Graphics card overheating / eBay advice...

[360bhp]

Bought a used Nvidia GTX 285 from eBay. Got it, but didn't fit it till a few days later.

Once installed.. It seems to have a few issues. For one, it seems to have been scratched. I don't know if they scratched off numbers or, but someone has clearly taken something sharp to it and taken off some of the surface.

The card itself runs under load at 91c-93c. I removed the thermal paste that had dried on, and put on some AS5 paste. Temp remained the same. If I am playing a game for more than an hour, the screen flickers off and back on again.. Eventually it has very minor artifacts and freezes, requiring a restart.

Now I'm not sure if I have the right to return it back to the seller? As I have changed the thermal paste.

Also, the seller sent it standard first class with no tracking, which has left me a little annoyed!

[GoNz0]

have u removed the shroud when it was apart to check the fins were not blocked up ?

i would take it up with the seller and raise a dispute straight away to be on the safe side.

its damaged and faulty.

best to keep quiet about the new paste imo.

[360bhp]

Yeah I removed all the bits apart and got rid of the little dust that was there. Looked pretty clean to be honest, like it has already been cleaned or kept in a very clean environment.

have u removed the shroud when it was apart to check the fins were not blocked up ?

i would take it up with the seller and raise a dispute straight away to be on the safe side.

its damaged and faulty.

best to keep quiet about the new paste imo.

[CivilDrone]

Might be clocked a bit higher than usual, try underclock and see if that drops temps. Your setup looks promising and i dont think you've got airflow issue

[teejay73]

I assume you have afterburner installed or the like? This will tell you what your card is running at in terms of spec, Also as good as your corsair psu is, are you sure you are not on border line with your power for that card, especially as you have overclocked your q6600?

Your psu supplies a total of 396w on the 12v rail and a total amp rating of 33a on the 12v rail, It would be suggestive to say that your system could need 40amps possibly, checking on the corsair website suggests you would need a psu of at least a vx550w, I would hazard a guess and say you are borderline on your psu.

I wouldnt say this is the reason for your high temps, though could be the reason for your system instabilty(your gfx card messing up).

[mikeo01]

Its probably old....
I bought a 7950GX2 and that would hit 80 degrees IDLE. Thermal paste gone, warping of the heatsink due to high heat, they have probably overclocked it (or even flashed the BIOS to allow higher clocks).

Basically return it because whats the point in trying to reduce the temps when its evident its old and the chip will probably die soon?

Honestly from my experience go for NEW cards. There is a reason they are selling 'used', not all, but most probably have found a fault or have used it long enough.

NEW cards will last you better in the long run.

My card was new, was 28 degrees at first but now is around 35-40 degrees (ooops I have no side filters?)

[j.col]

i would take it up with the seller and raise a dispute straight away to be on the safe side.

its damaged and faulty.

best to keep quiet about the new paste imo.

This^^ any updates OP, what did you do?

[scaryjim]

... are you sure you are not on border line with your power for that card, especially as you have overclocked your q6600?

Your psu supplies a total of 396w on the 12v ...

I'd be surprised, but it's not impossible. I managed to push a stock Q6600 and a stock 8800GTX to ~ 315W (370W from the wall) by running furmark and 3 threads of WPrime - in other words an utterly unrepresentative worst-case scenario. HOWEVER: according to nvidia's spec the TDP of the GTX285 is 50W higher than that of the 8800GTX, which would push the figure up to 365W, and then a bit more for the overclock to the Q6600. So, if you were somehow managing to completely load the system by applying an unrealistic, worst-case workload, you could be borderline on your PSUs 12V delivery.

Personally, however, I think a problem with the card is far more likely, and I'd push the ebay seller to give you your money back