GPU temperature for gaming can be maintained using various techniques. Change of thermal paste and continuous cleaning of GPU exhaust are some of the most used ways to maintain GPU temperature. It is very important to keep the Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) under temperature control for better performance of your computer.
If you are a gamer then you better know the importance of GPU temperature. Graphic Processing Units (GPU) are some of the most expensive units of your gaming PC. Rising temperatures can cause severe problems to your computer’s performance and can cause damage to your device.
For me, it’s always been a matter of concern and I always monitor my GPU temperature. Usually, the temperature varies as the computer enters a different state of operation.
Temperature For GPUs To Run Safely
The optimum most preferred temperature is between 65–85° Celsius. Above this, your system will start working with lags and you will also know how hot your system has become just by touching the exterior. Temperatures above 110° Celsius are damaging.
Some values for maintaining your GPU in good condition are:
- Not being used: 30° to 45° C (86° to 113° F)
- Under load: 65° to 85° C (149° to 185° F)
- While GPU rendering: 70° to 80° C (158° F to 176° F)
- While gaming: 60° to 70° C (140° to 158° F)
As soon as one of the sensors in your GPU hits the 110-degree temperature, the GPUs will continue to ramp up at clock speeds. This measurement can be observed even during moderate rendering, or while gaming.
You need to be careful that the junction temperature is the temperature of the highest temperature of a multitude of sensors. Keeping all this in view, you should keep your temperatures a lot lower than the 110 degrees limit unless you are using monitoring software that is constantly reporting to you about the junction temperatures.
How Does Overheating Damage Your GPU?
When the GPU gets overheated, the graphics card can be damaged due to short circuits, unstable voltage, and other reasons.
Current graphic cards used in GPUs are equipped with overheating protection and it is not actually possible to get your graphics card burnt. When the temperature goes up to 100 degrees, the graphics card will throttle down.
If temperatures keep rising despite these measures, a forced system shutdown will occur. This will help to prevent any physical damage to the GPU.
Despite this, if overheating occurs very often, permanent hardware damage will result for sure. Other than that, constantly running at high temperatures causes the thermal paste to break down and it has to be replaced afterward.
Some GPUs Work At Higher Temperatures
An optimum temperature has been set but it varies depending on the model and makes of your GPU. Two examples are Nvidia’s graphic cards and AMD’s GPUs.
- Nvidia’s graphics cards are almost always kept at temperatures below 85 degrees Celsius (185° F). But it can vary based on the model.
- For instance, the GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs have the highest listed temperature of 93° C (199.4° F).
For almost all the times, AMD’s max temperatures are much higher than Nvidia’s.
Instead of relying on just one sensor, AMD uses AVFS, which stands for Adaptive Voltage and Frequency Scaling. It is a network of multiple data points that more precisely measure the temperature of the GPU through multiple areas.
Ideal GPU temperatures during load are usually between 65° to 85° Celsius (149° to 185° F) . AMD GPUs (like the Radeon RX 5700 or 6000 Series) can safely reach temperatures up to 110 degrees Celsius (230° F) without any damage being caused.
Other than these two, the Radeon RX 5700 and 6000 series GPUs are known to run at temperatures up to 110° Celsius without getting damaged.
Factors Raising Temperature Levels
Doing low-performance or easy work such as just running some programs on your PC or using it for watching a high-resolution video is not going to raise temperatures to a dangerous level.
It all begins when you start using GPU-intensive applications. Some examples of GPU-intensive applications include almost all PC games, and many video editing, photo editing, and 3D graphics software tools.
If you are using a particularly powerful graphics card, you will have to use cutting-edge modern games at high settings or heavy productivity loads to see your temperatures rise only then.
Even in such cases, your GPU temperatures will eventually fall down pretty fast as soon as the intensive task in queue is no longer being run.
When To Worry About GPU?
Issues are more likely to arise when the GPU is forced to run a long-spanned, heavy workload which is thought to be sustained for longer than just a few hours. This can be for especially long renders, crypto mining, and many more.
As soon as the thermal throttling starts, crashing of your GPU becomes a greater possibility, and the overall performance across the board will be reduced until temperatures are brought under control and maintained successfully.
8 Ways To Bring Temperature Levels Down
1. Change Thermal Paste
In many cases, the graphics card’s thermal paste may be dried out. After being used for some time, it is the case for all of them. Just replacing the thermal compound can be an easy way to cool down a GPU.
You want to use the best options for thermal paste available to you in the market at the moment or at least use the best performing thermal paste according to your budget.
You should know the difference between thermal paste, pad, and grease before making any choices.
If this is your first time replacing or changing the GPU thermal paste, carefully know all the details on how you can apply the paste correctly.
2. Remove The Dust Off Your GPU
Dust particles are a reason among many why your GPU fans are not working properly. You can get rid of this dust that has accumulated in the GPU fans for them to work effectively. This will bring huge improvements to your temperature to be brought down.
Even if you are working in a concealed environment without any dust you have to check for dust.
3. Enable Better Airflow In The Case
The airflow to your GPU might not be enough inside the case which is the reason why you need to change the fan placement to allow better airflow in the case.
It may also be the time to reconsider the number of fans and adjust them to whatever you have currently.
If you have too many fans, then not enough cool air is flowing through your system to provide sufficient cooling. Placing more fans on the front side can allow more air in and more fans being placed at the back and the top helps to get the hot air out and improve the temperatures effectively.
4. Consider Changing The Case
Do the open case test to help you find out if you need a new case or not. Play some games and do some graphics for a few hours with the case closed and check your GPU temperatures. Then, repeat all this with the case opened and now record the new temperatures.
If the differences are huge, then this might be the time to change your case.
Also, try using a case with better airflow technology. As all cases are not the same, some might block the airflow, you might also have to increase their numbers.
Mesh-focused cases are better for good cooling of the GPU.
5. Get More Fans
A case having fan mounts must have all the slots filled and integrated with fans. Having them vacant leaves you with unexploited potential.
Having more fans to fill the free slots can improve and enhance the airflow. This will solve the increase in temperature readings while doing high-performance jobs using your GPU.
Especially when you are replacing generic and faulty fans as they will not be a great idea in helping you cool your GPU.
6. Install A GPU Water Cooling System
If you have a reasonable budget then having a water cooling system is a wonderful idea. Water cooling systems are great for much-used GPUs. If you are having an overclocked GPU with a generic fan or stock cooler, there may be chances of getting temperatures high.
You should buy this setup if you have the financial capacity and you will be surprised to see temperatures going lower than 50°C.
It might seem a difficult task but it is actually very easy. And don’t stop at just this one only system being installed, you can add it to your CPU or even NVMe SSD in your system. This way you can enjoy a complete chilled-out plan.
7. Disable Overclocking
Overclocking your GPU with a generic aftermarket fan or a stock cooler is not preferred. An overclocked GPU requires a quality aftermarket fan to bring the temperatures low and maintain them at lower levels. Not giving it a quality aftermath fan means you are giving the cooler a lot of tasks even that which it is not made to sustain.
If setting the clocks back to default still returns higher temperatures, consider underclocking your GPU. More details are shown below.
8. Underclock Your GPU Clock Speeds
An efficient way to reduce GPU temperatures can be easily done with the help of third-party software. We suggest that you use MSI Afterburner if you want to underclock your GPU with ease.
Reducing the clock speeds has many benefits to your GPU. It reduces power consumption and also increases the lifespan of the card.
Bottom Line:
Using all the given methods above and after ensuring that this is the time to make some changes, you will be able to keep your GPU temperature levels normal and maintained. This will increase the sustainability and working capacity of your system.
Now you can freely enjoy graphic designing, video gaming, editing and so much more just by making a few advancements that will serve you as an investment.
