GTX 580 thermal paste

[mikellini]

I was getting 42c idle and 88c load temps with the fan ramping up to 72%. Seemed a little high, so I took off the vapour chamber heatsink and had a look... And there was no thermal paste in the centre! About 8mm square in the middle of the GPU and the contact plate was shiny clean... Horrible.

Waiting for the new paste to set up a bit, so far idling at 36c. I'll post load temps tomorrow. Anyone else done this?

[vohiep84]

Hmm, what brand is yours. So I know which one not to get.

[SKYMTL]

Yeah, I have heard the same issues. However, I believe it is mounting pressure rather than insufficient thermal paste.

[Sagath]

My thermal paste issue was fine. But the vapor chamber machining is terrible. I'm going to have to lap the sh!t out of it to get it flat. For now I still redid the TIM with MX2. Dropped my temps a lot under load.

HORRIBLE QC on the 580's. Feels like a really rushed job. I'll post pics in a bit.

edit: pics!







Pritty clear that this is just a bad machining job. The cutter should have gone down an extra couple thou to get the whole contact surface flush. Instead, the bottom right corner is not making contact with the IHS on the GPU.

[mikellini]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

Yeah, I have heard the same issues. However, I believe it is mounting pressure rather than insufficient thermal paste.

You know, I think it just may be mounting pressure. I used IC Diamond, which typically cures quite quickly, and there is no difference in load temps; 88C with 71% fan speed. I could try re-applying the paste, but I'm pretty sure I did a good job...

Hmmmm... what to do, what to do... I have a Boreas, I could buy a water block and plumb it in. But would that have poor mounting pressure too? Still would perform much better I suppose, I run with the coolant at 25C, don't want to go sub-ambient because it's too loud in the bedroom...

EDIT: The machining on my vapour chamber is quite good, very flat with minimal tool marks. GPU heat spreader was flat too, just a little convex on the edges.

[_dangtx_]

@sarge : wait, if you mod it in any way, warranty goes right?

[belgolas]

depends. If it is with EVGA your warranty will be covered even if you lap the cooler.

[_dangtx_]

that i didn't know. changing coolers, i did. but lapping? wow, that's one hell of a warranty

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by _dangtx_

that i didn't know. changing coolers, i did. but lapping? wow, that's one hell of a warranty

Lapping the cooler won't affect your warranty in any way with any manufacturer. Lapping the IHS on the other hand will ALWAYS void your warranty on EVERY product.

[_dangtx_]

that is interesting. i lapped one on an nvidia if memory serves right and it died later on, they refused it. been ages though. had to talk with level 4 to get it changed lol