** Stock Cooler Removal Information **

[Razor Time]

shame not case in UK in US they became illegal more or less but lucky enough they just scrapped stickers mostly as they are made in same factory and would add extra sorting factor for eu/us/asia
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43724348

If the stickers are gone then that is good news. It would be good to get a list of AIBs which are sticker free.

 

[UnderToker]

In my experience any gpu needs to be serviced at least yearly
This involves a full clean out and this can also involve removing the cooler to access the pcb to do so.
Also in the past I’ve found that the quality of thermal paste used is questionable even on the supposedly better branded cards.
So removing a cooler and replacing the thermal paste with for example grizzly kryonaut can drop temps easily by 4-8 deg And ive seen and experienced this first hand after repasting an Asus ROG Strix 2080ti - I have to say the stock paste they use is utter garbage.
my Strix runs at 65 deg even over clocked to 1700 and 15600 on the memory and will run all day at 65 deg, with stock paste it was 72-75 in exactly the same setup

 

[UnderToker]

I can say now the first thing I’ll be doing with my pre order 390 Strix oc is removing the cooler and repasting it with grizzly kryonaut

 

[Peter75]

Yep, repasting for me has always yielded around 4-5c lower. I don't understand why they put all of these premium parts/products together then cheap out on paste.

 

[wickfut]

Just to add..

Contacted Zotac to see if I could reseat the 3090 trinity HSF due to high temps before I RMA.

their reply.

Hi Marc,

You are covered under warranty to do these things. However please be reminded that any damage caused in the process will still invalidate the warranty, so please be careful.

As stock levels of this card are still low, you may have a bit of a wait if you return the card to the store, depending on their supply situation.

Kind Regards,

Eurotech Team

The outcome of changing the thermal paste is that the card still hits 82c , but the temps rise much slower to that level. Probably a case thing as I have it in a 4u rack server case with only 2x 120mm intake fans on the front and 2x 60mm exhaust fans on the rear.

A weird add on is that the card no longer hits 2100 boost and just falls in line with everyone elses regular stock boost of around 1920ish. Benchmark results remain pretty much the same even without hitting 2100 boost?

 

[Petrolhead]

I have just fitted an Alphacool block to my Zotac RTX 3090 Trinity. I did a vid of the teardown, assembly and fitting but yet to edit it together

 

[Bubo]

Wasn't there a spacer to put between the backplate and the card in the box of bits? Doubt it is meant to be bent like that. Every backplate I have fitted has always come with some spacers and a set of longer screws to use with them.

 

[Petrolhead]

Nope, just the thermal pads

https://www.alphacool.com/download/Eisblock_Aurora_Plexi_Gpx_N_3080_Manual.pdf

 

[Choimaloy75]

I have just fitted an Alphacool block to my Zotac RTX 3090 Trinity. I did a vid of the teardown, assembly and fitting but yet to edit it together

How’s your temps and what stable clocks are you getting now with the block on.

 

[Petrolhead]

Well i am still messing about awaiting correct fitting etc. Not overclocking. However she idles at 25deg and running Heaven is at 45, thats with the case open

 

[Bubo]

Nope, just the thermal pads

https://www.alphacool.com/download/Eisblock_Aurora_Plexi_Gpx_N_3080_Manual.pdf

If I were you I would've send your photo to them and quiz them about this, because it sure does look like the backplate is bent. What is it like the other end of the card? With it bent like that you wouldn't be able to use one of those backplate water cooling blocks that are going around, since the backplate doesn't look like it will be flat for the block to make good contact. Just a thought.

 

[Petrolhead]

Regarding this, i am very aware there is a bow in the backplate.

I had to mod the backplate as this was the only way the card would fit the mobo.



i contacted Alphacool showing them the problem and the mods i had to do to get clearance.

this was their reply which i feel if fair enough:

It's obvious that Asus has not respected the Keep Out Area on this motherboard. We follow the ATX specifications for the development of all coolers, which describe exactly which areas around the CPU socket and the PCIe slot must remain free of components. With Micro-ATX mainboards, however, these specifications are often not correctly adhered to due to the available space. And the mainboard is definitely one such case where this has not been complied with.

i followed this up and asked about the warranty and they said they would honour any warranty

i am lucky as i have access to a milling machine etc so the mod was easy to do. I may have taken a mm too much off the standoffs hence why it looks bowed but have checked and there is still plenty clearance between the circuit board and the back plate.

at the end of the day the choice was wither mod it or scrap the idea and i decided to mod it.

its all fine and i am happy

the rudimentary video (not me best work ) shows the problem i had

if you compare the matx to the atx the clearance problem is apparent

 

[Bubo]

Ah I see, sucks that you had to do that. A pcie riser looks like it would have been the only other option, but as long as it works then all is good.

 

[Petrolhead]

Ah I see, sucks that you had to do that. A pcie riser looks like it would have been the only other option, but as long as it works then all is good.

Well i am not too disappointed . If it had been anyone else with no access to a milling machine they would have been stuffed. Dou to having the other pci slot occupied that was not an option

 

[Choimaloy75]

Well i am not too disappointed . If it had been anyone else with no access to a milling machine they would have been stuffed. Dou to having the other pci slot occupied that was not an option

Have You modded the bios to up the power limit?

 

[Petrolhead]

Have You modded the bios to up the power limit?

No, to be honest would not know how to

 

[Choimaloy75]

Pretty easy to do mate you will get a Benefit with it been watercooled also.
Use the gigabyte oc bios which will lift the power limit from 350w to 390w.

 

[Petrolhead]

Pretty easy to do mate you will get a Benefit with it been watercooled also.
Use the gigabyte oc bios which will lift the power limit from 350w to 390w.

Out of curiosity had a look at Techpowerup however just leaving std ATM

 

[Choimaloy75]

If you look on overclock.net in the NVIDIA 3090 Forum You will get all the info you need if you decide to do it mate.

 

[kevman]

Out of curiosity had a look at Techpowerup however just leaving std ATM

Thanks for the pics looks good. Could I check whether there were any warranty void stickers on the zotac and what the warranty period is these days?

I would be looking to watercool and not sure can wait until EVGA their act together so wondering about alternatives.

Thanks