m9750 with ati 3870x2 Overheating

I have an old Alienware Area 51 m9750 laptop running a single ATI Mobility Radeon 3870 X2 card. Recently I started have problems with it overheating. Idle GPU temp sits at about 74-75 degrees C and it spikes up to 100-105 degrees C while gaming. There has been a few times it has spiked over 110 and the computer has shut down. I have tried cleaning the fans and vents, reapplying thermal paste, nothing seems to help. I've had this card in here for probably two years now and never had overheating problems and now I can't play for more than 10-15 minutes without it overheating. I read another thread where someone had a similar problem and solved it by reducing the voltage of the gpu but I've never done that before and am not sure how. Please advise.

 

If the card worked for years without overheating and only does it now there is another problem. You could try reducing voltage but that is only a band-aid. When you applied the thermal paste did you use a good brand and only apply a small amount the size of a pea? Is the GPU fan actually coming on? Did you monitor temps in the past, and if so what were they? 74-75 is very hot for even idle. I doubt it would make any difference but have you tried new drivers? Or rolling back to drivers (assuming you have updated over time) that used to work fine? Last thing may just be the 3870 is on its way out, luckily they are all over ebay.

 

GPU Fan may not work properly or the heatsink might not be transferring the heat properly.

 

Is there heat coming from the vent on the rear? That's the vent for the sink that cools both of the GPUs.