3080 FE Thermal Pad change: Mem Temps still 100c!! Help!

Rhaos · 19 Sep 2021 at 11:10

So, did the thermal pad change mod on my Founders Edition 3080.

Must have opened the card up three times now, and readjusted the thermal pads/squished them down but still cannot get the Memory Junction Temps below 100 Degrees Centigrade.

After running Heaven Benchmark the max temps of the Memory Junction hit 102c

I used the Gelid 3mm on the back and 2mmm on the gpu die side. I followed the template by CoolPenguin1 https://imgur.com/a/aJgLwMx. Anyone got any tips or suggestions on what I can try to fix this? Is there a particular spot on the card i need to be aware of to cover with the thermal pad?

uscool · 19 Sep 2021 at 11:49

should have taken some pictures, dont know why you should have issues if used Extreme gelid pads and followed the video, I myself did the back and front vram temps dropped to 82-86c mining getting 100 hash but noticed after 1 week the hashrate started to drop a lot with same settings and temps stil showed 82-86c so thinking somethng may have happened I opened it again didnt see anything wrong or pads moved so just re did the die side but for the back I only put 3mm gelid matching where the stock pads were located didnt bother with doing the vram underneath this time as most say doesnt do much for the back side only extra I did was this https://www.igorslab.de/en/simple-p...e-gddr6x-temperature-by-a-whopping-8-degrees/

the temps were the same and hashrate returned not sure what caused it but so far still fine

Also to note taking off the Gelid pads from the back board was nightmare it left a lot behind on the PCB didnt wanna scrap it off in danger of taking off small chips of PCB so just cleaned best I could to expose the chips that needed contact to the backplate with pads

If anyone knows how to clean off residu left from the gelid please let me know just incase for next time the die side wasnt difficult to remove as it was on the vram chips and easy to clean

tommoT.Striker · 19 Sep 2021 at 12:17

That doesn't sound too great for those Gelid Extremes! I imagine some people are going to come across replacing Gelid Extremes eventually, hopefully somebody figures out to clean it up properly. Guess Isopropyl wasn't good enough to remove them?

uscool · 19 Sep 2021 at 12:27

tommoT.Striker said:
That doesn't sound to great for those Gelid Extremes! I imagine some people are going to come across replacing Gelid Extremes eventually, hopefully somebody figures out to clean it up properly. Guess Isopropyl wasn't good enough to remove them?

I tried Isopropyl and also another thermal paste cleaner using cotton buds wonder if could get something that could desolve them without harming the board , was easy to remove from the VRAM and VRM wouldnt bother doing the back board underneath vram chips I didnt see much difference with and without at best maybe 1-2c ,

Rhaos · 19 Sep 2021 at 15:43

Try using sellotape or good adhesive tape on those places that the thermal pad has been embeded into. Worked for me

Anyways here are photos of the card front and back with pads applied. Please note these are taken after the removing the case around the card and not straight after applying the pads.

One of the smaller pads on the back of the card looks quite butchered so repalced it although its not in the photo

Really interested to hear if I've missed a spot

https://ibb.co/qsGSm3W

https://ibb.co/5rkwCvQ

Rhaos · 19 Sep 2021 at 18:19

Redid it all 3 times today, Reapplied thermal paste and pressing down on the pads to make sure they are were not preventing the backpaltes from making contact.

And still no joy.

I'm stumped completely as to what I have done wrong here.

Starting to wonder if I should rebuy another load of Gelid Thermal pads.

Anyone got any ideas what else top try here? Starting to regret changing the pads now

labbby · 19 Sep 2021 at 18:33

Rhaos said:
Redid it all 3 times today, Reapplied thermal paste and pressing down on the pads to make sure they are were not preventing the backpaltes from making contact.

And still no joy.

I'm stumped completely as to what I have done wrong here.

Starting to wonder if I should rebuy another load of Gelid Thermal pads.

Anyone got any ideas what else top try here? Starting to regret changing the pads now

i could be talking rubbish here as ive only looked into doing on the 3090 and it was a while back. Isn't the thickness of the pad supposed to be 1.5mm on the die side ? if it's to thick it can stop the actual die making so it just pumps out heat round the vrm's.

uscool · 19 Sep 2021 at 18:34

When you say redid ? Are you re using the old pads ? Pretty sure when I re did mine I could see the inprint well compressed on the pads

uscool · 19 Sep 2021 at 18:35

labbby said:
i could be talking rubbish here as ive only looked into doing on the 3090 and it was a while back. Isn't the thickness of the pad supposed to be 1.5mm on the die side ? if it's to thick it can stop the actual die making so it just pumps out heat round the vrm's.

For 3080fe it's 2mm extreme gelid for die side

labbby · 19 Sep 2021 at 18:49

uscool said:
For 3080fe it's 2mm extreme gelid for die side

ah ok

Rhaos · 19 Sep 2021 at 19:53

So I've had a disaster

Tried to remove the backplate screws and one of the hex screws is threaded.......fml

Had enough of this, spent all day trying to remedy this all for nothing.

Should never have bothered doing this.

FlyingFish · 19 Sep 2021 at 19:59

I'm no expert on thermal pads, but those pictures make your pads look like play doh. Are you sure they are supposed to look like that? It looks like you 'pressed' them down?

I would imagine, they are supposed to 'stick' in place, and then the heatsink, or backplate presses them down when refitted.
I did my 3090 yesterday, pads look like this.

Just seen your reply, has a screw cross threaded?

Rhaos · 19 Sep 2021 at 20:13

yes

the head of the screw wont loosen and the star head I used is just spining in top of the screw and I cant get it undone. The other 3 loosen no issue, just this one and I have no way to get it lose.

Gutted and at a loss what to do.

My pads were like that originally, but i had no improvement. Searched the internet and noticed a few people had the same issue as I did on Reddit. They managed to resolve the hotspot issue by squishing down the pads.

If anyone has a time machine or knows a magician send them my way.

FlyingFish · 19 Sep 2021 at 20:29

Can you post a picture, a good close up?
Options will be, force next size bit into head and force it to turn or Dremel a slot, or drill the screw out.
If these things are out of your comfort zone, then you need to find a good electronics repair shop.

Psycho Sonny · 19 Sep 2021 at 20:30

it's 2mm you want to use. unless you use the really squishy stuff then you can use bigger as it compresses more

varkanoid · 19 Sep 2021 at 20:30

3mm on the back is way too thick. Its a mix of 1.5mm and 2mm. I know I measured them.

Also see have a read at this

its allegedly the thread that kicked this all off

https://www.overclock.net/threads/possibly-widespread-cooling-issues-on-rtx-3090-fe.1775245/page-3

uscool · 19 Sep 2021 at 20:45

varkanoid said:
3mm on the back is way too thick. Its a mix of 1.5mm and 2mm. I know I measured them.

Also see have a read at this

its allegedly the thread that kicked this all off

https://www.overclock.net/threads/possibly-widespread-cooling-issues-on-rtx-3090-fe.1775245/page-3

Are you sure because good few guides mention gelid Xtreme pads 2mm for die side and 3mm for back abs have had good results as I have with 3080 Fe . Or you on about the 3090fe ?

Gelid Xtreme are meant to be very squashy

Rhaos · 19 Sep 2021 at 21:12

FlyingFish said:
Can you post a picture, a good close up?
Options will be, force next size bit into head and force it to turn or Dremel a slot, or drill the screw out.
If these things are out of your comfort zone, then you need to find a good electronics repair shop.

Thanks FlyingFish, I'll post pics tomorrow at some point.

All the videos and guides I've seen for 3080FE say Gelid extreme 3mm for back and 2mm for Front GPU side.

uscool · 19 Sep 2021 at 21:25

this is how I did mine, I did re do them and the 2nd time I didnt do the back board for vram just did the stock locations with 3mm with igor mod placement didnt take pictures the second time I did it

When I redone them I just put the 3mm following the stock locations and size

and this following the ogor pad mod

im4gine3 · 19 Sep 2021 at 21:41

Rhaos said:
yes

the head of the screw wont loosen and the star head I used is just spining in top of the screw and I cant get it undone. The other 3 loosen no issue, just this one and I have no way to get it lose.

Gutted and at a loss what to do.

My pads were like that originally, but i had no improvement. Searched the internet and noticed a few people had the same issue as I did on Reddit. They managed to resolve the hotspot issue by squishing down the pads.

If anyone has a time machine or knows a magician send them my way.

If its just the top head which won't turn. Try unscrewing with an elastic band between the screwdriver and screw