GTX 970 running hot

[lexidobe]

1 hour ago, cobalt77 said:

I did miss that you wrote above about how the temp rockets up, sorry.
BTW what make/mod of 970 is it?

Any chance that the HS is being levered off the GPU core by being pulled down on one side by screws or pushed down by the shroud?

It's just a standard reference card. I'm going to tale the cooler off later and see if it is flat, I'm thinking it might be warped and like you said being pulled off the GPU.

[Stockholmes]

35 minutes ago, lexidobe said:

It's just a standard reference card. I'm going to tale the cooler off later and see if it is flat, I'm thinking it might be warped and like you said being pulled off the GPU.

That sounds like a plausible explanation. What I don't understand is why the thermal pads aren't making good contact with the backplate off? I mean, aren't they on the VRM's themselves? Or am I understanding something wrong? How is the backplate affecting the thermal pads in any way? I'm probably dumb.

[lexidobe]

I have an update. I decided to screw one screw in at a time and test temps after installing every screw to try to determine exactly which screw(s) is causing the problem. What I found is that the problem actually seems to have gone away after I spent an hour screwing a screw in, testing, shutting down, screwing another screw in, and repeating. I don't understand this at all, but I'm glad it's fixed. Temps now stay at around 50 degrees under load with the fan at 100%, much better. Thank you to everyone who replied, I really appreciate your input!