Heatsinks on GPU Backplate

Soldato
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I've repasted and repadded my 6800XT and was wondering if anyone has ever stuck some heatsinks on their GPU backplate above the GPU and memory modules where the thermal pads are and if so was there any appreciable difference in temps.

/Edit: The rainforest place has some active and passive backplate coolers, but I can't really find any positive user feedback.
 
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What I've done in the past with passive backplates I've put on as part of a water cooling setup is just put an 80mm fane above the hot areas with some standoff legs to raise it above the plate, it basically just sits on top of the card. I've no before and after temperatures but common sense says it will be doing something, assuming the backplate is actually in contact with the back of the card via heat pads. I have considered adding those copper ram sinks to enhance this even more but never got round to it. If you added the sinks on their own to your card then I think it would be safe to safe there would be some heat transfer, but would defo be enhanced with some local air flow on to the sinks as per the close fan idea. The only thing to consider beyond this is whether the sinks are going to leave any residue on the plate which you either can't get off, or it somehow leaves an indelible mark, and as such might reduce the sell on value.
Thanks for the idea, I have a spare 92mm fan and will run some tests, what I don't want to happen though for heated to get blown against the side of the case so it gets recirculated to the main GPU cooler as this will defeat the object, so was thinking a large passive heatsink would be better in this respect.
 
Is the backplate actually metal and thermally connected to the board?
Yes and yes, the backplate gets pretty toasty during gaming so there is definitely good thermal conductivity to it, I'll put a thermal sensor on it when I run the tests with the fan on top.
 
How hot does the backplate feel by the way?

edit: nevermind, answered above.

A bare heatsink would work to some extent, but obviously depends how much general air flow there is. A close fan would work wonders though. As I say, if you are going to be using thermal paste I would lay a fairly confidant bet this would leave a tarnish mark on the plate, so be aware of that. An adhesive pad might not leave as much of a mark, but it is still something to be aware of, if it matters to you.
Thanks - I've just run a quick test and the backplate gets to 55c above the GPU core. If I got a heatsink I was planning on getting a thermal pad to go under it and just putting a dab of adhesive at the corners and in the centre edge with some weight on it so it should stick with good contact and be fairly easy to remove and clean if necessary. Airflow isn't an isssue, I've got 4 140mm intakes and 4 140mm exhausts.
 
After a bit of playing around with a 92mm fan the best results obtained dropped ~2c from all temps (backplate / GPU / memory / VRM) which is a bit disappointing. But I have a big airy case (Fractal Meshify 2 XL) with a decent amount of airflow including a 140mm exhaust a couple of inches away from the backplate which I'm guessing will be helping. So for now I'm not going to bother but it's been an interesting experiment.
 
I was planning to do something similar to my 3090FE, my memory hits max temp and the back plate is very hot so was going to stick a heatsink directly to the backplate to add some surface area.
If you check the rainforest site for GPU Backplate they all seem to mention the 30x0 cards so I'm guessing this is a common problem. There's a fairly decent looking active one with dual 70mm fans for £33 which is probably what I'd go for if I decided to fir a cooler though it doesn't come with a thermal pad like some of the others so you'd potentially have to factor that in.
 
So this is what I've ended up with, an aluminium heatsink (150 x 93 x 15mm) sat on top of a self adhesive 1mm thermal pad, held in place with 3 zip ties with a 92mm PWM fan controlled by a thermal sensor on the GPU blowing air over it to be picked up by the exhaust. I have an Asus GPU holder supporting it (the aluminium heatsink is surprisingly heavy). Cost of heatsink, thermal pad and fan came to just under £30.

54289595134_8b675ddb35_o.jpg


10 Runs of 3DMark Stress TestBeforeAfter
GPU Temp75.4c70.8c
Memory Temp60c58c
Hotspot106c91.9c
 
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Would be interesting to see the difference using just the fan makes.
I tried a fan in the orientation it is now, also with it sat on spacers blowing down on the card, and with it on spacers blowing air up and away from the card, none of these made a huge difference maybe 2-3c at most although the one sucking air away from the card blowing upwards had no effect.
 
That's a beast of a heatsink and knocking 14.1 degrees C off the hotspot looks to have been well worth doing.
The best thing is I can game (Stalkker2) with the hotspot hovering under 80 and the fans running under 2000rpm as opposed to 3000rpm before which was starting to get on my nerves as my PC is on my desk about 3 ft away.
 
Looks to have had a good impact. My only suggestion would be to maybe have used some black nylon cord to tie it down instead of the cable ties. It would fit through the grooves on the sink and as long as you can do up the knots on the pcie slot end so it is not visible, I reckon you'd be able to get enough pressure on the sink. Did you thread the cable ties without removing the backplate first by threading through a gap, or did you take it off first to get the ties where they need to be, then re-assemble?
Thanks for your comments, I'm relying on the fact that the thermal pad is self adhesive and is thin enough to have compressed to where it needs to be (I had to fill some of the screw holes underneath it with thermal paste) rather than using the zip ties to add much in the way of additional pressure, primarily they're there to make sure the heatsink doesn't move if I need to do any work in the case or on the card. They are where they are because of the components on the back of the card, they have to go where the space is regardless. My first idea was to use nylon thread but it was really difficult to judge where it needed to go and to thread it through. I may swap the zip ties for thread in the future but it's working well as is and it doesn't look that bad where I'm sat.
 
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