Noctua NT-H1, the temps are always well below the target temp of 75c, and I'm very impressed with the performance of this card!

/end of story time

What strange issues and weird fixes have you experienced lately?

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Main rig: i7 8086K // EVGA Z370 Micro // 16GB Gskill TridentZ 3200Mhz CL14 // Sapphire Pulse RX 7800XT// a variety of noctua cooling // Corsair RM750x v2 //  Fractal Meshify C

Secondary rig: R5 3600 // MSI B450i Gaming Plus // 16GB Gskill FlareX 3200CL14 // MSI GTX 1080ti Gaming X // Cooler Master V650 // Fractal Meshify C

Audio setup: Audient iD4 // Adam A7X // Sennheiser HD 650 // Sennheiser HD 25-II // Audio Technica M50x // Sennheiser Momentum 4

 

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Just now, _Syn_ said:

You bet your ass that card was mining

Very likely, yes. But possibly by a previous owner. According to the seller I'm at least the third owner. Which is fine considering I got it so cheap.

Main rig: i7 8086K // EVGA Z370 Micro // 16GB Gskill TridentZ 3200Mhz CL14 // Sapphire Pulse RX 7800XT// a variety of noctua cooling // Corsair RM750x v2 //  Fractal Meshify C

Secondary rig: R5 3600 // MSI B450i Gaming Plus // 16GB Gskill FlareX 3200CL14 // MSI GTX 1080ti Gaming X // Cooler Master V650 // Fractal Meshify C

Audio setup: Audient iD4 // Adam A7X // Sennheiser HD 650 // Sennheiser HD 25-II // Audio Technica M50x // Sennheiser Momentum 4

 

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1 minute ago, chckovsky said:

Very likely, yes. But possibly by a previous owner. According to the seller I'm at least the third owner. Which is fine considering I got it so cheap.

How cheap? :D 

Quote or Tag people so they know that you've replied.

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I got a PC from a friend who migrated again, it got a "Forsa gtx550ti", so yeah its cleaning time!

reinstalled everything, nothing mal funtioning. However gpu z tell me its a fake card and it  turns out to be a gt450 lol 

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3 minutes ago, _Syn_ said:

How cheap? :D 

Around 80USD converted. Keep in mind, in Scandinavia the cost of living is much higher than in the US (but so is the quality of living ;) )

Main rig: i7 8086K // EVGA Z370 Micro // 16GB Gskill TridentZ 3200Mhz CL14 // Sapphire Pulse RX 7800XT// a variety of noctua cooling // Corsair RM750x v2 //  Fractal Meshify C

Secondary rig: R5 3600 // MSI B450i Gaming Plus // 16GB Gskill FlareX 3200CL14 // MSI GTX 1080ti Gaming X // Cooler Master V650 // Fractal Meshify C

Audio setup: Audient iD4 // Adam A7X // Sennheiser HD 650 // Sennheiser HD 25-II // Audio Technica M50x // Sennheiser Momentum 4

 

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Should be a given. But some people don’t think about that. Won’t even swap the past after they’ve had a new card for years.

 

Must have been a peasant class miner to use that. 

Main RIg Corsair Air 540, I7 9900k, ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero, G.Skill Ripjaws 3600 32GB, 3090FE, EVGA 1000G5, Acer Nitro XZ3 2560 x 1440@240hz 

 

Spare RIg Lian Li O11 AIR MINI, I7 4790K, Asus Maximus VI Extreme, G.Skill Ares 2400 32Gb, EVGA 1080ti, 1080sc 1070sc & 1060 SSC, EVGA 850GA, Acer KG251Q 1920x1080@240hz

 

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