Improving 980ti fan cooling

digitaldreams · 2 May 2020 at 10:32

I'm considering removing the heatsink from my 980ti and cutting out some of the fan frame that clearly blocks the upper (case window side) heat exhaust by some 50% (why do they do that ??). I'll also upgrade the GPU thermal paste in a further attempt to bring temps down below the current 82c (and hence fan noise).

No problem in general yet some concern re the sticky thermal pads that are used to connect to the vram etc. Are these best replaced with more efficient thermal compound ?, are new pads available that may or may not be better than the original pads ?

Thanks in advance.

PieEater · 2 May 2020 at 11:24

If pads are used it's generally because the heatsink is not making direct contact with the components, so they are there to fill in the gap and assist with thermal transfer, if this is the case then you won't be able to use a thermal compound instead. It's been a while since I researched this but I don't think you will benefit a great deal by switching to aftermarket pads, I personally would retain the ones you have.

digitaldreams · 2 May 2020 at 11:46

PieEater said:
If pads are used it's generally because the heatsink is not making direct contact with the components, so they are there to fill in the gap and assist with thermal transfer, if this is the case then you won't be able to use a thermal compound instead. It's been a while since I researched this but I don't think you will benefit a great deal by switching to aftermarket pads, I personally would retain the ones you have.

Yes the GPU is my main concern yet the vram pads may rip on heatsink removal.

PieEater · 2 May 2020 at 15:57

The pads tend to be a rubberised material that just sit on top of the componants rather than being stuck on. I would say you would have to be pretty unlucky to damage them when dissasembling your cooler. You probably wouldn't be able to order replacements until you take the cooler apart as you will need to know the thickness in millimeters of the pads which you would need to measure when they are not being compressed. You could post in the graphics card section to see if anyone has dissasembled the same card and had to replace the pads.

digitaldreams · 6 May 2020 at 19:35

Job's done, dropped 20c under load !. Now hovers around 60c instead of 83c

Took apart and cleaned/dusted all but the sticky pads. Used Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut on the GPU, then cut away part of the fan shroud that was stupidly 70% blocking the case window side heat exhaust from the GPU !