3090 FE RMA opinion?

[Sarge2255]

6C hotter on the core? What thermal paste did you use? Did you replace the VRM Thermal pads?

Hey, yes 6c hotter on the Vcore, but I replaced all the VRM Thermal pads. I could have done just the backside of the card and got 2c difference than doing the full card.

I used a cool master thermal paste and gelid Ultimate, I did not want to over tighten the GPU chip bracket so maybe that needs a little more pressure to get core temps down to normal , could not risk snapping the PCB.

 

[Falkentyne]

Hey, yes 6c hotter on the Vcore, but I replaced all the VRM Thermal pads. I could have done just the backside of the card and got 2c difference than doing the full card.

I used a cool master thermal paste and gelid extremes, I did not want to over tighten the GPU chip bracket so maybe that needs a little more pressure to get core temps down to normal , could not risk snapping the PCB.

You need to tighten the X-bracket all the way down to good resistance (i don't know the torque rating, but where you can't turn it easily anymore). So turn it to where it starts getting resistance to turning, then another half turn and you should be good.
Also make sure you fully spread the thermal paste. Don't do dot in middle on direct die cooling, ever.

You won't break the PCB. You'll break off the screwheads long before the PCB. I've tested this with fujifilm Ultra Low Prescale contact paper.

 

[uscool]

I used thermal grizzly kryonaut when I replaced the pads on my 3080fe

I did the X with 4 dots method found the paste difficult to spread and put more than enough for it to spread over the sides once compressed

For example vram temps would hit into the 90s in some games now it's in the 80s . Room temp 29c

 

[Sarge2255]

You need to tighten the X-bracket all the way down to good resistance (i don't know the torque rating, but where you can't turn it easily anymore). So turn it to where it starts getting resistance to turning, then another half turn and you should be good.
Also make sure you fully spread the thermal paste. Don't do dot in middle on direct die cooling, ever.

You won't break the PCB. You'll break off the screwheads long before the PCB. I've tested this with fujifilm Ultra Low Prescale contact paper.

What do you think of the price of these thermal pads, I think they are very expensive for the size, almost as though sellers are scalping them?

 

[uscool]

Hmm, that mushta, gave me nonsense advice, I stand by this. It made my card run 10c hotter.

I worked out what happened. Because I pressed down hard on the card near the power connector when it was hot, the already runny Nvidia thermal pads compressed and smudged. I reckon that's what happend to my 3090 following mushtas advice.

I had no choice put to repad the card .I bought 4 packs of Gelid extreme , to replace pads on the front and back of the card, cost £40 in total ( ripp off). I used all of the pads and they were just about enough ( 80x40s). They were 1.5mm. The whole replacement took hours.

Bit Glad that it fixed my card and un did Mushtas terrible advice. Now my card runs 2c-6c cooler than before on the T Junction, but 6c hotter on the core! Simply no where near the gains Internet trolls post to get more views on their videos (20c cooler wow!).
Putting screws underneath the card and claiming 20c drop, people who do that probably already had defective cards. I can see why miners are rushing to do this but for gaming it's just not worth all the hassle.

20c is with mining and I can vouch for that , if you are seeing increases in core you done something incorrectly

 

[Falkentyne]

What do you think of the price of these thermal pads, I think they are very expensive for the size, almost as though sellers are scalping them?

Keep in mind I'm in American. I don't know about European prices.
All high w/mk thermal pads are highway robbery unless you buy them from China. But then you have to deal with possible quality issues. (Gelid themselves said their 120mm * 120mm Extreme pads (only in 0.5mm, 1.0mm and 1.5mm) from China (which are darker than the smaller pads) have quality issues and you should buy their 80mm * 40mm (Extreme) or 90mm * 50mm (Ultimate) pads from their own store in Hong Kong. Remember they don't make the pads. They just source them and resell). That being said, the Thermalright 120mm * 120mm pads from China seem to be the same quality as the smaller pads you can get on Amazon or ebay.

 

[Falkentyne]

I used thermal grizzly kryonaut when I replaced the pads on my 3080fe

I did the X with 4 dots method found the paste difficult to spread and put more than enough for it to spread over the sides once compressed

For example vram temps would hit into the 90s in some games now it's in the 80s . Room temp 29c

Kryonaut is extremely easy to spread. You most likely had a bad batch or an old hardened batch.
I used to advocate the X + 4 dots method but I saw some posts from others (with water blocks, of course, EVERYONE has a water block now), who said to always do a full spread on direct die (X method can work fine on IHS chips).

The only paste that is hard to spread is Thermalright TFX (very hard, may require a hairdryer or "boiling" the syringe in ALMSOT boiling water), or SYY-157 (hard to spread but easier than TFX, you should be able to spread it without pre-heating).
Kryonaut Extreme is also easy to spread. FuzeIce Plus and Arctic MX-5 are easy as well.

 

[uscool]

Kryonaut is extremely easy to spread. You most likely had a bad batch or an old hardened batch.
I used to advocate the X + 4 dots method but I saw some posts from others (with water blocks, of course, EVERYONE has a water block now), who said to always do a full spread on direct die (X method can work fine on IHS chips).

The only paste that is hard to spread is Thermalright TFX (very hard, may require a hairdryer or "boiling" the syringe in ALMSOT boiling water), or SYY-157 (hard to spread but easier than TFX, you should be able to spread it without pre-heating).
Kryonaut Extreme is also easy to spread. FuzeIce Plus and Arctic MX-5 are easy as well.

this isnt the first time I have used Kryonaut done it with few builds now for CPU and bought from different sellers, I did read others saying the same and putting the tube in hot water or heating the tube with hair dryer would make it easier to spread didnt bother it wasnt just the X method I also did the 4 dots I know just doing the X can lead to it not covering the whole chip I know its more then enough as I did check after doing it the first time I actually put too much and reading that isnt bad thing as whats not needed will be squeezed out I ran benchmarks and the temps seem good enough ran few benchmarks which stresses it the most highest it got was 75c gpu with 88c hotspot gpu fans @ 50% thats with room ambient of 29c in games it runs lower maybe next time I will do the spread method but it seems fine and not gonna go through all that again and would need pads replacing again and the ribbon cables are pain

 

[Major774]

My Gelid Extreme came from China, no problems on my side. Better than the OEM factory white chewing gum pads lol.

 

[Sarge2255]

My Gelid Extreme came from China, no problems on my side. Better than the OEM factory white chewing gum pads lol.

How long to arrive? Thermal alright and OK as well.

 

[Major774]

How long to arrive? Thermal alright and OK as well.

I think it was approx. 2 weeks.

 

[koeiwong]

How long to arrive? Thermal alright and OK as well.

Buy from sellers that offer 10 days delivery if you order from a China marketplace. It is not a guarantee but usually arrive within 2 weeks.

 

[koeiwong]

Keep in mind I'm in American. I don't know about European prices.
All high w/mk thermal pads are highway robbery unless you buy them from China. But then you have to deal with possible quality issues. (Gelid themselves said their 120mm * 120mm Extreme pads (only in 0.5mm, 1.0mm and 1.5mm) from China (which are darker than the smaller pads) have quality issues and you should buy their 80mm * 40mm (Extreme) or 90mm * 50mm (Ultimate) pads from their own store in Hong Kong. Remember they don't make the pads. They just source them and resell). That being said, the Thermalright 120mm * 120mm pads from China seem to be the same quality as the smaller pads you can get on Amazon or ebay.

Using Zezzio Thermal 120x120mm pad, perform and hardness (very soft) similar to Extreme.

For thermal paste, I have tried TFX, SYY and MX-5. For MX-5 I need to apply a thick layer, first time I did was too thin so GPU and Hotspot temps both gone up after 1 week, repasted with thicker layer improved it. I have no luck with TFX as the hotpot temp kept on rising, delta temp in game up from 11c~12c after repasted to 13.5 to 14.5c after 1 week. Now using SYY, the delta temp did go up a bit after a week but stable at around 12.5c to 13c and core temp remain the same.

However, I also applied SYY to CPU and took the cpu out from socket when I changed the cpu cooler last week. SYY paste is very hard/sticky and should pre-heat before remove the heatsink.

 

[Klunt Bumskrint]

Avoid MX-4, it's garbage.

Eh? I've been using MX-4 for a long time and it's fine. What's your issue with it, just curious.

 

[FlyingFish]

I stopped used mx4 a long time ago. Dries out very quickly when dealing with temps higher up the scale. Thermal Grizzly keeps its consistency much better in my experience.

 

[Major774]

Using Zezzio Thermal 120x120mm pad, perform and hardness (very soft) similar to Extreme.

For thermal paste, I have tried TFX, SYY and MX-5. For MX-5 I need to apply a thick layer, first time I did was too thin so GPU and Hotspot temps both gone up after 1 week, repasted with thicker layer improved it. I have no luck with TFX as the hotpot temp kept on rising, delta temp in game up from 11c~12c after repasted to 13.5 to 14.5c after 1 week. Now using SYY, the delta temp did go up a bit after a week but stable at around 12.5c to 13c and core temp remain the same.

However, I also applied SYY to CPU and took the cpu out from socket when I changed the cpu cooler last week. SYY paste is very hard/sticky and should pre-heat before remove the heatsink.

I am using MX-4. My delta is only 10c-11c. Paste applied in Jul 2021.

 

[Falkentyne]

Using Zezzio Thermal 120x120mm pad, perform and hardness (very soft) similar to Extreme.

For thermal paste, I have tried TFX, SYY and MX-5. For MX-5 I need to apply a thick layer, first time I did was too thin so GPU and Hotspot temps both gone up after 1 week, repasted with thicker layer improved it. I have no luck with TFX as the hotpot temp kept on rising, delta temp in game up from 11c~12c after repasted to 13.5 to 14.5c after 1 week. Now using SYY, the delta temp did go up a bit after a week but stable at around 12.5c to 13c and core temp remain the same.

However, I also applied SYY to CPU and took the cpu out from socket when I changed the cpu cooler last week. SYY paste is very hard/sticky and should pre-heat before remove the heatsink.

That Zezzio thermal pad is strange.

Size Dimensions and rating are 100% identical to Thermalright Odyssey (which is strange, they have both 85mm * 45mm (i've only seen Odyssey use that, as Gelid is 80mm * 40mm for Extreme and 90mm * 50mm for Ultimate for standard sizes) and 120mm*120mm, which is also used by Gelid Ultimate large pad, which seems to be a new SKU (120mm * 120mm) as I am 300% sure they didn't have that SKU three weeks ago when I actually checked their store! and Odyssey one. But the color is different from both Gelid Extreme/Ultimate and that Zezzio. And they have a 14.8 w/mk version too. Of course we all know w/mk means very little (without knowing how and what conditions it is tested under). And most of these companies dont make the pads anyway. They come from a factory (Japan for EC360 and maybe some Alphacool(?), Germany (?) for Arctic, China for Gelid and Thermalright), and are then labeled and sold by resellers.

Maybe I'll buy one but I don't want to keep wasting money.

How did you apply TFX? It needs to be fully spread across the die. I always had the best luck with that. You can boil the syringe in hot water (don't put it in while it's boiling over fire though) then let it sit 15 minutes in the water, then apply it after you let it cool, or you can use a hairdryer or hot air station at 80C to heat it after squeezing it on the die. With TFX, I apply several swirls (after pre-heating!) around the entire die, then I use even strokes like I'm spreading peanut butter, and I get a good full layer that way.

SYY-157 is easier of course but I didn't get as good results as TFX.
Thermagic ZF-EX seems to be extremely similar to TFX

MX-5 I only tested on a desktop CPU and a Pascal 1070 and a R9 290X. Not too bad. But a few C worse than Kryonaut Extreme (seems to be close to the same as original Kryonaut)

---------------------------

Your delta (11-12C game after repaste) and SYY (12.5C after 1 week) seems to point to thermal pad thickness issue of some sort. Either core PSI pressure is too low (thermal pads too hard) or VRM (2x thin strip front side + small single square front side) pads are not making solid contact.

Your Delta should be 10-11C after repaste, at full load (and no higher than 11.5C) except when mining.

Right now I have tried Gelid Extreme 1.5mm (VRAM front), Gelid Extreme 2.0mm (VRM strip left/right/single isolated chip front), and TFX.
Maybe I'll consider trying Gelid Ultimate 2.0mm (VRM strip front only) if I try to experiment with Liquid metal or Kryonaut Extreme sometime for the core.

 

[koeiwong]

That Zezzio thermal pad is strange.

Maybe I'll buy one but I don't want to keep wasting money.

How did you apply TFX? It needs to be fully spread across the die. I always had the best luck with that. You can boil the syringe in hot water (don't put it in while it's boiling over fire though) then let it sit 15 minutes in the water, then apply it after you let it cool, or you can use a hairdryer or hot air station at 80C to heat it after squeezing it on the die. With TFX, I apply several swirls (after pre-heating!) around the entire die, then I use even strokes like I'm spreading peanut butter, and I get a good full layer that way.

---------------------------

Your delta (11-12C game after repaste) and SYY (12.5C after 1 week) seems to point to thermal pad thickness issue of some sort. Either core PSI pressure is too low (thermal pads too hard) or VRM (2x thin strip front side + small single square front side) pads are not making solid contact.

Your Delta should be 10-11C after repaste, at full load (and no higher than 11.5C) except when mining.

Don't need to try the Zezzio pad, it is very similar to Extreme maybe a little bit softer, and I got similar VRAM temps as Extreme despite Zezzio pad's claimed to have 14.8w/mk .

The delta temp with original paste and pads was between 11c to 12.5c. I did repaste few times and after repaste the delta were similar (11-12c) before slowly going up (12-13c) after 1 to 2 weeks.

1st - first used MX-5 and Odyssey but I made a mistake and only applied a thin layer (pads maybe too hard on GPU side too) so after just 2 weeks the GPU core was 8c higher (from 69c to 77c) and hotspot over 90c. Repasted with thicker layer MX-5 but delta temp still moved up from 11-12c to 12-13c within 2 weeks. I also pressed the pads down a bit on GPU side when I applied a thicker layer to make sure heatsink have good contact but still the delta temp slowly moved up.

2nd - used TFX and Extreme pads, similar to 1st, delta temp moved up after 2 weeks (slower increase and slightly lower temp than MX-5), but GPU core temp stay similar to after repaste. I did apply TFX using the method you posted in this forum, warm up the paste, put 9 dots then spread evenly (took a while to get it done ).

3rd - SYY and Zezzio pads, same as 1st and 2nd, delta temp started from 11-12c before settled at around 12.5c (+/- 0.5c) after 2 weeks. GPU core temp similar at around 67c but fans are running 200-300rpm lower when compared to stock paste and pads.

Maybe the card I got have lower contact pressure, so far I have no luck to get the delta temp 10-11c (under load), the best delta temp I got under load was low end of 11.Xc. However, I have no plan to repaste at the moment as long as the GPU core not getting hotter and delta temp stay around 11.5-13c.

 

[Sarge2255]

This whole GPU situation is insane.

 

[peterhc]

This might help