Have you ever felt that your graphics card is not giving the performance it used to? Whether it’s massive FPS drops in games or delayed video renders, a slow computer could be an indication of an underperforming graphics card. One reason you might be facing this performance issue is from a high GPU temperature.
Since your GPU handles all graphics-intensive tasks, you can expect a rise in its temperature. And when the PC fails to dissipate this heat, it lowers performance to prevent the GPU chip from any damage.
Therefore, we recommend that you keep tabs on all hardware temperatures.
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What Happens If My GPU Temp Is Too Hot?
When your GPU gets overheated, it lowers the performance before the overheating damages the GPU chip. This phenomenon is called Thermal Throttling.
This is the reason your PC feels slower after years of use. Due to dust or dried-up thermal paste, the cooler and the heat sink do not cool the GPU efficiently. This causes the GPU temperature to rise in an unusual manner.
What Increases GPU Temperature?
The GPU runs fairly hotter than the CPU when it executes graphically intensive processes. But if you see a massive performance drop from your GPU due to an increase in temperature, here’s why it happens.
- Thermal paste dried up.
- Dust settled on GPU’s fan and heat sink.
- Increase in room temperature.
- Poor airflow to the system.
- Overclocked GPU
How to Check GPU Temp?
There are a couple of ways to monitor GPU temperature, using the task manager and using hardware monitoring tools.
Using Task Manager
Most graphics cards are equipped with thermal sensors that measure real-time GPU temperatures. However, if you have an integrated graphics card, you might not be able to find the GPU temperature.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager.
- If you don’t see details about all the processes running in the background, click on More details.
- Go to the Performance tab and select GPU (GPU 0/GPU 1)
- Here, you can see the current GPU temperature.
AMD Radeon Software
AMD Radeon Software monitors performance for all AMD products, such as their CPUs and GPUs. The software also allows you to save GPU temperature data to a CSV file if you wish to compare GPU temperature over time.
- Download and install AMD Radeon Software. Now open the application from the Start Menu.
- Go to the Performance tab.
- On the bottom left, check for the Current Temperature.
NVIDIA Geforce Experience
Just like AMD’s Radeon Software, NVIDIA’S GeForce Experience lets you monitor all your NVIDIA graphics cards. This includes real-time temperature, clock speed, voltage, GPU usage, fan speed, GPU power, etc.
- Download and install NVIDIA GeForce Experience. Now, open the application using the Start Menu.
- Once the application opens, click the slanted triangular icon located on the top right of the GeForce Experience Window.
- Select Performance.
- Here, you can get details about the current GPU temperature.
Hardware Monitoring Application
Depending on the GPU manufacturer, such as EVGA, Gigabyte, and MSI, you can also find their specific application that monitors all your hardware information. However, some of these applications are only specific to a certain manufacturer. So, it is best that you know your GPU’s manufacturing company.
Keep in mind that these applications only work if you have a dedicated graphics card or GPU/CPU thermal sensors.
Here are some applications that can help you get real-time GPU temperature.
MSI AfterBurner
The MSI Afterburner is one of the best applications to measure your graphics card and CPU temperature. Along with this, the application also gives you the ability to control fan speed. Besides this, you can also set a temperature limit using the AfterBurner.
HWiNFO
HWiNFO measures CPU and GPU temperatures and records real-time hard disk temperature. This application is also compatible with any graphics card.
Argus Monitor
The Argus Monitor, just like HWiNFO, lets you get details about GPU and CPU along with HDD/SSD temperature as well. Besides this, it is also a great fan control software.
What Is Normal GPU Temperature?
Now that you know your current GPU temperature, let us see if the readings are normal or not. According to GPU usage, we have divided GPU states into three states, idle, 50% load, and full load.
GPU should be under 40°C-50°C. This is an ideal temperature when the GPU is idle. You might want to perform necessary measures to cool the GPU if the temperature exceeds 60°C on idle.
Under 50% load, the ideal GPU temperature should be around 55°C to 65°C. And finally, on full load, the normal GPU operating temperature should be approximately 65°C to 80°C. Depending on the load, you might want to cool them if the GPU exceeds these temperatures.
However, if you have overclocked your GPU, the temperature might even go beyond the limit mentioned above.
How to Keep GPU Temps Down?
If your GPU has a temperature higher than the ideal amount depending on the usage, here are some steps you can perform to keep the temperature under the limit.
- Remove dust from the PC
- Disable Overclocking
- Change thermal paste
- Improve airflow inside the CPU case
Related Question
Can a GPU Be Too Cold?
On idle, your GPU should be 10 or 15 degrees above the room temperature. However, it is always a good sign that you have a cooler running GPU. A cooler GPU will provide you with a little extra performance boost as well as a longer lifespan for your precious equipment.
Do Case Fans Affect GPU Temperature?
Inside your PC case, components such as the CPU, GPU, or VRM chips heat up the most, causing the overall rise in motherboard temperature. Case fans help cool down the air inside the PC case that these components generate.
If you have a poor case fan alignment, all components inside the case will have a higher temperature.
Does CPU Affect GPU Temp?
The heat from the CPU generally does not affect GPU temperature. However, if your CPU starts thermal throttling, you can expect a drop in FPS. This is called a bottleneck. It happens when you have a graphics card that outperforms a CPU.
Should GPU Fans Always Run?
When turning on the PC, all the fans that are directly or indirectly connected to the motherboard should spin. However, this is not the case for GPU fans. GPU fans only spin once it hits a certain temperature.
Once the GPU fans spin, they can stop again if the temperature cools down and reaches a certain limit.
