Should I repaste my graphics card?

[SpookSnep]

The title was almost "remaster" my graphics card thanks to autocorrect.

 

Anyways, I hope I'm not pestering by asking a well-asked question, but I'm not sure of the risk-reward for my particular situation. Here's the run down:

 

-ASUS GTX 1070 TURBO

-Temps under load: 80C

-Temps with aggressive (and horribly loud) fan curve: 65C

-probably been running hot, maybe not the 80C region but close, since I got it 4 years ago.

-my only graphics card which I cannot break for the foreseeable future.

 

So with that info, the question is this: as someone who has never done this before but isn't an idiot (probably) and likely knows what they're doing, is the risk of destroying my only chance at playing games low enough to be worth replacing what *could be* very old, very abused, very low quality thermal paste?

[Tan3l6]

Not a bad idea. Should get at least couple of degrees cooler.

Not easy to destroy the GPU if watched some youtube videos how to do it.

[Skiiwee29]

its a blower style card... you likely wont see much if any real improvement sadly. 

[WhitetailAni]

1 minute ago, Skiiwee29 said:

its a blower style card... you likely wont see much if any real improvement sadly. 

If the paste is hard, it helps a lot. My (legendary at this point) GTX 650 Ti Boosts have blower cards and repasting lowered idle temps by 10C.

Just make sure to reconnect the fan - I was confused why I had 70C idle temps until I noticed the fan wasn't spinning.

[EpiCheeseTime]

If you are going to repaste your gpu, why not add an AIO to it?

 

It would probably help to repaste it. A card that old and hasn't been cleaned (deep cleaned), would help to clean it all the way to the core. The paste could be cracked and not making good contact. The heatsink could be dirty and not providing great cooling either.

 

If you built your computer, you can take apart a GPU just fine. Screw here, screw there. Clean, reverse disassemble. Just do not mix up the screws. Lay the screws out how you took them out and ensure they go to the right hole.

 

Overall, good idea. Will it make it as cool as you want it? Probably not.

[EpiCheeseTime]

2 minutes ago, ragnarok0273 said:

If the paste is hard, it helps a lot. My (legendary at this point) GTX 650 Ti Boosts have blower cards and repasting lowered idle temps by 10C.

Just make sure to reconnect the fan - I was confused why I had 70C idle temps until I noticed the fan wasn't spinning.

Yes...save the headache and plug the fan back in...biggest pain ever...

[WhitetailAni]

Just now, EpiCheeseTime said:

Yes...save the headache and plug the fan back in...biggest pain ever...

It doesn't help that with this card it just shuts off instead of clocking super low, so I'd be moving a model in Onshape and then my displays would go black.

[SpookSnep]

23 minutes ago, Tan3l6 said:

Not a bad idea. Should get at least couple of degrees cooler.

Not easy to destroy the GPU if watched some youtube videos how to do it.

Sounds good, thanks for the reply!

 

23 minutes ago, Skiiwee29 said:

its a blower style card... you likely wont see much if any real improvement sadly. 

I can't see how the type of cooler will affect the quality of heat transfer from the die. I'll keep this comment in mind if it does nothing though LOL

 

20 minutes ago, ragnarok0273 said:

If the paste is hard, it helps a lot. My (legendary at this point) GTX 650 Ti Boosts have blower cards and repasting lowered idle temps by 10C.

Just make sure to reconnect the fan - I was confused why I had 70C idle temps until I noticed the fan wasn't spinning.

This is honestly what I'm hoping for. And yeah, I'll try not to derp on anything but no promises! Thanks for the input!

 

17 minutes ago, EpiCheeseTime said:

If you are going to repaste your gpu, why not add an AIO to it?

 

It would probably help to repaste it. A card that old and hasn't been cleaned (deep cleaned), would help to clean it all the way to the core. The paste could be cracked and not making good contact. The heatsink could be dirty and not providing great cooling either.

 

If you built your computer, you can take apart a GPU just fine. Screw here, screw there. Clean, reverse disassemble. Just do not mix up the screws. Lay the screws out how you took them out and ensure they go to the right hole.

 

Overall, good idea. Will it make it as cool as you want it? Probably not.

This is kinda what I was figuring but I always like to be sure. Thanks for the reply

 

 

I'm gonna be rebuilding my PC today in a new case (with better airflow) with a new PSU (with a better rating) so I might as well do the graphics card at the same time. Also putting a better cooler on my CPU so this is all a temperature upgrade it seems.