How do i know if my GPU is dying?

[Indus Monk]

I have a Sapphire R9 280 tri X**, the PC screen flickers whenever it starts up. And i can hear the fans; they are too loud.I upgraded to win8.1 from win7 along with the newest drivers. Car Mechanic Simulator is unstable. After using afterburner as a monitoring software, i see that the CPU is at 68 on idle! Is that because of the dust in my CPU heatsink*? (it's a stock one) or did i get a bitcoin mining virus from bit torrent? even the overall CPU usage is unstable.

 

CPU: i5-4690k*

MOBO: gigabyte b85m-d3h*

PSU: Antec EDGE EDG750 80+ gold PSU**

RAM: hyperX 1866mhz***

 

Do i need to clean the CPU fan out?

I just fresh installed windows 8.1

Do i need to get rid of bit torrent?

 

NOTE

*this part was cutting edge when i bought it

**this part was bought about 4-6 months ago

***this part is 3 months old

[SuperShermanTanker]

It's a good idea to clean out all the vents, fans, and heatsinks on your computer atleast once a year to prevent overheating problems and bitcoin mining does generate a lot of heat and temps are usually going to be a bit warmer with a stock cooler over a aftermarket one so as long as the computer is clean of dust, all the fans work, and the thermalpaste on the CPU and GPU is fine your computer should be completely fine from heat.

[Indus Monk]

1 minute ago, SuperShermanTanker said:

It's a good idea to clean out all the vents, fans, and heatsinks on your computer atleast once a year to prevent overheating problems and bitcoin mining does generate a lot of heat and temps are usually going to be a bit warmer with a stock cooler over a aftermarket one so as long as the computer is clean of dust, all the fans work, and the thermalpaste on the CPU and GPU is fine your computer should be completely fine from heat.

does bit torrent come with a miner virus? i am also seeing GPU usage of upto 5% whilst doing nothing! How? and the GPU idles at 40 degrees! is that bad? fan is at 23% on auto

[Windows7ge]

2 minutes ago, AmbarChakrabarti said:

I am also seeing GPU usage of upto 5% whilst doing nothing! How? and the GPU idles at 40 degrees! is that bad? fan is at 23% on auto

Actually that sounds about normal for idle operation.

[DioOmicida]

Do i need to clean the CPU fan out? Yes, you should.

I just fresh installed windows 8.1? It couldn't hurt and if it helps, that's a win.

Do i need to get rid of bit torrent? You shouldn't torrent.

[SuperShermanTanker]

2 minutes ago, AmbarChakrabarti said:

does bit torrent come with a miner virus? i am also seeing GPU usage of upto 5% whilst doing nothing! How? and the GPU idles at 40 degrees! is that bad? fan is at 23% on auto

as long as you didn't torrent anything that might contain a virus you should be fine and what GPU do you have on some GPUs its fine for it to idle at 40 degrees and 5% gpu usage is fine at idle because its just using tiny bit of the gpu to display the stuff on your display like your desktop

[Indus Monk]

5 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Actually that sounds about normal for idle operation.

okay

 

4 minutes ago, SuperShermanTanker said:

and what GPU do you have

r9 280 x from sapphire (3 fans)

3 minutes ago, SuperShermanTanker said:

as long as you didn't torrent anything that might contain a virus

let's hope i didn't

[SuperShermanTanker]

1 minute ago, AmbarChakrabarti said:

okay

 

r9 280 x from sapphire (3 fans)

let's hope i didn't

ok the 200 series AMD cards tend to run a bit warmer the 900 series Nvidia ones so you should be fine with that gpu temp

[Windows7ge]

If your CPU is at 68C idle that's definitely bad. Although it sounds like you might be reading the F scale, not C. Check your CPU cooler make sure it's clean and maybe reapply thermal compound.

[Indus Monk]

1 hour ago, Windows7ge said:

If your CPU is at 68C idle that's definitely bad. Although it sounds like you might be reading the F scale, not C. Check your CPU cooler make sure it's clean and maybe reapply thermal compound.

no, it is in Celsius and now it's at 80! i am running sfc/scannow, because i want to update windows and remove any bugs and make my OS more stable, following this guide:

 

http://www.networkworld.com/article/2226753/microsoft-subnet/how-users-are-fixing-windows-8-1-update-install-problems.html

[chamath]

Did you try re-applying thermal paste of CPU???

[Indus Monk]

12 minutes ago, chamath said:

Did you try re-applying thermal paste of CPU???

may have to do that and clean the cooler out

[pyrojoe34]

btw, instead of buying duster to clean out your system I highly recommend one of these (http://www.amazon.com/Metro-ED500-DataVac-500-Watt-Electric/dp/B001J4ZOAW/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1464891106&sr=8-14&keywords=dust+PC+cleaner).

 

I got one a while back and I love it, a bit load and more expensive than duster, but at $5-7 a can you make up for it quickly. It's also way more powerful, doesn't lose pressure after a couple sprays, and less waste/aerosol. Great for cleaning out other things like ACs and house fans too. It's probably overkill but I clean out my case every 2-4weeks and this is a huge help for that.

[Silentghost14]

The best thing I have found for cleaning out a computer case is with a horse hair paintbrush and using a air compressor lightly using a blow gun nozzle.

[dima_]

22 hours ago, DioOmicida said:

Do i need to get rid of bit torrent? You shouldn't torrent.

That's a pretty ignorant statement. There are legitimate uses of torrents.