Insanely high graphic card temperature and gaming graphical issues!?

Question

Hi, below this text is a screenshot of my PC's typical temperature when it is idle (with the fans controlled automatically, virus protection on etc.) as you will see my GPU is insanely high - is everything else normal-ish?

http://tinypic.com/r/34qqof5/6

Anyway, by turning all the fans to maximum, closing virus protection and still letting it idle I can get the temps down slightly, but the GPU is still very high!: 

http://tinypic.com/r/35lxg07/6

Anyway, if the temps were not bad enough to show my problem (lol) below are videos of what happens if you DARE start a game without letting it drop to 65ish degrees and making the fans run at 100%: 

Skyrim: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVjrQy7k3gE
SW:FU2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_OVUcG0C00
TS3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q2vbl3vzis

If I do let the temps drop, have the fans maxed, exit all other things on the PC and then start the game up, and it'll be fine!

But over the course of say 5-15 minutes it'll start the flickering, flashing and whatever all the way until it'll crash to a black screen (forcing me to shut off the power.) - If I quit the game before it crashes, the GPU will be at around 95-105 degrees!!

I'd hate to go out and buy a new graphics card only to install it and have the same problems!

Can any of you confirm that it is just the GPU!?

Any other ideas on what else it could be?
___

P.S. Sorry I can't make the links clickable, level 1's aren't allowed to make active links!

? · Accepted Answer

I didn't look at your links, but what size psu do you have and what gpu? If your PSU is under powering your card, your card will work harder and run hotter.

Chris · Answer

Your idle temps are high.

FYI, GPUs always run hotter (the clock multipliers are a lot higher to support the crazy memory bandwidth of GDDR5), but GPU idle temps should be 55ish.

Is your computer in an enclosure (e.g., an alcove underneath your desk or in a cabinet)? If not, I'd do a full clean and reseat of all applicable heatsinks (CPU heatsink, GPU heatsink) with fresh thermal paste (Arctic V Silver). Disconnect PC, unmount all heatsinks (ground yourself!), run em under warm water then rinse with distilled water. Pop em in the oven or dry with hairdryer.

Might also want to check PSU, it could be that you're just overvolting everything, though the voltages look within tolerance according to HWMonitor.

FloydT3 · Answer

I went through three graphics cards (ATI Radeon HD 6850) and the issue ended up being that the thermal paste was lousy. When I finally got the third card back (thankfully under warranty) I removed the fan and heat sink and used better thermal paste and my temps (at idle) dropped from 59 to 38 Celsius. Give it a try before replacing the card.

AJ · Answer

What kind of airflow do you have in your case?

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Insanely high graphic card temperature and gaming graphical issues!?

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