Maximising The Life of Your GPU/Pad + Paste Replacement

[xPETEZx]

I would imagine it is pretty easy to tell if the thermal pads have been changed though? So when you send a broken card back they can just identify that and cancel the warranty.

They would need to open up the card to check. And I cant see why they would do that. As in the vast majority of cases, theyd find nothing, so have just wasted time in opening up a card.
Now rather than throwing the card in a test bench, checking if it works and moving on, they would need to employ more skilled staff at this stage which can take the card apart carefully. Inspect the pads and board, and then decide if they will honour the warranty.
At this point, it gets down to consumer rights too. If they told me "you changed the pads, warranty void", Id be throwing back at them to prove to me that my changing of the pads caused the card to fail.
If they continue to refuse, ill send a letter to the legal department that I plan to take them to small claims court.
At this point... I just cant see any of it is worth it. At BEST they save themselves whatever it costs to make a 3090. But now they might have to pay a lawyer.... thats more than the card is worth.

MAYBE your right, and they will prove my pad change is why my card failed. But I just cant see it... From what I have seen of nVidia RMA's, they are pretty quick turn around. And as said... for that to happen I cant see them wasting time opening every RMA'ed card they get.

 

[anderton46]

They would need to open up the card to check. And I cant see why they would do that. As in the vast majority of cases, theyd find nothing, so have just wasted time in opening up a card.
Now rather than throwing the card in a test bench, checking if it works and moving on, they would need to employ more skilled staff at this stage which can take the card apart carefully. Inspect the pads and board, and then decide if they will honour the warranty.
At this point, it gets down to consumer rights too. If they told me "you changed the pads, warranty void", Id be throwing back at them to prove to me that my changing of the pads caused the card to fail.
If they continue to refuse, ill send a letter to the legal department that I plan to take them to small claims court.
At this point... I just cant see any of it is worth it. At BEST they save themselves whatever it costs to make a 3090. But now they might have to pay a lawyer.... thats more than the card is worth.

MAYBE your right, and they will prove my pad change is why my card failed. But I just cant see it... From what I have seen of nVidia RMA's, they are pretty quick turn around. And as said... for that to happen I cant see them wasting time opening every RMA'ed card they get.

I don't think they would need to prove the pads were what led to the faulty card. The fact they have a disclaimer stating any modification voids the warranty, or some have stickers saying removing said screw voids warranty would sufficiently have them covered.

Pretty sure it's the same with most electronics products. If it has obviously been opened up the warranty is void. Now like you say whether they open up cards, who knows. But risking half a grands worth of warranty for the sake of potentially a few degrees doesn't make much sense to most.

 

[Benass]

They would need to open up the card to check. And I cant see why they would do that. As in the vast majority of cases, theyd find nothing, so have just wasted time in opening up a card.
Now rather than throwing the card in a test bench, checking if it works and moving on, they would need to employ more skilled staff at this stage which can take the card apart carefully. Inspect the pads and board, and then decide if they will honour the warranty.
At this point, it gets down to consumer rights too. If they told me "you changed the pads, warranty void", Id be throwing back at them to prove to me that my changing of the pads caused the card to fail.
If they continue to refuse, ill send a letter to the legal department that I plan to take them to small claims court.
At this point... I just cant see any of it is worth it. At BEST they save themselves whatever it costs to make a 3090. But now they might have to pay a lawyer.... thats more than the card is worth.

MAYBE your right, and they will prove my pad change is why my card failed. But I just cant see it... From what I have seen of nVidia RMA's, they are pretty quick turn around. And as said... for that to happen I cant see them wasting time opening every RMA'ed card they get.

Some ppl don't understand how it works. And they are afraid. The ones that know how it works, can and do make changes and still get warranty if needed.

 

[Sarge2255]

I'd not bother replacing them on a new card unless I was fitting a water cooler. You are more likely to damage it and void your warranty.
Just ensure there is good airflow in your case and give it a good dusting every now and then (every 6 months or so)
I'd recommend one of the electric air dusters you can get they are better than canned air.

This +1 , simply not worth the risk

 

[Sarge2255]

Id be throwing back at them to prove to me that my changing of the pads caused the card to fail.

How exactly would you prove that?
You may have replaced the pads incorrectly, how are they supposed to know, hence why they void warranty if taken apart for that. They allow you to overclock like crazy but that's not enough , you molest the card's internals and still want to force their hand with warranty? Your intended purpose is good, to reduce temps, but their rules void the warranty if stickers are removed . I guess , an option could be to get an AMD card as they run much cooler than NV.

 

[Ivs]

Thanks to all of you. Once I get my 3070, I'll test temps and go from there.

Thanks for all the advice.

(Only thing left to do now is wait. Fingers crossed, Christmas this year brings the supply up and the prices down. Visited my mate who's got a 3080. Beautiful piece of tech)

 

[xPETEZx]

How exactly would you prove that?
You may have replaced the pads incorrectly, how are they supposed to know, hence why they void warranty if taken apart for that. They allow you to overclock like crazy but that's not enough , you molest the card's internals and still want to force their hand with warranty? Your intended purpose is good, to reduce temps, but their rules void the warranty if stickers are removed . I guess , an option could be to get an AMD card as they run much cooler than NV.

What load of crap are you talking?
How is opening a card "molesting" the card? Is fitting a CPU (which Id rank higher risk... bend a few pins and you could be in trouble) also "molesting"?

If they claim my changing the pads broke the card, I expect them to back it up. Its not good enough to simply go "well the changed pads might have done it".
You wouldn't accept that for anything else. If they say my changing of the pads has caused the card to fail, I expect something to back that up.
And consumer law does not allow them to simply state "you opened the card so warranty void". Hence those stickers dont really exist anymore.
If it was as easy as that, they could go one further "you installed the card wrong, warranty void" Ok? Well prove it!

They also dont allow you to overclock it like crazy strictly speaking. That voids the warranty too... Yet I dont see you nannies out in force saying so everytime somebody mentions overclocking or undervolting?

If you do not want to change thermal pads or open your card up, fine then don't. But stop spreading un substantiated claims.
The people doing this are aware that they COULD be putting there warranty at risk.

Heck, building a computer carries the constant risk of void a warranty.

Drop a CPU in the socket while installing it and bend a pin? Warranty void.
Break a power connector while inserting power cables? Warranty void.
Incorrectly seat a GPU and damage the PCIe slot? Warranty void.

My point being there are many things we all do when building a PC that COULD lead to a warranty being void if you are not careful.

 

[anderton46]

What load of crap are you talking?
How is opening a card "molesting" the card? Is fitting a CPU (which Id rank higher risk... bend a few pins and you could be in trouble) also "molesting"?

If they claim my changing the pads broke the card, I expect them to back it up. Its not good enough to simply go "well the changed pads might have done it".
You wouldn't accept that for anything else. If they say my changing of the pads has caused the card to fail, I expect something to back that up.
And consumer law does not allow them to simply state "you opened the card so warranty void". Hence those stickers dont really exist anymore.
If it was as easy as that, they could go one further "you installed the card wrong, warranty void" Ok? Well prove it!

They also dont allow you to overclock it like crazy strictly speaking. That voids the warranty too... Yet I dont see you nannies out in force saying so everytime somebody mentions overclocking or undervolting?

If you do not want to change thermal pads or open your card up, fine then don't. But stop spreading un substantiated claims.
The people doing this are aware that they COULD be putting there warranty at risk.

Heck, building a computer carries the constant risk of void a warranty.

Drop a CPU in the socket while installing it and bend a pin? Warranty void.
Break a power connector while inserting power cables? Warranty void.
Incorrectly seat a GPU and damage the PCIe slot? Warranty void.

My point being there are many things we all do when building a PC that COULD lead to a warranty being void if you are not careful.

you've missed the point again. They don't need to prove YOU broke the card by changing the pads. All they need to do is notice the card has been opened and modified and that voids the warranty. Simple stuff.

 

[xPETEZx]

you've missed the point again. They don't need to prove YOU broke the card by changing the pads. All they need to do is notice the card has been opened and modified and that voids the warranty. Simple stuff.

Its really not.
As I said... you have consumer rights. Those rights cant be waived by a disclaimer on a website.
My belief is they simply put those disclaimers there to heavily discourage people modifying the cards in anyway. And, if anybody is stupid enough to admit to doing something they state voids the warranty before the card arrives.
If there word is all it takes, they could simply claim "you overclocked the card. warranty void". They need to be able to prove what they claim. Possibly in court.
And I think as soon as court action looks likely, they will simply fold. Sending a lawyer is going to cost more than the card is worth.

As I keep saying... if you are not comfortable changing pads or anything else, then DONT. But just stop with the hyperbole, and "shaming" people who do.

For me it wasnt about "a few degrees" either. The issue is NOISE. These cards get bloody loud once temps hit 104+ on the VRAM.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Hi guys, I need some of your wisdom.

Im planning on buying a brand new 3070 once prices are reasonable and I want to maximise its lifespan. I know the cooler you can keep your system the longer the components tend to last. (In regards to the case, I have one with superb airflow [Phanteks P600S], so Im good there).

Ive looked at a lot of material online and it seems the ASUS TUF and Gigabyte Gaming OC seem to have the best temps.

I have a specific question: is there any benefit to changing the thermal pads and thermal paste of a GPU with high grade replacements once you buy it? Does it make a difference to temps? Are the ones that come with the card out of the factory the best you can get/good enough? Any of your wisdom on this would be great.

Also, any other tips/wisdom on keeping your GPU cool as possible would be greatly appreciated.

If you want to keep GPU as cool as possible then run a riser into a freezer and put the GPU inside said freezer

 

[LtMatt]

If the GPU uses thermal paste then it can be beneficial to change paste depending on how good a job was done at the factory. However you may not need to do this for years, typically.

If the GPU uses a thermal pad then i would not recommend changing it unless you are going water cooling.

I have re-pasted many GPUs over the years and had great sucess, but the three times I've replaced a thermal pad with paste (5700 XT x2 and a 6900 XT) it has always resulted in worse temps over the original (pad) solution.

You may also lose warranty if you change paste and one of the screws has a warranty void if removed sticker on it. But this is always a bit of a grey area.

 

[J.D]

Thanks to all of you. Once I get my 3070, I'll test temps and go from there.

Thanks for all the advice.

(Only thing left to do now is wait. Fingers crossed, Christmas this year brings the supply up and the prices down. Visited my mate who's got a 3080. Beautiful piece of tech)

A nice custom fan curve will serve you well. I run a 165hz screen (3080) so I cap my FPS at 162 for constant g-sync with very little input lag. That keeps temps down and for demanding games, the fan curve keeps temperatures in check. I have no thoughts or concerns of opening my card up (I've had it since November 2020) as everything is running perfectly.

Good luck on getting your card.

 

[LtMatt]

A nice custom fan curve will serve you well. I run a 165hz screen (3080) so I cap my FPS at 162 for constant g-sync with very little input lag. That keeps temps down and for demanding games, the fan curve keeps temperatures in check. I have no thoughts or concerns of opening my card up (I've had it since November 2020) as everything is running perfectly.

Good luck on getting your card.

Well I'll be damned, if it ain't the Ol parner J.D.

 

[J.D]

Well I'll be damned, if it ain't the Ol parner J.D.

Howdy Lt.Matt. Just pop in once in a while to make sure Cyber-Mav isn't doing any Nvidia shilling roun' these parts. 6 shooter at the ready.

I'm trying to keep the "Bigfoot" vibe going. A rare appearance once in a while to keep the conspiracy lads in business.

 

[LtMatt]

Howdy Lt.Matt. Just pop in once in a while to make sure Cyber-Mav isn't doing any Nvidia shilling roun' these parts. 6 shooter at the ready.

I'm trying to keep the "Bigfoot" vibe going. A rare appearance once in a while to keep the conspiracy lads in business.

Lol, good to see you back!

 

[Benass]

you've missed the point again. They don't need to prove YOU broke the card by changing the pads. All they need to do is notice the card has been opened and modified and that voids the warranty. Simple stuff.

Its not that simple.
Customer rights overule the disclamers. As Petez said u just have to be careful of what you telling when u RMA the damn thing.

In the end of the day warranty depends on what u SAY when u apply for it.

 

[Sarge2255]

If they claim my changing the pads broke the card, I expect them to back it up

The issue, is that they have stickers on some of the screws on the cards, so when you open the card to mod it, you breach their warranty terms. So, I am assuming they will use that as an excuse to avoid their responsibilities. If they do refuse it, in your own words, you then would have to take them to court. All that bother! Just to get A manufacturer to honour a warranty. Just to get 5c-8c of the temps, when there are many ways to make the cards run quieter. Mostly in game with headphones, you can't even hear a noisy card and when you are not gaming these new cards stop the fan spinning.

Personally, I would leave the card alone and run it with a fan curve or undervolt it, lightly. If it does fail, I'll send it straight for RMA without any worries.

Also, if paying thousands for a GPU, warranty is very important. As you could end up out of pockets large!

 

[VersionMonkey]

Its really not.
As I said... you have consumer rights. Those rights cant be waived by a disclaimer on a website.

In the UK, consumer rights are only enforceable against the retailer not the manufacturer (unless you bought direct from the manufacturer, but then only because they are also the retailer under those circumstances).

Manufacturers are free to set whatever terms they like for their warranties as they are in addition to the statutory remedies you have available to you against the retailer.

 

[xPETEZx]

The issue, is that they have stickers on some of the screws on the cards, so when you open the card to mod it, you breach their warranty terms. So, I am assuming they will use that as an excuse to avoid their responsibilities. If they do refuse it, in your own words, you then would have to take them to court. All that bother! Just to get A manufacturer to honour a warranty. Just to get 5c-8c of the temps, when there are many ways to make the cards run quieter. Mostly in game with headphones, you can't even hear a noisy card and when you are not gaming these new cards stop the fan spinning.

Personally, I would leave the card alone and run it with a fan curve or undervolt it, lightly. If it does fail, I'll send it straight for RMA without any worries.

Also, if paying thousands for a GPU, warranty is very important. As you could end up out of pockets large!

You realise undervolting/overclocking technically voids the warranty too right?

I dont game with headphones, so the noise is very irritating to me. I am still left with the annoying coil-whine mind you... so the re-pad only partly fixed my issue.

Just because you dont feel the need to re-pad your card, does not mean you need to spread fear and conjecture to those that do.
There is always the risk that a warranty isnt honoured and you have to fight for it. Maybe they claim you spilled liquid on it as they say they detected a "residue" or they claim you overclocked it or just that you installed it wrong.
Look around... how many threads or topics do you see people needing to claim warranty at all?
And of those... how many get rejected for any reason? (The most recent I have seen rejected on this forum was as the guy was not the original buyer and did not have the invoice from the scalper they purchased from)

In the UK, consumer rights are only enforceable against the retailer not the manufacturer (unless you bought direct from the manufacturer, but then only because they are also the retailer under those circumstances).

Manufacturers are free to set whatever terms they like for their warranties as they are in addition to the statutory remedies you have available to you against the retailer.

Ill be honest, I haven't looked that far into it yet. So I cant refute what you say.
In any case, I purchased the card through nVidia's site. It was then fulfilled by there chosen UK retailer. Wether that counts as being sold by nvidia or the competitor I dont know. In any case I would probably first try to RMA via the retailer, IF they have any stock. If not, nvidia direct.
Fingers crossed I never need to anyway. But from what I have seen of people reporting there RMA stories, seems they are pretty good, and fairly quick.

 

[Sarge2255]

You realise undervolting/overclocking technically voids the warranty too right?

No it doesn't as far as I'm aware, on most cards. Aorus , they advertise how they have bigger capacitors for overclocking and their software allows overclocking although it is restricted to a certain limit, stay in those limits and your fine. Look at motherboards, some are built for the overclock with preset OC settings in the bios.

With GPUs, most AIB cards come factory OC.

• Msi
• Aorus
• Zotac

All encouraged OC and have the software on their sites.

Look around... how many threads or topics do you see people needing to claim warranty at all?
And of those... how many get rejected for any reason?

There are others, there was a member who water cooled his card and it stopped working.