Graphics card running hot

[Niffelheim]

Just bought a Gigabyte r9 290 with their aftermarket windforce x3 cooler...got it on sale for $300 I noticed the card is running kinda hot even at idle, around the 70 degree Celsius mark. It does manage to stay under 85 while gaming but the fans spin up like a vacuum cleaner. I've got it in an NZXT Switch 810 case with plenty of airflow. Also upgraded the bios on the card and even moved a fan to blow right at the cooler. So now I'm wondering if the card is somehow defective. Anyone else having problems like this?

[Fate]

Are the fans spinning?

[MrKickkiller]

1. Amd runs hotter then Nvidia (I believe this has been proven over and over again)

2. Your card ,especially with that windforce cooler shouldn't be blowing like mad.... Weird

[samcool55]

Probably thermal paste that's crap. A clean re-mount should do the trick (taking cooler off, taking old thermal compound off, applying new one, mounting cooler again, job done)

[Kyuubixchidori]

open up Msi afterburner, and see what its clocked out. my card was running at 45-50ish on idle, and relized it wasnt downclocking to 300mhz like it should. 

[NicekillBG]

if you have the money wc IT.. hot bitches need wataa

[Domifi]

I have this card and noticed that the fan curve is pretty aggressive and loud in performance mode (bios switch set left), try setting it to the right and reboot or make a custom fan curve in MSI Afterburner like I did

[Niffelheim]

Yeah fans are spinning and the card downclocks to 300mhz at idle like it should...gonna re-mount the cooler and put on some new thermal past, see what that does.

[TheFalseHuman]

Ambient temps?

[Imakuni]

Ambient temps?

^This. My Gtx 970 Windforce is getting 64ºC on full load and 90% fan speed. Not that good - until you realize: it's freaking 35ºC out here.

[Briggsy]

I feel like I just answered a similar thread yesterday...

 

If you have multiple displays, your card will idle a lot hotter.

 

(either that or your card is hotboxed inside your case)

[Niffelheim]

just one display, 1920x1200 and the ambient temp in the room is about 24. The case has plenty of airflow, I think there might be something wrong with the card's thermal sensor, I've noticed the temps will dip down to around 50 and then go back up to 70 even though the rpm on the cooler fans stays the same and the card's still at idle.

[Niffelheim]

Well, got the cooler off...turns out the thermal paste wasn't applied to the whole chip. Put on some new paste, idle temps at around 47 now.