Help with thermal pads placement on MSI 1080TI GAMING X

[Otonel88]

Hi guys. I am installing a EK watercooling block on my MSI 1080ti gaming x and I am a bit confused on thermal pads.

EK suggests to install thermal pads on various places on the board.

When takeing off my stock cooler I noticed there where pads where EK doesn't show that pads should go.

Do I just keep the original pads there and install the EK ones on the suggested places or just install what ever EK says to install and remove the rest?
I have attached a file which shows where EK says thermal pads should go, and a picture where I have put thermal pads.

Can someone advise if this is ok as in the picture. Sorry, it's my first time with EK-IM-3830046991928.pdf. Don't want to mess this one up with such an expensive GPU.

 

Thanks

[Billy_Mays]

Just replace where they were with EK's thermal pads

[MorganO]

14 minutes ago, Otonel88 said:

-snip-

just follow the EK instructions my dude, and remover the plastic off the the thermal pads

[Otonel88]

3 minutes ago, KOMTechAndGaming said:

just follow the EK instructions my dude, and remover the plastic off the the thermal pads

yeah, will remove the plastic off the thermal pads.

[Otonel88]

4 minutes ago, Billy_Mays said:

Just replace where they were with EK's thermal pads

if I do this then it's not where ek says to place thermal pads.

[MorganO]

Just now, Otonel88 said:

yeah, will remove the plastic off the thermal pads.

ok

[Billy_Mays]

Just now, Otonel88 said:

if I do this then it's not where ek says to place thermal pads.

Then where does EK want them?

[MorganO]

Just now, Otonel88 said:

if I do this then it's not where ek says to place thermal pads.

follow the instructions

[For Science!]

Definitely follow the instruction, the blocks are designed with the pads in mind, so if you have a pad where it isn't supposed to be, there will not be adequeate contact and you will suffer temps. A recent member on the forum did something like this and his temps were +30 C of what it was supposed to be.

 

Follow the instructions.

[happydaydreamer]

I completely understand the questions Otonel88 is asking and his frustration.

Just finished the exact same installation and the instructions with the waterblock is poor and very generic, please don't say "follow the instructions" when you don't know the details of this spesific case.

 

First, the cutout in the metal on the waterblock is not very fitting to the components on the MSI 1080 TI Gaming X board. Several displacements in the block is obviously not present on the components on the PCB. This of course needs to be built up with extra thermal pad to get even a slight fit.

 

As these blocks are made for several different cards I would love to see the following:

 

1. A thermal-pad layout for each card. Now it's pure guessing. It's close to impossible to measure (or guess) which thickness needs to go where.

The stock air-cooler has thermal pads for tons of the PCB-components, but the included pads are few and very lacking.

 

2. Included screws does NOT fit properly when using the original backplate. The original screws has a small head that goes into a displacement in the plate itself. As the screws for the waterblock has a larger size, the included screw does not fit these holes. This makes even then longest screws included too short. It will attach, but only with 1 1/2 rotation, which is a very risky and poor fit, and will very easily ruin the screw when tightening.

 

I assembled the first card (of 3) just now and as any contact-points is not visible from the outside, the only solution is to open again and visually check if pressure has been correctly applied to the thermal-pad themself. This should NOT be neccesary at all given the correct installation instructions.

 

I'm extremely surprised of the lack of instructions and bad fit on these parts.  

 

If anyone has found a guide for this spesific card with these blocks, please post asap!