Apart from the central processing unit or the CPU, the Graphics Processing Unit or GPU is a prime component that gets hot. Depending upon different variable scenarios the temperature of the GPU of a PC rises. You may wonder how hot should my GPU get normally?
In general day-to-day usage, the temperature of the GPU rises up to the range of 60-80 degrees of celsius. The rise of temperature in the GPU depends upon the usage, GPU type and architecture, the cooling system, and heat sinking capability.
For the sophisticated electronics part such as the GPU, heat build-up is a common phenomenon. But, overheating for a prolonged amount of time and abnormal temperature rise may not be a good sign. Your GPU may be throttling if the temperature rises more than 90 degrees of celsius.
How Hot Should My GPU Get normally? – Depth analysis
The structural architecture for the GPUs of the laptop is different than the desktop ones. It is because the laptop has a more confined area and a shortage of space. And it causes heat build-up in the laptop GPU comparatively at a higher rate than that of desktop PC.
In normal usage, the laptop GPU should experience between 45-50 degrees of celsius temperature. Under heavy circumstances such as gaming, graphical editing, or 2D,3D simulation the heat build-up gets tremendous. In those activities, your laptop GPU may experience temperatures between 60-80 degrees of celsius.
Although the temperature fluctuation is common in laptops while doing heavy usage. But, under no circumstances the temperature should exceed 80 degrees of Celsius for a prolonged amount of time. This may lead to causing potential damage to the GPU and other components of the motherboard as well.
What is the general temperature for your GPU?
Considering you are a general user of a PC who browses, watches movies, and does smaller corporate works. Then the GPU of your PC may not experience heavy heating inside the cores. Hence, the temperature of your GPU may be in the range of 40-65 degrees of celsius
But, the story would be different if you are a hardcore gamer, or heavily use the PC for graphical simulation works This type of activity uses the main cores of the GPU to its maximum peak for a constant amount of time. And therefore, your GPU may get hotter than the normal range.
On average such activity results in a temperature rise of 60-70 degrees of celsius. But over throttling, the GPU may result in the temperature getting as high as 85 degrees of celsius.
What should my GPU temp be at idle?
The CPU of a PC in standby mode or being idle carries out most of the background programs required. But GPUs of a PC when idle don’t do so. Hence, no overheating issue is caused while your PC is idle. Even the programs that are running which do not get impacted by the GPU keep the temperature lower.
For such instances, the range of the GPU temperature remains confined between 30-40 degrees of celsius. Although, the GPU brand and core structure or architecture have an impact on the temperature range when idle.
Older GPUs with minimized cores and RAM allocation in the architectures get decently hot when idle. Around 40-45 degrees of Celsius is the temperature that may be seen in those GPUs. But modern GPUs have a lot of cores in their structure which results in lowering the temperature when the system is in idle condition.
Is 80 degrees Celsius hot for a GPU?
80 degrees of Celsius is quite normal for a GPU used for gaming or heavy purposes. It is not unusual to experience this amount of temperature if the cooling system of the GPU is working perfectly.
But if your GPU gets a temperature spike of 80 degrees celsius even at idle or while doing general world. Then it is a matter of concern. The most probable cause can be the cooling system’s failure.
The GPU system should be diagnosed as soon as possible to find out the cause of such extreme temperatures. Because prolonged exposure to such temperature may damage the structure of the GPU permanently.
How hot should a GPU be at 100% of the capacity?
Sometimes you may want to carry out an experiment doing the stress test to get track of the performance of the GPU. Again, doing constant heavy gaming, or simulation work puts a lot of pressure on the GPU. in such scenarios, the GPU uses the maximum capacity of the limit of its usage.
For such circumstances, the GPU gets extremely hot even though the cooling system is working at its maximum. Therefore, a very high amount of temperature rise can be observed. Though 80-85 degrees of Celsius is the safe borderline for a GPU.
But if you put a load test on it then the temperature can spike up to 90-95 degrees of celsius. Some high-end GPUs such as the NVIDIA 3080 series may also experience up to 100 degrees of celsius. And it goes the same for the AMD GPUs.
How hot is too hot for GPU 3080?
The NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 is one of the latest and most advanced GPUs currently in operation from the GPU brand NVIDIA. It has the ability to carry out most of the advanced graphical simulation-based works and run very high-end games.
You can see the normal range of operation for this GPU gets the temperature between 65 and 75 degrees Celsius. Doing a constant heavy amount of work may increase the temperature up to 80-85 degrees. But the highest listed temperature for this GPU is 95 degrees of celsius.
Performing the stress and load test can get the temperature as high as 100 degrees of celsius as well. Therefore, it can be said that 90-98 degrees Celsius temperatures are too hot for the 3080 GPU.
Also, check – Why Does My Graphics Card Keep Turning Off? – Reasons and solutions
What is the Normal GPU temperature while gaming?
Gaming is one of the primary objectives for which GPUs are made. The temperature rise in the GPU depends strictly upon the type of game you want to play. Because the graphical demand for the games differs from each other.
Games such as Cyberpunk 2070, GTA V, and Red Dead Redemption 2 use high GPU performance. For such games, the normal GPU temperature can be around 60-70 degrees of celsius. Again normal games that use low GPU power can get the temperature up to 60-65 degrees celsius only.
What is the Normal GPU temperature while browsing?
Web browsing, online surfing, or PC browsing is the common work done on a PC. This type of work does not use the Graphical processing power of the GPU as much as gaming or simulation does. Therefore the GPU does not get much hot and the temperature also remains at the limit.
In the normal daily usage of the PC, the GPU of the PC may experience 40 to 45 degrees of celsius only. In high-end GPUs, the temperature can be under 40 degrees of celsius as well.
How to check GPU temperature?
Very heavy usage of the PC results in GPU getting extremely hot from time to time. And, the GPU experiencing high temperature for a prolonged amount of time can cause damage to the threads and cores of the GPU.
That is why it is important to keep track of the temperature of the GPU at regular intervals of time. If the temperature hits the maximum limit then time should be given to lower it by giving it a break for a while. This way the GPU of your PC can remain healthy for a long time.
Step one: Using the default Windows program
The Windows operating system comes with a default program that can be used to check the temperature of the GPU. For this press the CTRL+ALT+DEL buttons on your PC. Select the task manager and go to the performance tab adjacent to the Process.
After that select the GPU options from the list. You can see the availability of the usage of the GPU cores. Below in each section, the temperature of the GPU can be observed as well.
Step Two: Third-party GPU monitoring tools
The two most popular GPU brands are NVIDIA and AMD. These GPU brands have developed their own software for monitoring and controlling GPU usage. YOu can simply go to their official websites and download the software. For this, you may have to provide the correct GPU model number for better performance.
After that, open the software and search for the temperature option. This will show you the current operating temperature of the GPU. The “AMD RYZEN MASTER” or the “MSI AFTERBURNER” are some of the popular software to monitor the performance and operating temperature of the GPU.
How to lower GPU temperature?
While doing heavy gaming, you may lead your PC’s GPU to throttle. And it is not a good sign for GPU health. This results in the rising of the internal temperature of the GPU very quickly. That is why it is important to know how to lower the GPU temperature to keep the GPU safe from overheating.
Lowering the temperature using Software
- Open the task manager and kill the processes that are using the higher clock speed of the CPU and GPU.
- Disable and kill the heavy programs that are running and using high GPU usage.
- Lower the voltage allocation to each of the GPUs manually.
- Put the GPU in power-saving mode.
- Increase the speed of the cooling fans for all the GPUs to the maximum.
- Disable the overclocking programs that are running.
- Limit the Frame Per Second (FPS) for a time being.
Manual ways to lower the temperature
- Completely shut down the system and disengage the power cables.
- Open up the casing and let air flow lower the temperature naturally.
- Use compressed air to blow the debris or dirt from the Graphics card.
- Make sure the blades of the cooling fan are clean and sharp.
- Replace and reapply the thermal paste of the GPU if it has been dried out.
- Make sure the cooling fans have decent RPM to maintain the heat flow.
If you still have any questions watch the tutorial video below:
Conclusion
The GPU is one of the most expensive and important structural hardware for a PC right after the CPU and motherboard. Both CPU and GPU have similar types of operating conditions. Besides, they work alongside to run a program as smoothly as possible by providing premium visuals.
Overheating is the biggest enemy for the CPU and GPU. because it has a negative impact on the performance and the physicality of the GPU as well. That is why it is crucial you should ask – how hot should my GPU get normally?
Knowing that you can track the temperature on your GPU. if it throttles you can use different techniques to lower the temperature down as soon as possible. This way it is possible to keep your GPU safe and in mint condition for a long period of time.
