30xx Series Founders Edition

vapor matt · 21 Feb 2021 at 17:15

wunkley said:
I almost wish HWinfo64 had never updated to allow us to see these Vram temps, as I'm way happy with my core temps - never goes over 69c.

I would have been ignorantly happy with this card. I still am for gaming but the Vram temp is as niggle.
If it gets to be a problem I think I have room to move the 3090FE to the bottom PCIE slot to allow some more room between the CPU cooler, and I have some old copper ram heatsinks and a noctua 90mm fan lying around.

Are there any reports of just doing this? (not removing backplate and changing thermal pads)
How many degrees C are / would be shaved off with adding little ram heatsinks to the backplate and a fan? Is it worth the effort and the compromised looks of the card?
(Not keen on opening up the card yet as it's a lot of cash to risk voiding the warranty)

The thermal pads of toothpaste used by nvidia are not much use at transferring the heat away from the memory, better to change the pads with heatsink and fan if you want to. cooler the better!

wunkley · 21 Feb 2021 at 17:16

JediFragger said:
LOL just ignore it and enjoy the card! If anything happens within 3 years then that's on nVidia, you won't get stung.

Heha I know. But it's there now, and I know about it, so I can't ignore it

gpuerrilla · 21 Feb 2021 at 17:21

If you dismantle any card from the factory or see tubers doing same, they must be in a rush or take no care in applying the stuff. What we can discuss is that substance meant to dry up and is it still thermally sound?

Gerard · 21 Feb 2021 at 17:43

Th0nt said:
If you dismantle any card from the factory or see tubers doing same, they must be in a rush or take no care in applying the stuff. What we can discuss is that substance meant to dry up and is it still thermally sound?

The stuff they use seems to be pretty dry looking but still maintains its conductivity. It really seems to be a precut square of material they use.

vapor matt · 21 Feb 2021 at 18:55

The thermal pads are soft and i mean real soft, all most toothpaste like and very greasy, the Core is a precut grey pad like they use on CPU coolers of old from intel and the wraith cooler, on my Fe it was very brittle and didn't look a great contact with patterns across it. at least on the gamerock 3090 they did use a white thermal paste which was more liquid.

I think we have to appreciate Nvidia isnt going to hand apply a real good thermal paste, as they are also not going to fit high grade thermal pads. I guess its your choice if you want to live with higher temps or change the paste and pads which results in cooler operation.

gpuerrilla · 21 Feb 2021 at 19:51

vapor matt said:
The thermal pads are soft and i mean real soft, all most toothpaste like and very greasy.

I wonder what that oil is it must not be harmful to the components otherwise they would have issues.

vapor matt · 21 Feb 2021 at 19:58

Th0nt said:
I wonder what that oil is it must not be harmful to the components otherwise they would have issues.

I dont know if i would call it oil as such, its more greasy and even with alcohol IPA is was not a quick wipe with a cotton bud to remove the residue. also on my fe one pad on the cooler side was cut short. no dout they do conduct some heat but i dont think they are very efficient. And more likely with age would dry out with the heat at 100c on the ram.

gpuerrilla · 21 Feb 2021 at 20:02

vapor matt said:
I dont know if i would call it oil as such, its more greasy and even with alcohol IPA is was not a quick wipe with a cotton bud to remove the residue. also on my fe one pad on the cooler side was cut short. no dout they do conduct some heat but i dont think they are very efficient. And more likely with age would dry out with the heat at 100c on the ram.

From another site. One person explains it as "Oil from thermal pads. It is silicone, thus not corrosive nor conductive." Like I said it mustn't harm the components or they would not get away with it.

vapor matt · 21 Feb 2021 at 20:15

Th0nt said:
From another site. One person explains it as "Oil from thermal pads. It is silicone, thus not corrosive nor conductive." Like I said it mustn't harm the components or they would not get away with it.

Quite right i don't think corrosive or that would cause issues, but greasy they are. when compared to the thermal grizzly pads you can see the quality differences.

Dontrocktheboat · 21 Feb 2021 at 20:32

JediFragger said:
LOL just ignore it and enjoy the card! If anything happens within 3 years then that's on nVidia, you won't get stung.

By summer I projected to have smashed about £800 quid from my 3090. That's enough to pay over half of the card.

JediFragger · 21 Feb 2021 at 20:37

Dontrocktheboat said:
By summer I projected to have smashed about £800 quid from my 3090. That's enough to pay over half of the card.

Nice

:bacon:

gpuerrilla · 21 Feb 2021 at 20:59

Dontrocktheboat said:
By summer I projected to have smashed about £800 quid from my 3090. That's enough to pay over half of the card.

I toted up my payouts since I got it in late Nov, and its sub 1k for sure already. I didnt know there was a surge in crypto coming when I bought the card but now I absolutely have no regrets lol.

exhashdotdot · 21 Feb 2021 at 21:04

[removed]

Wtf is going on are people insane? I thought it was crazy people paying £700 for these but >£800???

Jerry64 · 21 Feb 2021 at 21:18

^ don't think that's aloud remove it b4 mods see it

Billy 2 Sips · 21 Feb 2021 at 22:06

I’ve been deliberating replacing the thermal pads on my 3090FE, but on balance the risk outweighs the reward. If it fails due to nVidia’s poor thermal pad implementation then so be it, there will be no ambiguity over the warranty.

I do think many of the stock 3080/90FE cards may suffer though once summer kicks in.

I’ve been thinking of ways to mitigate this without opening the card up. Now I’m no expert with water cooling, but would the MP5Works water cooled backplate offer any improvements over a heat sink and a fan on the backplate? I realise it’s not designed for the FE version so wouldn’t make full contact with the backplate.

A2B · 21 Feb 2021 at 23:18

YMMV, but I think if you do a good job so it looks perfect (no scratches etc) I doubt Nvidia would actually refuse it, regardless of what customer support says. a) nobody these days knows what they're talking about, but even if that's the policy b) they're also often in a rush, so if a card looks good they may not even open it up to investigate or wave it through. Just a hunch, but I'd be comfortable doing it.

Dontrocktheboat · 21 Feb 2021 at 23:21

Billy 2 Sips said:
I’ve been deliberating replacing the thermal pads on my 3090FE, but on balance the risk outweighs the reward. If it fails due to nVidia’s poor thermal pad implementation then so be it, there will be no ambiguity over the warranty.

I do think many of the stock 3080/90FE cards may suffer though once summer kicks in.

I’ve been thinking of ways to mitigate this without opening the card up. Now I’m no expert with water cooling, but would the MP5Works water cooled backplate offer any improvements over a heat sink and a fan on the backplate? I realise it’s not designed for the FE version so wouldn’t make full contact with the backplate.

Thats my general view too, whilst its under warranty i wont dick about with it tbh.

I am sitting on 100C junction temp, so it aint throttling, not going to mess up the warranty to try and reduce temp by measly 4C.

If it goes poop within three years Nvidia can give me a new one, or 4090. Thats provided I have it for that long.

opethdisciple · 21 Feb 2021 at 23:36

Dontrocktheboat said:
Thats my general view too, whilst its under warranty i wont dick about with it tbh.

I am sitting on 100C junction temp, so it aint throttling, not going to mess up the warranty to try and reduce temp by measly 4C.

If it goes poop within three years Nvidia can give me a new one, or 4090. Thats provided I have it for that long.

I agree. Best not to rock the boat.

Dontrocktheboat · 21 Feb 2021 at 23:41

opethdisciple said:
I agree. Best not to rock the boat.

exactly + Dulce periculum

Falkentyne · 22 Feb 2021 at 04:35

Th0nt said:
This info is the golden nugget!

Definitely worth doing if you want a peaceful mind that the components aren't hitting ultra toast peaks so in theory should make the card less prone to failure further down the line.

I only have arctic silver paste from the cpu installs, so will need to buy some paste that works well on GPU's if anyone has a preference then share it. Is the pad thickness for the memory 1.5mm to order btw if you putting the stock FE cooler back on? (what thickness were the greasy factory ones)

Originals:

Front: (GPU Core side):
VRAM: 1.5mm putty mesh mush squishy pad
VRM's: 1.8mm-2.0mm putty mesh super squishy pad

original pads example: https://i.imgur.com/fCx1J8C.jpg

Replacing with aftermarket: 1.5mm only.

Completed mod example: https://i.imgur.com/y09Q86N.jpg

Backplate:
VRAM: 1.0mm
VRM's hotspot: 1.0mm V-cutout area,
1.5mm strip (or 2mm I am not sure, but that strip is not 1mm) at the round edge side.
Tiny square hotspots: 1.5mm or 2.0mm tiny squares (I am not sure, but they are not 1mm).

Original picture: https://i.imgur.com/JcFIu4b.jpg

Replacing with aftermarket: Either 1.5mm everywhere or 2.0mm everywhere. This works fine and is fully stable.
Example backplate mod:

[Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/nYAbwnN.jpg)

Note: I do NOT know if using a pad 0.5mm thicker on the "round edge" hotspot side of the backplate and the small tiny square pads where those square indentations are in the backplate matters or not. Feel free to experiment if you want, but please do not jeopardize VRAM contact integrity for the round edge hotspot pad contact.