GPU maintenance

[Peter041098]

So I have a gigabyte RX 480 that I got just after launch and would like to know if 

1. Should I dismantle, clean, repaste and rebuild it? 
2. If i should, would i need to replace the thermal pads? 
3. And do you know (or know where to find) the thickness of pads i would need 

[like_21_ninjas]

what are your temps like? if they're good then theres no need to repaste

[chen57]

Depends on the temps you have right now. For the thermal pads, if you are careful you can remove the cooler whitout tearing them and reuse them.

 

[Jurrunio]

1. Is it dirty and is cooling suffering?

 

2. you dont have to unless they are torn or melted away (like soggy bread, talking about disappointing breakfasts)

 

3. Just take a measurement of what's on the card. It could be anywhere from 0.5mm or 5mm, tho typically 0.5 or 1mm.

[Peter041098]

After 5 minutes of MSI kombustor the temps are low 80s

(at factory overclock) 

[Peter041098]

After 10 minutes it got up to 84 °C

 

Something like 175°F

[Dr0y]

kombustor is pretty intense if I remember correctly.  84 is highish but still ok for an rx 480 under massive load.  What are your temps in game is what really matters more cause games probably don't stress the gpu as hard as kombustor does. What is your fan profile ? 

 

That's what I remember from the top of my head and others will correct me if I'm wrong.

[Peter041098]

Due to my game drive giving me a smart error recently I have had to uninstall most of my games (I only have a 120 GB SSD for windows and games) so I can only install older /smaller games 

[Peter041098]

As for the fan I think it is on a straight line (0% at 40°, 100% at 80°)

[Dr0y]

I did have 120 gb as my only drive for about a year.  Once you clean all the old updates files of windows it can take around 20 to 30 gb.  For test sake you could try to install one game that you know is problematic and try to diagnose. 

[Peter041098]

After some extra testing it seems to sit at 60-65° (~80watts instead of ~125 watts) in ETS2 on ultra (after disabling v-sink) 

 

Thank you all for all of your help and advice 

[Dr0y]

This looks perfetly fine and lower than my temps on my rx 590 so I wouldn't touch it until it runs over 80 in those same games you play.