KFA2 GeForce GTX 1070 ex (Galax in USA) High temps!

I have bought the KFA2 GeForce GTX 1070 ex (not exoc) and I am very disappointed with the cooler it has. When I try to oc around 2.050 Ghz the temperatures can go 80+ C with constant 99% usage tests eg. in witcher 3 and in furmark test (99%).

Is this normal?

Do you have the same problem? I am not an expert in gtx 1070 chip but looking at gtx fe and other aftermarket solutions in reviews and in relevant you tube videos eg. strix gtx 1070 it looks much cooler even at constant 99% usage in witcher 3 @ 2.050Ghz.
The fan speed is at 90-100% and I use a pc case with 5, 120mm arctic F12 fans so the airflow is ok.

I am thinking to return back now that I can. I am so frustrated. Can someone evaluate my findings? Can someone simulate my tests and post their temperatures at 99% usage and oc?

Something isn't right...

You say you have 5 fans.. good. But where are they located and how are they blowing? You should have front/sides = intake while top/rear = exhaust.

What are you ambient temps?

Yes I use 1 fan at front, 1 down next to psu blowing up, 1 exhaust and 2 at top as exhaust also. The ambient are fine 37 C for gpu atm with gpu fans stopped.
Cpu is an fx with scythe mugen 2 absolutely good temps. The cooler has push pull configuration with 2 120mm fans blowing at the rear back exhaust fan.

Ambient means the temperature of the room the computer is in.

Ops sorry it is around 15 C

There's a ton of threads of 1070 95%-100% usage in Witcher 3, might be a bug or people kicking the graphics settings to its absolute maximum and the other... well its Furmark, isn't it supposed to do that ? Does it do that with any other games/programs ?

That's a chilly room... wow.

All other temps seem in order, so I doubt it's case airflow. Ambient is cold as hell at 59F...so that isn't it.

Does it break their warranty to reapply thermal paste? If not, I would try that (get some thermal paste.. mx-4 or something), or contact KFA and see what they say.

:/ Actually I do not have a thermometer lol. It is 14 C outside so... is it like around 20 C inside? I feel a bit chilly but I cannot say for sure.

Well I do use these intentionally (witcher 3 and furmark) for oc stability because otherwise even passing an oc with eg valley benchmark it may crash in actual gameplay. Witcher 3 is maxed at 1080p and is not constantly at 99% but there are places with lots of action and it reaches at a constant 99% usage. I tend to find these spots and test the oc and temps therefore a non stable oc can result in driver crash. When I play normally the actual usage is 80 to 99% depends on the action so not a glitch or something as in any other game.

The temps are high that is the problem. The gpu is 3 days old and not even sure if I can return it. I need to read their return policy as I am in Germany atm and my German suck (and so my english lol). Otherwise I would love to change the thermal paste and use my favorite one mx-4 but I am not going to do it because I will lose the guarantee (there is a sticker). After I have seen some reviews on gtx 1070's mine is definitely hot and even not so oc happy. That is why I am worried that I have bought the worst I could get for the money and it still costs a lot in Europe!

Lol... "room" temperature does not mean outside! Come on man!

As I said, those temperatures are not right. See what you can do about returning it. Report back!

Hahaha yeah I know the room temperature is not the same as outside but u know it is not like summer at least in Europe so I tried to play a bit on luck (or stupidity) there. But seriously my flat is chilly.

Well ok I asked also in other forums and I had an interesting reply. I quote

"Ok its a shot in the dark, but if remove the cooler you will see a black pad under VRM, A shot in the dark, remove black pad and allow VRM aluminum to contact heat sink or allow complete air to filter through VRM.
This method was on the exoc 1070, don't know about ex / replacing thermal paste helps as well may make for better results"

What do you think? Vrm has nothing to do with gpu core temps or am I mistaken? From my personal research I believe the heat sink is not adequate for 150tdp gpu and/or the fans are not running strong enough even at 99% (around 2200rpm? I have to recheck).

Oh man I am so confused. I have also a gigabyte gtx 1060 windforce ready to be sold to a potential buyer and I a keep postponing this for the last two days until I make a decision regarding the gtx 1070. This gigabyte is a small beast it oc to +2.1Ghz and the temperature is max 65C at 99% usage. I love it. The only reason I bought this kfa2 gtx 1070 is because it was on an offer after 15% off on eBay products. Well first world problems.

The vrm temp has nothing to do with core temps, correct.

The Witcher 3 is a pretty hard on a GPU (this game heats up my Titan X P to 81 or 82C...even with the fans at 100%).

Have you tried playing around with your case fan speeds and/or configuration yet? Is the GPU a blower type (i.e. blows hot air out the case)? I don't think it is. If it is not a blower type, then the hot air is exhausted into the case. You need to remove that hot air as efficiently as possible...or this hot air will start to heat everything up. More exhaust helps in this case. If it's a blower type cooler, then more intake air helps. More intake air helps either type of cooler.

I would not allow the VRM to make electrical contact with the backplate.

The only logic I can draw from the VRM statement is that if the VRMs are not heat sunk and cooled properly, they could be heating up the surrounding PCB...hence increasing the "starting" temperature for the GPU.

One thing you could try is to reapply the TIM on the GPU.

I would purchase a EVGA GTX 1070 it should run cooler overclocked to 2.050Ghz.

wingman99 said:

I would purchase a EVGA GTX 1070 it should run cooler overclocked to 2.050Ghz.

Click to expand...

Not all 1070's will hit 2.050 GHz, FYI.

UPDATE

I decided to reapply new thermal paste on the gpu since there was no warranty stick preventing me to remove the heatsink (thank you kfa2).To my surprise the back plate screws from the factory were not tight but pretty loose. So, I applied mx4 thermal paste and I saw around 5-6 C less temperature degrees with furmark with oc at around 2.050 Ghz (around 80 C with 100% fans).
At valley I could get +2.1 Ghz. A strange thing also appeared as now coil whine made its appearance at low fps.

I finally decided to returned it back because I felt the cooling is not good enough and I got fully refunded. I wish they have used better and faster fans on this model. After some further research I see only top tier gtx 1070 like strix, inno3d ichill, msi gaming x have no probs with oc and furmark. What you pay is what you get.

A week later it I kinda regret that I returned it back since it was a good OCer and on a cheap special offer and got the job done.

dimster said:

UPDATE

I decided to reapply new thermal paste on the gpu since there was no warranty stick preventing me to remove the heatsink (thank you kfa2).To my surprise the back plate screws from the factory were not tight but pretty loose. So, I applied mx4 thermal paste and I saw around 5-6 C less temperature degrees with furmark with oc at around 2.050 Ghz (around 80 C with 100% fans).
At valley I could get +2.1 Ghz. A strange thing also appeared as now coil whine made its appearance at low fps.

I finally decided to returned it back because I felt the cooling is not good enough and I got fully refunded. I wish they have used better and faster fans on this model. After some further research I see only top tier gtx 1070 like strix, inno3d ichill, msi gaming x have no probs with oc and furmark. What you pay is what you get.

A week later it I kinda regret that I returned it back since it was a good OCer and on a cheap special offer and got the job done.

Click to expand...

So what did you purchase?

dimster said:

UPDATE

I decided to reapply new thermal paste on the gpu since there was no warranty stick preventing me to remove the heatsink (thank you kfa2).To my surprise the back plate screws from the factory were not tight but pretty loose. So, I applied mx4 thermal paste and I saw around 5-6 C less temperature degrees with furmark with oc at around 2.050 Ghz (around 80 C with 100% fans).
At valley I could get +2.1 Ghz. A strange thing also appeared as now coil whine made its appearance at low fps.

I finally decided to returned it back because I felt the cooling is not good enough and I got fully refunded. I wish they have used better and faster fans on this model. After some further research I see only top tier gtx 1070 like strix, inno3d ichill, msi gaming x have no probs with oc and furmark. What you pay is what you get.

A week later it I kinda regret that I returned it back since it was a good OCer and on a cheap special offer and got the job done.

Click to expand...

so... you based it off furmark? A program one shouldn't be running in the first place????? I do think think that was a good choice...

EarthDog said:

so... you based it off furmark? A program one shouldn't be running in the first place????? I do think think that was a good choice...

Click to expand...

I called EVGA and they said furmark is fine to run and they have there own that does the same (EVGA OC Scanner X - The Essential GeForce Companion). They also said the power bits will reduce voltage and Clock if overloaded or over heated.

Now the furmark and EVGA OC Scanner X will stress the video card more than most games, so it gives the video card more breathing room in itself when overclocking.

The old problems with furmark and VRMs have been gone for a long time, I forgot what generation had a problem it's been so long ago.

It was Fermi... but the point that they tell you it will reduce voltage and clocks is also a problem. Why would I test where something like that would happen?

Testing with Unigine Heaven/Valley or 3DMark FS Extreme are plenty without using a program that gets throttled when using it. Let's use our heads a little bit and read between the lines at what they said.

I used furmark because I think it is the only way of checking the max cooling performance of the gpu and determining the max temps your gpu can ever reach stock and/or oc.

I know it is not the best stress tool and it might be dangerous but atm I do not have on my library games that stress a gtx 1070 at such constant rate except witcher 3 with ~ 90-99% usage, maxed @1080p. To be able to run this game at constant 60fps you need to oc the gtx 1070. Therefore the temps and fan speeds go up much higher than eg valley test which is a piece of cake for almost every modern gpu.

My thought is as gaming progress and games become more demanding in 1-2 years newer games will stretch a gtx 1070 at ~99% rate and then you will be having +80 C temperature which is annoying and bad for the gpu.

All my previous gpus never went above 75 C at furmark and 100% speed plus oc (r9 280x, gtx 970, gtx 1060). I believe something is wrong here and I want my 400 euros to be worth the purchase

For the friend that asked me what I currently use, I have no discrete gpu atm but I am trying to find some info regarding Inno3D gtx 1070 X2 which is at the same price range. Has someone any experience with this model? I have a feeling that it is also a weak performance cooling gpu.