My ASUS TUF GeForce RTX 3070 OC, purchased in December 2020, has started crashing during demanding games such as Apex Legends and Far Far West. Before the crashes, HWiNFO recorded a GPU temperature of 89.3°C and a hotspot temperature of 105°C. The CPU temperatures look normal. When the crash happens, the computer stays powered on, but the game audio loops and the display turns into a blank blue screen. I have to force the PC to restart with the power button.
I have already updated the graphics drivers and tried undervolting the GPU, but neither made much difference. Since the card is around six years old, I am wondering whether the thermal paste or pads have degraded. Is it worth opening the card to replace them, and could that realistically solve the crashes? I would like to keep this system working for my partner after I build a new PC next year, so I am also considering replacing the card with something like an RTX 5060 Ti 16GB or RTX 5070 Dual if repair is too risky or expensive.
The rest of the system is a Ryzen 7 5800X, 32GB of DDR4 memory, a Corsair HX750 750W power supply, and a Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro motherboard.
4 Answers
After six years, I would consider replacing both the thermal paste and the thermal pads. Pads can harden over time and stop transferring heat properly. Make sure you use the correct thicknesses for your specific card, because pads that are too thick or too thin can prevent the cooler from making proper contact with the GPU die.
A phase-change pad such as PTM7950 is another option for the GPU core, combined with correctly sized replacement pads for the memory and VRM components. This could bring the temperatures down enough to stop the crashes and is much cheaper than buying another graphics card, though it does require careful installation.
Those temperatures are high for an ASUS TUF RTX 3070, especially the 105°C hotspot. Since the card is already unstable, repasting is a reasonable first repair attempt. Carefully remove the cooler, clean off the old compound, and apply a good replacement paste. Look up a teardown for the exact model before starting so you know which screws and connectors are involved.
The repair is worth trying before replacing the card. Opening a GPU is mostly a matter of removing the correct screws and disconnecting the fans, but take photos as you go and avoid pulling on cables. Also clean dust from the heatsink and check that the case has good airflow. Regular CPU maintenance is common, but graphics cards can need fresh thermal material too.
That makes sense. I clean and repaste my CPU every year, but I did not realize GPUs might need the same kind of maintenance. I have owned older cards that never needed attention, so this is new to me.