Sapphire Radeon RX VEGA 64 high temps (changing thermal paste?

[Daniel James]

Hello, sorry I'm new here and signed up as couldn't find answer to some advice I'm seeking.

I've had my Vega 64 since it came out, long time now! Brought from Overclockers! I want a new card but as you know current market is crazy. I've noticed for some time now that my temps seem to be higher than they were before. I undervolt and even undervolting and running fan at MAX (loud!) my card seems to struggle to maintain the clocks it had before. For reference if I keep it in default balanced mode, the card will downclock to on average 950Mhz GPU clock whereas when new would stay around 1200Mhz. At undervolt settings and 60 percent fan speed I used to maintain clocks around 1500Mhz. Obviously the thermal properties have changed. As my card is old (5 years+ maybe) a repaste can help I've read? The thing is I'm very reluctant to do this incase I mess up. My question is do you think I should repaste knowing the inherrent risk? I really dont want to brick my card. Is it easy if I'm careful? I've been building my own rig since I was a teen but I have never changed the cooler on a graphics card before. I've read due to the HMB and vega die you have to be VERY careful as to not damage it. I have a history of bricking phones when I've tried to change the LCD (being delicate) Do you advise it/vs risk? Or should I just put up with the noise and lower clocks. I'm half tempted to sell the card, buy an XBOX and wait til the GPU prices drop. Sorry for ranting post. I have a 34inch ultra wide and at undervolt plus max fan speed it just about still copes, but the noise is driving my crazy!

Cheers

Dan

 

[eeii]

Vega64s run hot so thermal paste drying is always going to happen. Mine did. Your best bet is to find a YouTube video about your card being taken apart and be very careful.

 

[Pulseammo]

I think the risk to the interposer on those cards changes whether or not you have the core which has the fill over it or not. No idea if there's a way to know which you have based on the serial number or anything like that though.

Have you done the basics like using compressed air to clean the heatsink?

 

[Daniel James]

Thanks for the replies guys and apologies for the late reply. Was actually easier than I thought. I didn't remove the plate to get to the voltage thingy's, just repasted the vega chip as carefully as I could manage. Wow! What a change. Wish I had done it sooner. I can now manage steady 1500mhz GPU, and 1045 HBM at 980Mhz at 60% fan speed which is bearable noise wise and allows me to play most games I play at high settings still at 3440x1440 between 50-60fps. I did realise taking it apart there really isn't that much heatsink to tame this beast. They could have done a better job with the default blower considering how much it cost!