HD 6990 Overheating & GPU 2 0%load

Hello everyone, issues from Sweden today!

Firstly excuse me for my English and so on and so forth.

My problem is that I've had this HD 6990 card with the same setup
for about 2 years now. But 2 week ago my computer started dying on me and I didn't know why. I went and bought a new CPU fan because I thought it was that but after further investigation I realized it was the GPU that kept overheating and shutting the computer down.

I've never had any problems with heat or anything else with this computer since I'm quite used to playing with software(hardware I suck at). It is as I said just started 2 weeks ago. I can't run very new games now either since even with 100% fan speed from MSI afterburner it keeps burning up and shutting down(Benchmarks are out of the question).

So basically as the topic states: It's overheating and shutting down.

Now. I've also seen that the GPU core #2 doesn't load either no matter what I do.

So then I figured could it really be the heat paste? Since the GPU#2 is not even working, my warranty is out and in all honesty I'm not in a place in life where I can spend a lot of money right now.

So I wonder if anyone can help me with my issues? Should I just turn it in or just open it up and see for myself or is it some kind of Software function that I screwed up in the past 2 weeks or something?

If you need more information I am more then willing to provide it.

My Specs:

Intel Core i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30 Ghz
16 GB hyperX ram
I run a win 7 Ultimate
With ofcourse the HD 6990.

Here is a picture with my GPU loads/temps etc from GPU-Z and Afterburner:

//Best Greetings Divuston.

You are out of warranty so it wouldn;t hurt to open it up and see what is going on. That said. I would try reinstalling drivers first and see if that helps.

I would also like to know what power supply you are using too...

Just to be clear, GPU2 never gets any activity even when gaming, correct?

Thanks for fast replay!

I am using an: GX Bronze 750W

I've done some tests now with many diffrent games it seems that in Counter-Strike Global Offence it does actually load.. but still very very very hot (100+ degrees C).

Maybe I should just test a benchmark and see if I can get some numbers out before everything turns off.

Oh and I just tried installing some older drivers, as well as updating the old ones and completely removing everything and re installing the latest drivers. Same results.

What brand is that PSU? GX Bronze doesn't really tell anyone much...

So CS:GO is the ONLY game the second core loads? What games have you tried? Anything remotely new and stressful on the GPU?

Those temps are too hot regardless. I would take the heatsink off and reapply the thermal paste and reseat the heatsink and see if that helps. I assume you have done the easy thing and blown all the dust out, correct?

Can you host the pictures at the site (they are blocked from my work..):

I'm sorry! I'm kinda stupid when it comes to hardware
I'll reach under and see... Hmm... It says "CoolerMaster GX Bronze 750W".

( http://www.coolermaster.com/powersupply/gx-series/gx-750w/ )

I've just run benchmark in Heaven Benchmarks(Free Software) and nothing on GPU #2, It seems to spike to 3-4% load. Image attached: ( )

I've tried, DOTA2(can play awhile before over 100), Wildstar(Just burns up instantly), Divinity: Original Sin(Burns up after couple minutes), Dark Souls II, Crysis 2&3(burns up after a while)

And yes, I've blown out all the dust from the GPU/CPU/PSU as good as possible.

I should probably open it up ye? I think I need to head down to hardware store since I don't have anything to open with. Some seriously special tools for this card it seems

Do you have Crossfire enabled in the Catalyst Control Center?

What case do you have? Where are the fans located and in what direction are they blowing? Generally you want a top/rear = exhaust and front/sides = intake...

Again, please attach images to the forum as third party hosts are blocked for me..:

I'm very sorry! I didn't see those big *** pictures they didn't update for me .. haha

Okey I'll hook you up




At the moment, I have everything open in a custom build. It currently 23 degrees in my room.

I dont really know how to set crossfire in Cataclyst Control Center. I'll poke around and see.

I merged your double posts again... you can edit when you need to add something and nobody has replied.

It shows enabled in the GPUz screens so you are ok there.

At this point, I would just take it apart and reapply the thermal paste and see what happens then. THough why that second GPU isn't working much is really curious...

It seems it's enabled in CCC.

Yeah I know, it's very odd. I'll start there and see where we land
Thanks for the quick response and helpful mind.

Sorry for being a complete forum newbie!

I'll update as soon as I'm done with opening the GPU.

Looking forward to it...

1. Have you tried switching the GPU locations to see if the load stays on the same GPU?

2. You don't have a motherboard listed, does your motherboard have crossfire capabilities?

With those temps I would re-apply the thermal paste as Earthdog has recommended. That seems to be the biggest culprit.

I dont think the board has to be CFx compatible as all that is handled on the GPU.

For GPU 2 to have zero load?

To be honest, I am not 1005 on my statement. I just know that, while it is technically Crossfire, it is only using a single slot. The CFx/SLI certifications are for multiple PCIe slots I believe. The 6990 (and other dual GPU on a stick cards) have the PLX chip on board for inter-GPU communications.

Again though, not certain what I said is true... all boards I have that I had a dual GPU card were both SLI/CFx certified...

... and this problem just started happening. If it wasn't compatible, I would think it never would have worked.

I have owned a few of these 6990. Most of them had a dead or dieing GPU1.

One was 100% finde, but it DID have an artic cooling system mounted.

I would option the baby up, replace all the TIM and the thermal padding, clean the heatsink and try once more.

EarthDog said:

To be honest, I am not 1005 on my statement. I just know that, while it is technically Crossfire, it is only using a single slot. The CFx/SLI certifications are for multiple PCIe slots I believe. The 6990 (and other dual GPU on a stick cards) have the PLX chip on board for inter-GPU communications.

Again though, not certain what I said is true... all boards I have that I had a dual GPU card were both SLI/CFx certified...

... and this problem just started happening. If it wasn't compatible, I would think it never would have worked.

Click to expand...

I believe you're right. The HD6990 is an integrated dual GPU. I was thinking he had 2 seperate GPU's. (Hence the swap them around.)

Yeah, You are correct its integrated dual GPU

Thanks for the support people!

I didn't have time today to open it up and see if it was the heat sink! Have work all day(Swedish time). So maybe tomorrow we'll see the conclusion

Another real simple possibility is check the fan/blower when you get into it tomorrow. I don't think it was ever mentioned in the thread if it was checked. A dead fan can cause this too.

My gut instinct, is that the gpu needs a good cleaning, especially if hasn't been cleaned in 2 years.

the GPU only has one fan and it works, and as stated before I've actually cleaned it as good as possible

But I will open it and see what the hell is going on