My GPU is overheating because my CPU isn't working hard enough for its AIO fans to get good case air circulation.

[MrZoraman]

The title says it all. I have an open air style GPU and it gets too hot (instability/crashing). My CPU is attached to an AIO cooler, whose fans are also in charge of bringing fresh air into the case. When I play games my CPU doesn't work too hard so the fans aren't blowing enough fresh air into the case. The internal case air temp gets too hot and my poor GPU overheats. What's the solution for this? I can think of 5 but maybe there's other solutions out there:

1. Override the AIO fans to blow at max speed all the time. They're quiet so that's not an issue, but I worry it'd wear them out faster. Also from experiments it didn't seem to do all that much for the GPU temps.
2. My AIO is 360mm so it only fits on the front of my case. I could swap it out for a 240mm AIO so that it can go on top, leaving the front fans to blow air in unimpeded.
3. I could swap the AIO for an air cooler so that air can blow into my case easier.
4. I could install a custom water cooling loop.
5. I could leave the side panel off and blow a box fan right into it at max speed (This is what I do now, not ideal though lol).

Maybe there's something else wrong? MY AIO radiator is a little dusty but it doesn't look nearly bad enough to cripple my computer's cooling. I looked at my AIO's app and everything looks good. Pump at max speed, fans all seem to be running at their expected speeds.

 

My GPU (3080) idles at about 65C and under load it hits 85C. I feel like that temp should be fine but apparently that's enough to make it unstable, since if I open the side panel and blow the box fan at it, it runs rock solid (and 20-30C cooler). My CPU temps are about the same.

 

Thanks for any help/thoughts/advice!

[IkeaGnome]

1 minute ago, MrZoraman said:

since if I open the side panel and blow the box fan at it, it runs rock solid (and 20-30C cooler). My CPU temps are about the same.

This hints at a bad case. What case do you have and what other fans besides the AIO do you have in it?

[bmx6454]

what case do you have? might just need a better airflow case. you could also set a custom fan curve for the aio fan's, instead of 0 or 100%..

[MrZoraman]

4 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

This hints at a bad case. What case do you have and what other fans besides the AIO do you have in it?

3 minutes ago, bmx6454 said:

what case do you have? might just need a better airflow case. you could also set a custom fan curve for the aio fan's, instead of 0 or 100%..

My case is a Corsair 4000D airflow. I have generic case fans (I think they came with the case) in the back and top, and 3 noctua high static pressure fans in the front with the radiator.

[gamagama69]

12 minutes ago, MrZoraman said:

The title says it all. I have an open air style GPU and it gets too hot (instability/crashing). My CPU is attached to an AIO cooler, whose fans are also in charge of bringing fresh air into the case. When I play games my CPU doesn't work too hard so the fans aren't blowing enough fresh air into the case. The internal case air temp gets too hot and my poor GPU overheats. What's the solution for this? I can think of 5 but maybe there's other solutions out there:

1. Override the AIO fans to blow at max speed all the time. They're quiet so that's not an issue, but I worry it'd wear them out faster. Also from experiments it didn't seem to do all that much for the GPU temps.
2. My AIO is 360mm so it only fits on the front of my case. I could swap it out for a 240mm AIO so that it can go on top, leaving the front fans to blow air in unimpeded.
3. I could swap the AIO for an air cooler so that air can blow into my case easier.
4. I could install a custom water cooling loop.
5. I could leave the side panel off and blow a box fan right into it at max speed (This is what I do now, not ideal though lol).

Maybe there's something else wrong? MY AIO radiator is a little dusty but it doesn't look nearly bad enough to cripple my computer's cooling. I looked at my AIO's app and everything looks good. Pump at max speed, fans all seem to be running at their expected speeds.

 

My GPU (3080) idles at about 65C and under load it hits 85C. I feel like that temp should be fine but apparently that's enough to make it unstable, since if I open the side panel and blow the box fan at it, it runs rock solid (and 20-30C cooler). My CPU temps are about the same.

 

Thanks for any help/thoughts/advice!

Go into the bios and change the fan curve settings. You can set the curve for each fan header individually. Then you can have them at cpu idle or low usage at a higher fan speed without being at max speed.

[Fasauceome]

The easiest way to get more airflow is to tune the fans yourself in the BIOS. Any decent motherboard has some really easy to use menus for fan control so it's definitely not a hassle to set a speed, restart your PC, and see if the temps are suitable.

[IkeaGnome]

6 minutes ago, MrZoraman said:

My case is a Corsair 4000D airflow. I have generic case fans (I think they came with the case) in the back and top, and 3 noctua high static pressure fans in the front with the radiator.

Make sure your fans are orientated correctly. Fronts intake, rear is exhaust. Then when I built a computer for a friend in that case we did tops as intake. His 3070 TI FE doesn't get up much past 70c. 

[wONKEyeYEs]

16 minutes ago, MrZoraman said:

My CPU is attached to an AIO cooler, whose fans are also in charge of bringing fresh air into the case.

You could use Fan Control and set your fans to respond to GPU temp.

 

[Ralfi]

13 minutes ago, MrZoraman said:

I have generic case fans (I think they came with the case) in the back and top

Are these 2 case fans governed by CPU or GPU temps? Try to set them to GPU & see if it makes much difference.

[MrZoraman]

1 hour ago, Ralfi said:

Are these 2 case fans governed by CPU or GPU temps? Try to set them to GPU & see if it makes much difference.

 

1 hour ago, wONKEyeYEs said:

You could use Fan Control and set your fans to respond to GPU temp.

 

I've maxed out both my CPU and case fans and my computer is still struggling with temps. I'm going to need to figure something else out.

[Ralfi]

Can you post a clear photo of the case innards?

 

That's a great case for airflow, so i'm surprised that taking the side panel off reduces the temps by so much.

1 hour ago, MrZoraman said:

I've maxed out both my CPU and case fans and my computer is still struggling with temps.

What difference in temps did this make?

[MrZoraman]

8 minutes ago, Ralfi said:

Can you post a clear photo of the case innards?

 

That's a great case for airflow, so i'm surprised that taking the side panel off reduces the temps by so much.

What difference in temps did this make?

Maybe 5C? Almost within margin of error. I feel almost no airflow when I run my hands over the fans so I think I might just need to get new fans.

[Ralfi]

3 hours ago, MrZoraman said:

Maybe 5C? Almost within margin of error. I feel almost no airflow when I run my hands over the fans so I think I might just need to get new fans.

What’s the AIO model & what fans does it use?