Don't mean to necro, dunno if this thread is old by your guy's standards. But a google search brought me here, and well I had to make an account to add my two cents for any others potentially in the future that were in the same predicament I was in. Was running into issues where my 3080 fe was throttling and even crashing in some games.
After a surface level search I found numerous posts/videos/reddit threads saying replace the thermal pads with 2mm Gelids extremes. Ordered those, waited the week or so for the ship and slapped them in 2mm front and back and had some xtm50 sitting around that I used on the die. Boot up, and before I could even start stress testing gpu temps go up 75c idle memory would hover around 80c and hotspot 102c.
I do some more searching find a few threads stating someone used 3mm extremes on the back, and that 2mm where incorrect for the back. I even worried that the Corsair thermal paste wasnt up to snuff. So I ordered another batch of pads and paste (2mm, 3mm, and some nt-h2) and waited for ship. I redo the front pads with new ones thinking I pressed them too much and handeled them too much with bare hands. And apply the new 3mm pads to the back of the pcb. Upon putting it back together it immediately felt wrong. The 3mm pads were completely too thick and would barely allow the card to come back together. Thermals were a bit better, but as soon as an application was ran and card was put under even the slightest load fans would ramp to 100.
****** the hell off, I kept searching. I eventually stumbled upon you lovely lot of people and start digging through this thread. At the suggestion of @
Falkentyne ordered MORE this time some 1.5 mm and more 2mm. Also seen the mentioning of TFx which I threw that in for good measure. I followed the layout that was provided of how to lay out the pads (using different sizes in spots) on the front. Slathered that tfx on the die, slapped the back together with 2mm on the back. Temps immediately improves idle is down load temps are down. And the card is back to being whisper quiet.
Looking back I think It was solely me using the wrong sizes of pads not letting the die make good contact. That and the tfx was a great call. Thanks again and to anyone googling and stumbling on this forum. Follow
@Falkentyne advice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ps. heres a snip of thermals
https://imgur.com/a/Qiegsh5
