Why are people so readily changing thermal pads on the 3080? Does it not void the warranty? I've never done it before but I'd be nervous tinkering with something that valuable.
Seems as though cards vary in quality along with other ambient variables (room and case temperatures, airflow etc).
I have no real reason to change the pads on my 3080 FE at all, but it runs cooler than a friend's card. But whilst his VRAM has hit 105c in the heatwave, he's not tempted to do any work. Mine boosts better too.
Undervolting helps too, of course.