Possible GTX 285 problem??

[Crysisfan11]

Hey so i currently have 2 GTX 285s in SLI and i bought them a little after they came out during 2009. How much longer do you guys think they will last for? Still plays most game pretty well but worried about the fact that whenever im playing games, the cards overheat, bottlenecks like crazy creating unusual lag then my system ends up shutting down. Because of this, i have to turn my card up to 100% fan speed (which is really freaking loud with 2 cards) and open a window for cool air to enter the room It hasn't always been like this, i use to just leave it on 30% fan speed with no window open and it ran perfectly. I clean out my system and my cards for dust regularly so i doubt that's the problem, and i have a 1000W PSU so im def getting enough power. Any thoughts??

*forgot to mention my case is full tower with a huge side fan so there is more than enough air flow, and drivers are all updated*

Thanks

[Babrbarossa]

Have you ever taken the heatsinks off to clean the gung out of the fins?

[enaberif]

A few things can really help a gpu.

1) Case air flow
2) GPU fan dirty
3) GPU thermal paste failed

Any one of these 3 things can drastically help/

[Crysisfan11]

Case air flow is fine, although the person who set up my build did not connect my case fans to my motherboard thus i cannot increase fan speeds....im not sure if it even works that way. I have cleaned my fans so thats not it, maybe thermal paste but im not confident enough to try and take apart my cards. Theoretically speaking, what if none of those solve the problem? would it be a time for replacement?

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Crysisfan11

Case air flow is fine, although the person who set up my build did not connect my case fans to my motherboard thus i cannot increase fan speeds....im not sure if it even works that way. I have cleaned my fans so thats not it, maybe thermal paste but im not confident enough to try and take apart my cards. Theoretically speaking, what if none of those solve the problem? would it be a time for replacement?

More than likely.

You could also try to change fan speeds and see if that will help.

[Crysisfan11]

Originally Posted by enaberif

More than likely.

You could also try to change fan speeds and see if that will help.

I now keep my card fan speeds at 100%. Any lower and my system will shut down. Even at 100%, if there isnt cool air blowing directly at my computer, than it will still overheat. It becomes ridiculous as every time i want to game, i have to sit in a freezing room just so my cards dont blow up on me If i have to buy a new one, what do u recommend me to do; Buy the ATI 7970 or wait for the higher end GTX 700 line? i dont want to buy any of 500 cards since they will be obsolete sooner or later

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Crysisfan11

I now keep my card fan speeds at 100%. Any lower and my system will shut down. Even at 100%, if there isnt cool air blowing directly at my computer, than it will still overheat. It becomes ridiculous as every time i want to game, i have to sit in a freezing room just so my cards dont blow up on me If i have to buy a new one, what do u recommend me to do; Buy the ATI 7970 or wait for the higher end GTX 700 line? i dont want to buy any of 500 cards since they will be obsolete sooner or later

Well if your fans are at 100% and any less it freezes I definitely say take the card apart and check the thermal paste out. It really is not that difficult and VERY easy to do.

5 minutes of time with some new paste could save you hundreds.

[Babrbarossa]

Cleaning the fan on your GPU is one thing, but look inside the thing and see if the fins are choked with crap