MSI 390 Thermal Paste causing Heat Issues. Replaced

Randall8686 · 28 Dec 2015 at 15:26

So I thought to myself that our MSI R9 390 Gaming was getting extremely hot. Gaming on COD was seeing 77c and in tomb raider (that game is hard on gpu's) 94c!!!! yes 94c and the game kept crashing upsetting my Mrs and my ears for not fixing the pc.

So i thought maybe the thermal paste is either not applied correct or too little or two much (typical manufacturing errors) So i opened up the card annoyingly breaking MSI's "if removed warrenty void" sticker however i will battle that out if it ever came to a RMA.

This is what i found. Way too much thermal paste the chip was swimming in the stuff. as you can see from the pictures. So i replaced it with IC Diamond (had some kicking about) and well here are the temperature differenced

COD for 20 mins Before 77c after 61c........... 16c lower
Tomb Raider Before 94c after 71c............ 23c lower

Room Ambient 23c on both tests. Case fans all set to 60%

So averaging about 20c lower temps just from changing the Thermal paste. Im tempted to actually email this to MSI and see what they say as i think given that difference in performance that should be looked at in their quality process.

MSI Standard thermal paste.

The standard paste caked all over the heat sink

Ahh there is a GPU under the paste, I also re applied the thermal strip covering the power caps as it was only half covering the top one.

removing the TIM from the side of the chip with a cotton bud.

I went with the "Line" approach due to the GPU not being square

I then decided to check as i though i applied a little to much and confirmed there was a little too much so i cleaned it all off and applied about 20% less again in a line. Here is after i took it off to check

Again checking the HS after applying my own Tim (I cleaned and re applied 20% less) with a slightly longer line due to it missing the corners.

Overall this has made her Machine so much more stable and of course the GPU a lot cooler. Im sure it being IC diamond will knock 2-3c off over standard paste but 23c has to just be due to it acting more like insulator.

Any way thought i would share this in case any one else is having high temps.

setter · 28 Dec 2015 at 15:31

Good results, not a bad idea to contact them regarding this. A bit less paste per card will save them a few quid. Companies love anything that saves money.

AiiR · 28 Dec 2015 at 15:36

Wow, exactly the same issue with mine. Most games are 94c under load. I think mine needs some new paste too.

fs123 · 28 Dec 2015 at 15:36

I recently got a used XFX 290X DD Black Edition and had the same problem. Overclocking the card to 1150MHz (+50mv) would get to over 87C in Tombraider benchmark after letting it sit at the results screen for around 8 minutes. The fan speed was also hitting 95%+ . Took the heatsink off and it had a similar appearance as your MSI paste but the paste was thicker and drier.

Used the cross method with Arctic MX4 and the temps max out at 79C now at fan speed of 80% in Tombraider benchmark and are normally around 75C ingame. I might try the line method since I think I put a bit too much paste on but the temps are much better than before.

new boy · 28 Dec 2015 at 15:36

good job

Randall8686 · 28 Dec 2015 at 15:38

AiiR said:
Wow, exactly the same issue with mine. Most games are 94c under load. I think mine needs some new paste too.

From what i have read once the card gets to 94c it throttles the GPU slowing clock speeds so that the temp does not go any higher meaning less FPS too. Thats why it never goes over 94c as it simply throttles the card.

ED209 · 28 Dec 2015 at 15:51

I have the sapphire 390 and when playing csgo and killing floor 2 my gpu doesn't go over 62c which I was happy with.

good job on the paste and cant believe how much was on it to start with

SouthEastBlue · 28 Dec 2015 at 15:53

When I changed the paste on my old MSI 290 it barely changed the temps, and there was much less than you seem to have on your card. I'm unsure if this is something they do manually or by machine, but obviously they over did a touch on your card.

Randall8686 · 28 Dec 2015 at 15:55

SouthEastBlue said:
When I changed the paste on my old MSI 290 it barely changed the temps, and there was much less than you seem to have on your card. I'm unsure if this is something they do manually or by machine, but obviously they over did a touch on your card.

going by the second pic and the corners this is applied with a template of some description you can even see how thick the template applies it. But yea totally over done lol. she has been playing Tomb Raider for about an hour now temps still nice and low and the card must have been throttling as the FPS is more stable. Very happy with the results.

anthony566 · 28 Dec 2015 at 16:10

Quite often replacing the factory paste is on of the things you the YouTube reviewers/testers doing to get a drop in running temps on GPU's. if mine starts to run hot it will be the first thing I do to it but they seem to be running ok atm.

Well done with the re-paste

Scougar · 28 Dec 2015 at 16:10

To me it doesn't look like the cooler was making proper contact with the die.

Gilbert89 · 28 Dec 2015 at 16:44

I was having issues with my MSI 290X and recently replaced the paste however it seemed that 90% of the paste was around my GPU with hardly any on the actual GPU.

Similar Results though 15/20c temp difference depending on particular games.

All this "time" and money they apparently spend on their beefy "Twin Frozr" design bla bla ba and then they can't even manage A, Decent thermal paste and B, decent application of that rubbish paste!

Randall8686 · 28 Dec 2015 at 17:18

Gilbert89 said:
I was having issues with my MSI 290X and recently replaced the paste however it seemed that 90% of the paste was around my GPU with hardly any on the actual GPU.

Similar Results though 15/20c temp difference depending on particular games.

All this "time" and money they apparently spend on their beefy "Twin Frozr" design bla bla ba and then they can't even manage A, Decent thermal paste and B, decent application of that rubbish paste!

it does seem a bit pointless going to all the effort of creating a half decent cooler and then hashing the thermal paste up so much that it adds 20c of temperature. Im fairly sure a reference cooler and decent paste applied correctly would do a better job than what i had.

Still she has now been playing tomb raider for 2 hours and temps are still stable.

TheMorningStar · 28 Dec 2015 at 17:25

I love MSI but had the same thing with my 7950, not quite as bad as your 390 but still too much, couldn't tell you what my temps were but I know there was a noticeable difference, stopped it's fans kicking in playing CS:GO etc

r7slayer · 28 Dec 2015 at 17:31

Just goes to show people more isn't always better when thermal paste is concerned. Need to remember it's only to improve contact between the heatsink and the core not to be used as a sandwich filler. Very thin layer is needed to be most efficient. Even manufacturers get this wrong.

jono_astra · 28 Dec 2015 at 18:28

Juggy1985 · 28 Dec 2015 at 18:35

My Sapphire nitro 390 which is running at 1100/1700 (1040/1500 stock) barely see's the low 70's!

I've always thought MSI to be good quality aswell! Maybe good components but bad quality control.

ltron · 28 Dec 2015 at 22:32

This is surprising from MSI. My Sapphire tri-x 390X is cooler on the core usually low 70s high 60s, but the VRM temps can get hot sometimes with up to 90C VRM1 temp with VSync off, I have heard that MSI's VRM temps are much better.

Blackjack Davy · 28 Dec 2015 at 22:44

Thats strange. I really don't have that problem with my MSI 390. I'm away from home for the present so don't have access to gpu-z shots but

ltron said:
This is surprising from MSI. My Sapphire tri-x 390X is cooler on the core usually low 70s high 60s, but the VRM temps can get hot sometimes with up to 90C VRM1 temp with VSync off, I have heard that MSI's VRM temps are much better.

Mine is usually around the 70's, high 80's if I overclock it although the VRM's don't get anywhere near that hot.

I normally overclock it till it gets unstable and and then lower the voltage can drop the temps by 5-10c.

Randall8686 said:
From what i have read once the card gets to 94c it throttles the GPU slowing clock speeds so that the temp does not go any higher meaning less FPS too. Thats why it never goes over 94c as it simply throttles the card.

Yes it throttles down once it hits 94 apparently.

russell664 · 28 Dec 2015 at 22:53

That original application is terrible, I had the do the same with my Gigabyte GPU as the paste was almost exactly the same.

Glad you sorted out the temps though, quite a difference!