Cooling my RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary Edition

[AdvilLobotomite]

So I have an RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary Edition. It looks awesome. It sounds terrible.

I am researching ways I might be able to cool this thing. I want to take off the original cooling system and install a different one. I intend to keep the original one but just not use it. I've already tried pushing the heatsink closer to the GPU with washers and replacing the thermal pad with thermal paste, but that only did so much.

I'm considering something like a Morpheus or Accelero but I'm iffy about those VRM heatsinks and such (I don't want to use thermal glue and I heard that all thermal tape sucks) considering what happened in this video: 

 

I was also thinking maybe I could buy the cooling system that comes with something like SAPPHIRE NITRO+ Radeon RX 5700 XT since it's already made for my specific card, but I can't find one without a GPU attached.

An Asetech Rad Card would be cool, but you cant buy one of those.

 

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Enderman]

There are GPU AIO brackets sold by corsair or NZXT that allow you to attach an AIO to your GPU which makes it run way cooler and quieter.

[Guest]

From their review it seems like they don't like it.

 

I've heard good things about the Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme IV. That works with a 5700XT and doesn't use thermal glue. Might be hard to find though.

[JakeOfOz]

Do you like to tinker? Slap a CPU cooler on it! works fine and extremely silent.

 

Or you can look for something like a Morpheus cooler, check out @Demonic Donut's thread: 

I did it the CPU cooler way: 

 

[Xkillerpn]

6 hours ago, Darpyface said:

From their review it seems like they don't like it.

 

I've heard good things about the Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme IV. That works with a 5700XT and doesn't use thermal glue. Might be hard to find though.

Get this one, its a nice cooler, I had it on my rx 480 and max temps was like 50c , really nice cooler. 

 

Be aware that there will be no fan stop, its a very quiet cooler.

 

Also on the original cooler of your card you can try the washer fix and you can run your card with chill on , put it as the refresh rate of your monitor i dont know like 48 to 144 or 40 to 75. I use it with my watercooler vega and it does work great. 

[AdvilLobotomite]

11 hours ago, JakeOfOz said:

Do you like to tinker? Slap a CPU cooler on it! works fine and extremely silent.

 

Or you can look for something like a Morpheus cooler, check out @Demonic Donut's thread:

I actually looked at that and was considering it. I'm just not sure if I want to risk my very expensive and limited edition card. My only experience at tinkering with GPUs is replacing the thermal pad on my card. I also don't want to do anything I can't undo, like gluing heatsinks to my VRMs. If you know of any good thermal tape, please let me know.

[Mister Woof]

11 hours ago, JakeOfOz said:

Do you like to tinker? Slap a CPU cooler on it! works fine and extremely silent.

 

Or you can look for something like a Morpheus cooler, check out @Demonic Donut's thread: 

I did it the CPU cooler way: 

 

didn't click, but how does it manage to cool the memory and VRMs?

[AdvilLobotomite]

17 hours ago, Darpyface said:

From their review it seems like they don't like it.

 

I've heard good things about the Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme IV. That works with a 5700XT and doesn't use thermal glue. Might be hard to find though.

 I am a little put off by aftermarket cooling because of videos like this:

Also because of the video in the first post. I don't want to use thermal glue, but using thermal tape it seems VRM heatsinks just fall off.

 

17 hours ago, Enderman said:

There are GPU AIO brackets sold by corsair or NZXT that allow you to attach an AIO to your GPU which makes it run way cooler and quieter.

I might consider something like this in the future, but I have no experience with water cooling and I already have a huge Noctua heatsink & fan on my CPU that I don't want to go to waste.

 

20 minutes ago, Mister Woof said:

didn't click, but how does it manage to cool the memory and VRMs?

Looks like he just glued copper heatsinks to them

[AdvilLobotomite]

I'm also considering replacing my thermal paste (I used Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut) with liquid metal. This is a risky think though and I've never used liquid metal before. Since it would be put on a horizontal surface, I don't think it would seep out, but I heard that if it's on a vertical surface that could happen.

[Mister Woof]

25 minutes ago, AdvilLobotomite said:

 I am a little put off by aftermarket cooling because of videos like this:

Also because of the video in the first post. I don't want to use thermal glue, but using thermal tape it seems VRM heatsinks just fall off.

 

I might consider something like this in the future, but I have no experience with water cooling and I already have a huge Noctua heatsink & fan on my CPU that I don't want to go to waste.

 

Looks like he just glued copper heatsinks to them

Hmm i think i'd want some more positive airflow over them though. The memory VRM seems to be the limiting factor on these cards, not really the GPU temp itself

[Enderman]

50 minutes ago, AdvilLobotomite said:

I might consider something like this in the future, but I have no experience with water cooling and I already have a huge Noctua heatsink & fan on my CPU that I don't want to go to waste.

It's an AIO, you don't need any experience with water cooling, you just stick it on like a heatsink.

 

Also you're trying to cool your GPU, why would that have anything to do with your CPU...

Do you know what an AIO is?

[Demonic Donut]

36 minutes ago, AdvilLobotomite said:

I'm also considering replacing my thermal paste (I used Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut) with liquid metal. This is a risky think though and I've never used liquid metal before. Since it would be put on a horizontal surface, I don't think it would seep out, but I heard that if it's on a vertical surface that could happen.

Just get some conformal coating. I bought a small bottle for $12 on amazon. Easy to apply, just use in a well ventilated area.

 

53 minutes ago, AdvilLobotomite said:

 I am a little put off by aftermarket cooling because of videos like this:

Also because of the video in the first post. I don't want to use thermal glue, but using thermal tape it seems VRM heatsinks just fall off.

 

I might consider something like this in the future, but I have no experience with water cooling and I already have a huge Noctua heatsink & fan on my CPU that I don't want to go to waste.

 

Looks like he just glued copper heatsinks to them

I watched that video but still did the mod and am happy with it.

 

You can also use Arctic Alumina adhesive mixed with Arctic Alumina thermal paste and the adhesive becomes semi permanent. That's my next project, when I have the time.

[AdvilLobotomite]

8 hours ago, Enderman said:

It's an AIO, you don't need any experience with water cooling, you just stick it on like a heatsink.

 

Also you're trying to cool your GPU, why would that have anything to do with your CPU...

Do you know what an AIO is?

I don't know much about AIOs, never even seen one IRL. Didn't know you could get ones that are just for GPU, I might consider one like that. Know any good ones or anything I should consider when looking for one?

8 hours ago, Demonic Donut said:

Just get some conformal coating. I bought a small bottle for $12 on amazon. Easy to apply, just use in a well ventilated area.

Hey I didn't think of that. I might do that. Always wanted to try liquid metal.

8 hours ago, Demonic Donut said:

I watched that video but still did the mod and am happy with it.

Yeah I went back and read some of the comments, turn out a lot of people have seen significant improvements with aftermarket cooling. Maybe the guy in the video did something wrong. Might be worth trying. Do you know about how much more cool your card is from before using it?

8 hours ago, Demonic Donut said:

You can also use Arctic Alumina adhesive mixed with Arctic Alumina thermal paste and the adhesive becomes semi permanent. That's my next project, when I have the time.

That's an interesting idea. So you currently are using thermal pads? Also, tell me how mixing thermal paste and adhesive goes.

[Enderman]

40 minutes ago, AdvilLobotomite said:

I don't know much about AIOs, never even seen one IRL. Didn't know you could get ones that are just for GPU, I might consider one like that. Know any good ones or anything I should consider when looking for one?

Since AIOs are designed for CPUs you can't get ones that are specifically for a GPU but you can get brackets like G10 or HG10 that allow you to mount certain AIOs to certain GPUs.

 

Corsair and NZXT are good brands for AIOs.

[Demonic Donut]

41 minutes ago, AdvilLobotomite said:

I don't know much about AIOs, never even seen one IRL. Didn't know you could get ones that are just for GPU, I might consider one like that. Know any good ones or anything I should consider when looking for one?

Hey I didn't think of that. I might do that. Always wanted to try liquid metal.

Yeah I went back and read some of the comments, turn out a lot of people have seen significant improvements with aftermarket cooling. Maybe the guy in the video did something wrong. Might be worth trying. Do you know about how much more cool your card is from before using it?

That's an interesting idea. So you currently are using thermal pads? Also, tell me how mixing thermal paste and adhesive goes.

There are brackets that allow a standard AIO to be attached to GPUs.

 

I have a TL:DR in my post that has temps of stock vs the Morpheus

 

*Edit* and I'm currently using the "thermal tape"  that came with the cooler. Its ok, but I suspect it's not the best heat conductor.

 

[BTGbullseye]

Really, the best idea is an open loop for just the GPU. Corsair and EK both have everything for it. It's really expensive compared to Arctic Accelero, but it wouldn't have issues with VRMs or RAM cooling since they are full coverage blocks.

 

It's sad that there are no decent inexpensive aftermarket coolers for the reference 5700XT, but it makes sense that they wouldn't have one for a single version of a single GPU.

[JakeOfOz]

17 hours ago, AdvilLobotomite said:

 

Looks like he just glued copper heatsinks to them

 

Yea correct. I also added separate coolers for the memory chips.

For cooling: in the new setup the cooler is rotated 90 degrees, so the fans also pull some air over the VRM heatsinks.

[AdvilLobotomite]

11 hours ago, Enderman said:

Since AIOs are designed for CPUs you can't get ones that are specifically for a GPU but you can get brackets like G10 or HG10 that allow you to mount certain AIOs to certain GPUs.

Corsair and NZXT are good brands for AIOs.

Good to know. Do they also cool the VRMs and VRAM?

 

11 hours ago, Demonic Donut said:

I have a TL:DR in my post that has temps of stock vs the Morpheus

*Edit* and I'm currently using the "thermal tape"  that came with the cooler. Its ok, but I suspect it's not the best heat conductor.

I looked that that and it looks like you got around a 20°C decrease for GPU and GPU junction, 5°C decrease for VRM, and no decrease for VRAM. A 20°C decrease is insane also considering your average clock was higher. Am I reading the numbers wrong or is that right?

So the heatsinks don't fall off with the thermal tape like in Linus's "Silence your Gaming PC with THIS" video?

 

11 hours ago, BTGbullseye said:

Really, the best idea is an open loop for just the GPU. Corsair and EK both have everything for it. It's really expensive compared to Arctic Accelero, but it wouldn't have issues with VRMs or RAM cooling since they are full coverage blocks.

As I said, I do not have experience with water cooling, and I am not comfortable risking my components with anything other than an AIO. Also they are expensive lol, I'm still a student. But you are right, no one seems to do that good of a job cooling VRMs or VRAM.

 

4 hours ago, JakeOfOz said:

Yea correct. I also added separate coolers for the memory chips.

For cooling: in the new setup the cooler is rotated 90 degrees, so the fans also pull some air over the VRM heatsinks.

Where did you get those heatsinks? They look like they would perform better than the aluminum ones that come with most aftermarket coolers.

[BTGbullseye]

3 hours ago, AdvilLobotomite said:

Where did you get those heatsinks? They look like they would perform better than the aluminum ones that come with most aftermarket coolers.

Amazon or Newegg have sets of them for sale. They're around $8 for a decent set.

[Demonic Donut]

8 hours ago, AdvilLobotomite said:

Good to know. Do they also cool the VRMs and VRAM?

 

I looked that that and it looks like you got around a 20°C decrease for GPU and GPU junction, 5°C decrease for VRM, and no decrease for VRAM. A 20°C decrease is insane also considering your average clock was higher. Am I reading the numbers wrong or is that right?

So the heatsinks don't fall off with the thermal tape like in Linus's "Silence your Gaming PC with THIS" video?

Some AIOs have little fans for VRMs. But the AIO GPU mounts have fans on them too.

 

It took a couple tries but they are stuck on now. I want to use thermal adhesive when I have the time. For better conduction and so I know they won't fall off. I still check them now and then...

 

And yes that's correct for temps. Its running way cooler now. On the die anyway.

[Enderman]

10 hours ago, AdvilLobotomite said:

Good to know. Do they also cool the VRMs and VRAM?

 

 

Depends on the bracket, can't remeber which does, usually they have a fan there too to help.

[AdvilLobotomite]

Thank you everyone for you help. Here is what I plan to do.

 

First, I will try just liquid metal with conformal coating. Best outcome is that I don't have to change my cooler (as it looks pretty sexy). I want to be able to run it at it's max clock speed without having the fans run so fast that they levitate my PC. I got some feedback to try undervolting for better thermals too, which I am fiddling with.

 

If that doesn't reach my noise goal, I will try either an aftermarket air cooler or AIO with a GPU bracket depending on price and how I'm feeling. An AIO would perform better, and would look cool, but an accelero or morhpeus might be cheaper and work good enough.

For the VRMs and VRAM I'd buy those cool looking copper heatsinks ones if whatever solution comes with it isn't up to snuff. I'd try thermal tape, and if that doesn't work well a mix of thermal paste and thermal glue.

 

I might also consider a frankenstien project like JakeOfOz's. That would definitely be the most fun, and be something I can show off. Though it might also be the most time consuming and expensive.