He's a troll ignore him, he's nothing but trouble since he joined this forum and surprised he's not been banned yet by the mods, it's getting really silly now.
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RTX 3090 temperature concerns
- Thread starter newbieclocker
- Start date
He's a troll ignore him, he's nothing but trouble since he joined this forum and surprised he's not been banned yet by the mods, it's getting really silly now.
Soldato
Agreed
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Well you have made me add 10c to my card
I'll be very cautious when dubous advice like this is given. My card worked fine and now it's 10c hotter than normal and also when I compare it to my other card, it's hotter since I burnt my fingers pressing down on that area.
I have no choice but to do the dreaded thermal pad mod now and hope it works. I reckon pressing that area of the card has mixed results, it might have smuged the original thermal pads causing contact issues.
Also worth noting newer 3090s seem to run even slightly more cooler, at least that's what I noticed.
I'll be very cautious when dubous advice like this is given. My card worked fine and now it's 10c hotter than normal and also when I compare it to my other card, it's hotter since I burnt my fingers pressing down on that area.I have no choice but to do the dreaded thermal pad mod now and hope it works. I reckon pressing that area of the card has mixed results, it might have smuged the original thermal pads causing contact issues
.Also worth noting newer 3090s seem to run even slightly more cooler, at least that's what I noticed.
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Soldato
Perhaps you should think logically about what you've just posted?
Squeezing the backplate will compress the pads to a new thinner thickness, which unless you keep the tension in place, will lessen contact between the memory and backplate as the backplate relaxes back to its normal state. But now with thinner pads.
So this would only be beneficial, if the backplate wasn't making good contact originally, say due to the GPU sagging.
The idea you burnt your fingers because of this is farcical. You would 'burn' your fingers if you had great thermal contact, effectively removing the heat from the memory to the backplate to your finger! So.... if you have lost thermal transfer your finger will experience a lower temperature, due to poor heat transfer.
How about you post a video for us, showing what your complaining about?
Squeezing the backplate will compress the pads to a new thinner thickness, which unless you keep the tension in place, will lessen contact between the memory and backplate as the backplate relaxes back to its normal state. But now with thinner pads.
So this would only be beneficial, if the backplate wasn't making good contact originally, say due to the GPU sagging.
The idea you burnt your fingers because of this is farcical. You would 'burn' your fingers if you had great thermal contact, effectively removing the heat from the memory to the backplate to your finger! So.... if you have lost thermal transfer your finger will experience a lower temperature, due to poor heat transfer.
How about you post a video for us, showing what your complaining about?
Soldato
Oh and I've gotta ask 
What did you expect to feel touching an area of the GPU known to exceed 100C? Seriously?
Mummy told you not to stick your fingers in boiling water...right? Cos you know... its hot like.
What did you expect to feel touching an area of the GPU known to exceed 100C? Seriously?
Mummy told you not to stick your fingers in boiling water...right? Cos you know... its hot like.
Associate
Worth a try as it’s free.
I said the factory pads are super soft, absolutely no tention to return to their original shape.
Go for the pad change, done it to my 3080 FE.
I said the factory pads are super soft, absolutely no tention to return to their original shape.
Go for the pad change, done it to my 3080 FE.
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Managed to get myself a 3080ti, just got to get rid of the 3090 now
Well, Igor's video on the defective pads:
at 03:29 (don't think the forum lets you link to times) says that about an earlier issue - the uneven main die - Nvidia are totally silent ("Zitronen Lippen", i.e. lemon lips).
I presume they are also not happy with his joke (01:05 onwards) about the melted goo being RTX On either:
Ampere sure still feels rushed not that designing 350W+ cards is easy.
I hate working with metal, but if I did I would consider that finish to be only half-finished!
Or course, the only way to do with a clean job is with some grinding with Dremel or similar and you have to take everything out of the case and when finished very carefully blow any metal bits out or your asking for shorts.
I think AMD competitiveness led to some late decisions, it wouldn't surprise me if originally the lower TDP gddr6 would have been used instead of gddr6x and we also would have got lower voltage/clocks as well if AMD was less competitive. So we have ended up with cards that require huge amounts of power.
Associate
I saw this thread late.
Yes I see a few problems already.
First, TM Odyssey pads are not the correct pads to use. The VRAM FRONT pad measurement is "technically correct", although scientifically, it's 1.5mm left side, and 1.6mm right side (with the V shape to the right), but the original Nvidia pads are both 1.5mm. The problem is the compression. The TR pads do not compress very well. This isn't as much of a problem on the backplate side as on the core side, but if you look at your picture, you can see that the compression of the pads is VERY low. Yes there is contact but this will slowly compromise GPU Core contact with the heatsink. I should know--I used these pads back when we were discussing the original shunt mod on overclock.net and another user suggested these pads, after a second user posted measurements with a caliper. But I was able to test with pressure paper that core contact is VERY seriously compromised by lack of compression. Using Ultra Low Prescale FujiFilm pressure paper, there was literally NO mark on the pressure paper with the TM pads!
Here is your pad compression:
https://i.imgur.com/o33KJfx.jpg
Here is Gelid Extreme 1.5mm, which are much softer. First, right side.
https://i.imgur.com/QvbiKD4.jpg
While the right (V shape closest) VRAM pads aren't quite as good as the left, they're still better than yours, and the left pads are so good, you can read the chip writings on them!
Left side:
https://i.imgur.com/FswbeCK.jpg
For comparison, these are my really old TM Odyssey 1.5mm VRAM front pads I removed when deciding to change pads long ago (the first of many changes when switching to Gelid and TFX vs SYY-157 vs Thermagic ZF-EX thermal paste).
https://i.imgur.com/1YfXsHk.jpg
Another issue is the VRM pad strips. While the first modder on overclock.net in the shunt mod thread saw the original measurements of the VRM pads, which was only given as "1.8-2.0mm" without any direct specifics here:
https://www.overclock.net/threads/o...90-owners-club.1753930/page-213#post-28666890
I determined just by looking at the 1.5mm Gelid extreme pads in the two above screenshots that I also used on the VRM's, that the left and right pads are different--the left pads have decent contact but the right pad contact is very weak, which also explains the "melt" marks due to only a small section of the pad getting all the heat. Those pads that look like that, all but one is related to NVVDD, if you superimpose Igor's picture (have to flip it around backwards). So 1.5mm Gelid Extreme pads are BARELY sufficient and 1.5mm Thermalright Odyssey pads are actually very bad if you're heavily stressing the card. My solution was to use 2.0m Gelid Extremes on the two VRM strips together, and the small solo VRM pad.
This makes logical sense since if you look at the original Nvidia pads, you can see a slightly higher compression on the right VRM strip than the left VRM strip, just slightly. Which implies the left pad is 1.8mm and the right one is 2.0mm, with the right side "gap" difference maybe 0.1mm more than the left (which compensates for the "Extra" compression of the missing 0.1mm after!).
https://i.imgur.com/oVrb1EE.jpg (not my picture!)
Your own layout is a concern for thermal paste longevity and GPU hotspot degrading (I found out that VRM temp sensors ALSO report to the hotspot!! But the delta cannot be lower than +10C above GPU Core, if it's lower than 10C in "reality", it gets pushed up to 10C), as well as if you ever push the card hard (might only happen if you're shunt modding).
However the cause of the VRAM temps being high in YOUR case is not the core side--it's the backplate side.
If you look at your picture, you can see a serious problem with the bottom left of the card. The bottom left area starts 'degrading' in contact pressure, which you can see by a slow reduction in compression. This looks bizarre because one pattern of reduction is towards the bottom left of the GPU Core area (moving upwards) on the backplate, which is "Top left" of the core on the PCB itself, since it's flipped orientation. While the second pattern is bottom left away from the core going outward (towards the SLI / NVlink connector), which is top left no the PCB, but could in fact be the entire general area! I had similar issues myself (with uneven balance) when I used TM Odyssey on the backplate side (1.5mm) and to this day I could not figure out why. I suspect some sort of warping. I tried TM Odyssey 2.0mm pads on the backplate instead and temps were 2C better, but I then tried Gelid Extreme 2.0mm and Gelid Ultimate 2.0mm and had even better results.
So I think that is the direct culprit for your temp issues.
There is a complete fix to this.
First, switch to Gelid Extreme pads. You will need one pack of 1.5mm 80mm * 40mm Gelid Extreme pads, for the GPU Core side (if you want to be safe and are worried about cutting mistakes, buy two packs just for the core--for mistake reasons--if you had money for a 3090 FE, you have money or can get money for pads), *AND* one pack of Gelid Extreme 2.0mm pads. This will do the GPU VRM's, left and right strips, then you can use the leftovers for PART Of the backplate.
Then you need a second pack of Gelid Extreme 2.0mm pads for the backplate, and you can use the remaining of the first 2.0mm and then the rest of the second one, for VRAM, and PCB hotspots if necessary. I personally use "Gelid Ultimate 2.0mm" for the backplate side ONLY (due to extremes getting gooey and sticky over time on the hot backplate side) but as long as you remember to PRE-HEAT the card for future removals--you're fine with Extremes.
So: Total Tally:
1x 85mm * 45mm Gelid Extreme 1.5mm (2 if you want to be safe): GPU Front VRAM
2x 85mm * 45mm Gelid Extreme 2.0mm for VRM Strips /single small VRM chip front side, Backplate VRAM, PCB hotspots.
Note: you can substitute Gelid Extreme 2.0mm on the backplate for Gelid Ultimate 2.0mm. Gelid is officially selling 120mm * 120mm Gelid Ultimate pads now on their own direct website. (As well as a seller on USA Amazon). Do NOT buy the Gelid Extreme 'darker grey' 120mm * 120mm pads from China however, Gelid told us that they have quality issues.
Thermal Paste: Thermalright TFX, SYY-157, FuzeIce Plus, Alseye T9+ Platinum, Zezzio thermal paste 14.3 w/mk (same exact paste as SYY-157), Kryonaut Extreme, Arctic MX-5, GD007 (only buy this from GD's official website links which point to their aliexpress certified resellers: http://www.ourgd.net/about/?6.html ).
Picture of pad layout :
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Associate
- Joined
- 1 Jun 2019
- Posts
- 449
@Falkentyne Thanks for the guide. You posted it on reddit and I followed those instructions for my 3090FE. I did the back and front of the card. Used Gelid Extreme 1.5mm and 2mm for the front core side, and Gelid Extreme 2mm for back. TF8 paste for the core. After painfully slowly cutting the pads to size and putting it back together again the results are great.
Mining (not pushing for crazy hash rate) at 82 degrees, gaming, rendering maxes memory to ~70 degrees . GPU Core @ 51 degrees. Hot spot 64 Degrees.
I never used the Thermal right pads as you documented your experience with them. Just hope these temps hold up over time.
My stock 3090 padding was done relatively well I think but would still hit 100 during gaming.
Mining (not pushing for crazy hash rate) at 82 degrees, gaming, rendering maxes memory to ~70 degrees . GPU Core @ 51 degrees. Hot spot 64 Degrees.
I never used the Thermal right pads as you documented your experience with them. Just hope these temps hold up over time.
My stock 3090 padding was done relatively well I think but would still hit 100 during gaming.
Associate
Excellent results.
I saw this thread late.
Yes I see a few problems already.
First, TM Odyssey pads are not the correct pads to use. The VRAM FRONT pad measurement is "technically correct", although scientifically, it's 1.5mm left side, and 1.6mm right side (with the V shape to the right), but the original Nvidia pads are both 1.5mm. The problem is the compression. The TR pads do not compress very well. This isn't as much of a problem on the backplate side as on the core side, but if you look at your picture, you can see that the compression of the pads is VERY low. Yes there is contact but this will slowly compromise GPU Core contact with the heatsink. I should know--I used these pads back when we were discussing the original shunt mod on overclock.net and another user suggested these pads, after a second user posted measurements with a caliper. But I was able to test with pressure paper that core contact is VERY seriously compromised by lack of compression. Using Ultra Low Prescale FujiFilm pressure paper, there was literally NO mark on the pressure paper with the TM pads!
Here is your pad compression:
https://i.imgur.com/o33KJfx.jpg
Here is Gelid Extreme 1.5mm, which are much softer. First, right side.
https://i.imgur.com/QvbiKD4.jpg
While the right (V shape closest) VRAM pads aren't quite as good as the left, they're still better than yours, and the left pads are so good, you can read the chip writings on them!
Left side:
https://i.imgur.com/FswbeCK.jpg
For comparison, these are my really old TM Odyssey 1.5mm VRAM front pads I removed when deciding to change pads long ago (the first of many changes when switching to Gelid and TFX vs SYY-157 vs Thermagic ZF-EX thermal paste).
https://i.imgur.com/1YfXsHk.jpg
Another issue is the VRM pad strips. While the first modder on overclock.net in the shunt mod thread saw the original measurements of the VRM pads, which was only given as "1.8-2.0mm" without any direct specifics here:
https://www.overclock.net/threads/o...90-owners-club.1753930/page-213#post-28666890
I determined just by looking at the 1.5mm Gelid extreme pads in the two above screenshots that I also used on the VRM's, that the left and right pads are different--the left pads have decent contact but the right pad contact is very weak, which also explains the "melt" marks due to only a small section of the pad getting all the heat. Those pads that look like that, all but one is related to NVVDD, if you superimpose Igor's picture (have to flip it around backwards). So 1.5mm Gelid Extreme pads are BARELY sufficient and 1.5mm Thermalright Odyssey pads are actually very bad if you're heavily stressing the card. My solution was to use 2.0m Gelid Extremes on the two VRM strips together, and the small solo VRM pad.
This makes logical sense since if you look at the original Nvidia pads, you can see a slightly higher compression on the right VRM strip than the left VRM strip, just slightly. Which implies the left pad is 1.8mm and the right one is 2.0mm, with the right side "gap" difference maybe 0.1mm more than the left (which compensates for the "Extra" compression of the missing 0.1mm after!).
https://i.imgur.com/oVrb1EE.jpg (not my picture!)
Your own layout is a concern for thermal paste longevity and GPU hotspot degrading (I found out that VRM temp sensors ALSO report to the hotspot!! But the delta cannot be lower than +10C above GPU Core, if it's lower than 10C in "reality", it gets pushed up to 10C), as well as if you ever push the card hard (might only happen if you're shunt modding).
However the cause of the VRAM temps being high in YOUR case is not the core side--it's the backplate side.
If you look at your picture, you can see a serious problem with the bottom left of the card. The bottom left area starts 'degrading' in contact pressure, which you can see by a slow reduction in compression. This looks bizarre because one pattern of reduction is towards the bottom left of the GPU Core area (moving upwards) on the backplate, which is "Top left" of the core on the PCB itself, since it's flipped orientation. While the second pattern is bottom left away from the core going outward (towards the SLI / NVlink connector), which is top left no the PCB, but could in fact be the entire general area! I had similar issues myself (with uneven balance) when I used TM Odyssey on the backplate side (1.5mm) and to this day I could not figure out why. I suspect some sort of warping. I tried TM Odyssey 2.0mm pads on the backplate instead and temps were 2C better, but I then tried Gelid Extreme 2.0mm and Gelid Ultimate 2.0mm and had even better results.
So I think that is the direct culprit for your temp issues.
There is a complete fix to this.
First, switch to Gelid Extreme pads. You will need one pack of 1.5mm 80mm * 40mm Gelid Extreme pads, for the GPU Core side (if you want to be safe and are worried about cutting mistakes, buy two packs just for the core--for mistake reasons--if you had money for a 3090 FE, you have money or can get money for pads), *AND* one pack of Gelid Extreme 2.0mm pads. This will do the GPU VRM's, left and right strips, then you can use the leftovers for PART Of the backplate.
Then you need a second pack of Gelid Extreme 2.0mm pads for the backplate, and you can use the remaining of the first 2.0mm and then the rest of the second one, for VRAM, and PCB hotspots if necessary. I personally use "Gelid Ultimate 2.0mm" for the backplate side ONLY (due to extremes getting gooey and sticky over time on the hot backplate side) but as long as you remember to PRE-HEAT the card for future removals--you're fine with Extremes.
So: Total Tally:
1x 85mm * 45mm Gelid Extreme 1.5mm (2 if you want to be safe): GPU Front VRAM
2x 85mm * 45mm Gelid Extreme 2.0mm for VRM Strips /single small VRM chip front side, Backplate VRAM, PCB hotspots.
Note: you can substitute Gelid Extreme 2.0mm on the backplate for Gelid Ultimate 2.0mm. Gelid is officially selling 120mm * 120mm Gelid Ultimate pads now on their own direct website. (As well as a seller on USA Amazon). Do NOT buy the Gelid Extreme 'darker grey' 120mm * 120mm pads from China however, Gelid told us that they have quality issues.
Thermal Paste: Thermalright TFX, SYY-157, FuzeIce Plus, Alseye T9+ Platinum, Zezzio thermal paste 14.3 w/mk (same exact paste as SYY-157), Kryonaut Extreme, Arctic MX-5, GD007 (only buy this from GD's official website links which point to their aliexpress certified resellers: http://www.ourgd.net/about/?6.html ).
Picture of pad layout :
Wow thanks for the extensive guide, I wish I found this when I first did the mod. This makes a lot of sense as I can see my pads are barely compressed at all.
Temperature wise you can expect the 3080ti to be worse, it's pretty much the same GPU but with a cooler half the size.
Yeah it does seem a little worse but it doesn’t sound like a jet engine and haven’t voided the warranty.
Soldato
I decided to repad and repaste my 3090 today. 
I'm not a miner, and my temps weren't 'that' bad, but I still wanted to get the vram down from 96C, and I was quite convinced I could lower the core temp down from 71C @ 50% fan, knowing that Nvidia use terrible thermal paste.
The process took a couple of steady hours, and I had already purchased 4packs of 1.5mm Thermalright Extreme Odyssey a few weeks ago (Sorry Falkentyne). I used 3 packs with spare left over.
A few notes about the process.
Nvidia's thermal paste is crap, its was hard baked on. I was very happy to get it replaced.
My thermal pads didnt seem too bad, they looked evenly compressed across the PCB and came off all intact. They are the usual Nvidia fabric/hair/compound blend, very odd.
The small LED connector/cable was a blinkin pain to remove, thought it was going to snap even with lots of care.
When loosening and tightening back up the 'X' retention bracket screws, take care to only screw/unscrew them part way going round them all in turn bit by bit and then going round again and again untill the job is done to make sure its done evenly and squarely.
I wish I knew that the 4 magnetic screw caps on the backplate were lettered, that would have made reassembly easier if I had mapped their location. They do have locating pegs mind.
Having the right tools is a must, and so is a craft knife and straight edge for cutting the pads. I tried one cut with the scissors but they crushed the edge, so gave up using those.
Use plenty of isopropyl, cotton buds, and kitchen towel, to get everything clean.
The result for me after an hour of gaming, I've dropped Vram temp by 8C, down into the eighties now, and core temp has dropped nearly 10C, low sixties now and takes longer to warm up. Still with 50% fans. I have noticed the card holds slightly higher core clocks as a result.
Some pictures I took, might help someone thinking of doing the same.
Warranty? What warranty
If it ever came to it, Ive still got the old pads stuck on a sheet of plastic.
I'm not a miner, and my temps weren't 'that' bad, but I still wanted to get the vram down from 96C, and I was quite convinced I could lower the core temp down from 71C @ 50% fan, knowing that Nvidia use terrible thermal paste.
The process took a couple of steady hours, and I had already purchased 4packs of 1.5mm Thermalright Extreme Odyssey a few weeks ago (Sorry Falkentyne). I used 3 packs with spare left over.
A few notes about the process.
Nvidia's thermal paste is crap, its was hard baked on. I was very happy to get it replaced.
My thermal pads didnt seem too bad, they looked evenly compressed across the PCB and came off all intact. They are the usual Nvidia fabric/hair/compound blend, very odd.
The small LED connector/cable was a blinkin pain to remove, thought it was going to snap even with lots of care.
When loosening and tightening back up the 'X' retention bracket screws, take care to only screw/unscrew them part way going round them all in turn bit by bit and then going round again and again untill the job is done to make sure its done evenly and squarely.
I wish I knew that the 4 magnetic screw caps on the backplate were lettered, that would have made reassembly easier if I had mapped their location. They do have locating pegs mind.
Having the right tools is a must, and so is a craft knife and straight edge for cutting the pads. I tried one cut with the scissors but they crushed the edge, so gave up using those.
Use plenty of isopropyl, cotton buds, and kitchen towel, to get everything clean.
The result for me after an hour of gaming, I've dropped Vram temp by 8C, down into the eighties now, and core temp has dropped nearly 10C, low sixties now and takes longer to warm up. Still with 50% fans. I have noticed the card holds slightly higher core clocks as a result.
Some pictures I took, might help someone thinking of doing the same.
Warranty? What warranty
If it ever came to it, Ive still got the old pads stuck on a sheet of plastic.
Associate
- Joined
- 21 Oct 2012
- Posts
- 179
Thanks for posting this, the pictures of the thermal pad on the back plate is highly useful
I'm still wondering if I should do this or use a heatsink and fan
And yes it really annoys me that Nvidia will nullify the warranty if I open it
I'm still wondering if I should do this or use a heatsink and fan
And yes it really annoys me that Nvidia will nullify the warranty if I open it
They won't know.
Just keep the old pads and not break anything.
Not done it myself. But I wouldn't be worried about warranty refusal.
I dropped 12c off vram hotspot on my 3090 by adding 2 in take fans to my case, never underestimate how much airflow helps.
it's a Strix 3090, original cooler on vram hotspot gaming = 82c. I switched to ekwb backplate and watercooled front plate = 74c memory hotspot. And then finally I added more case fans and that dropped hotspot to 62c
it's a Strix 3090, original cooler on vram hotspot gaming = 82c. I switched to ekwb backplate and watercooled front plate = 74c memory hotspot. And then finally I added more case fans and that dropped hotspot to 62c
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