Cooling Opinions?

[FurryLuca]

So, i currently have a Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Boost, the Duel-X designed cooler. I think this cooler is flawed, since, even though its used, ive applyed new Thermal paste and cleaned out the cooler and yet it still runs at 97~ degrees C on Default speeds with 97% Fan speed. If i turn it down so Core clock - 460Mhz and Memory Clock - 625 Mhz still on 98% fan speed and +10 Power limit, it runs 96 degrees C to 101 degrees C while playing CS:GO. I'm able to play Beam.NG Drive and Black ops 3 No problems, but every now and then in CS:GO, The computer will black screen and auto-shutdown. 

 

So the question is: Should I bother with getting a Kraken G10 and a Corsair Hydro H55 CPU cooler to go with it, or should I scrap the idea and get a lower end card that doesn't heat up this hot? either way ill be spending about 130$ for Liquid cooling, or about 200$ for a new card (AUD).

[Matt_Twinkletoes]

23 minutes ago, FurryLuca said:

 

Get a new card that one is pretty old

[FurryLuca]

It might be old but it runs better than a 750ti which is what i had before this one, and its in between a 950 and 960, so to get the same performance, im looking a fair bit of money to spend. I also got no job atm  no ones hriing me

[-rascal-]

38 minutes ago, Matt_Twinkletoes said:

Get a new card that one is pretty old

The HD 7950 may be old, but it is still VERY capable card.

I was still running with two HD 7970's until basically last month. I am just slowly selling the two now...

 

@FurryLuca Make sure you clean off the thermal paste on BOTH the GPU core and on the heatsink, where it makes contact. It is best to use isoproply alcohol to clean of any film or reside left by the old thermal paste. Make sure the cooler is correctly mounted. The cooler should be gradually tightened in a cross "X" pattern. The GPU core does not require a lot of thermal paste; the "grain of rice" method is typically plenty for a 'Tahiti' GPU core.

 

DO NOT simply add new thermal paste over the existing old one. Clean off the old stuff, and apply a fresh amount.

 

Check the condition of the thermal pads used on the VRAM chips. If they are old, or starting to go bad, you may need to replace them. DO NOT use thermal paste on the VRAM chips!!

 

What software are you using to monitor the temperatures? Try using GPU-Z,

and monitor both the "GPU" and "VRM" temperature readings.