Video Card Overheating

My computer recently started crashing when playing The Secret World, after playing it for 100 hours with no trouble. Now it consistently runs fine for about 10 minutes, then the whole computer crashes to black on both monitors, and forces me to hard-reset.

I downloaded Speedfan, and found that my video card was running at 80C when idle, and over 100C when playing the game. NVidia says my GTX 560 TI is rated for up to 99C, so that's definitely the problem.

I've cleaned out the case, but it's still overheating. Is there some other factor that could cause a video card to overheat?

Specs

 

You said that you cleaned out the case.....but what did you do for the Video Card? Most of them have a fan on them. Is is turning freely, is it and the heat sink CLEAN?

In too many cases, the fan on the video card is very small and cheap and will fail long before CPU and case fans fail.
I take mine out twice a year and clean and oil it.

Once, the fan failed and I didn't catch it in time to re-oil it and get it going again. It was Toast!!!
So I hot-glued a larger fan on top of the heatsink and put it back into service.
It ran just fine till I replaced that video card with a new and more powerful one.

Just for fun...here's that video card with the larger replacement fan.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g90/DrWho1943/Computer%20Stuff/GPU_Cooler.jpg

Take your vid card out, and clean it real good and make sure that little fan (if there is one) is turning freely.

Good Luck,
Shadow :cool

 

You were dead on. One fan on the video card failed. It looks like it's trying to move, but there's significant resistance when I turn it.

 

The fan in question doesn't seem to have any way to take it apart and I'm concerned it might be clogged up with hair. Am I just screwed, and I'll have to cut it out and stick another fan in its place?

It's one of these.

I suppose worst-case scenario I could buy those and try my hand at cutting the power cable off the old fan and splicing it onto the new one.

 

You're not screwed.....

You just need to take out the little screws that hold the fan it to the card...

Take out the fan and gently clean the blades.....Q tips dipped in alcohol or Hosehold Cleaner work great for that.

Then , , , on the back of the fan is a little lablel, that covers the main bearing.

Do Not remove that label, but poke a small hole in it and squirt in a few drops of light weight lubricant. A pocket oiler is great for that!

I do that for all 11 of my fans at least once a year, and I keep them running for years after they would otherwise shoot CRAPS.

This is a 70 year old computer tech, telling you how to get the most out of your cooling fans. I've been doing it for years.... and it works.
If I had replaced every fan that needed help, I would have been broke a long time ago.
As it is..... I keep my fans running for years past their normal life times.

PM me if you need any One on One help.

I'm the TechnoMage! (I make Magic with Technology)

 

Allright I've already unscrewed the fans and I see where the label is. What kind of oil would I use?

 

Ok I got some machine oil, and I took the sticker off like you said not to, but these fans don't have an exposed bearing. It's just a solid flat piece of plastic with nowhere to oil it.