Refreshing the cooling on a 2080Ti

[porina]

Some weeks ago I bought a used 2080Ti. It's a lower end EVGA model, which I now know uses a reference PCB design and has a rather simple 2 fan cooler on it. Anyway, the seller was using it watercooled, but in effect the waterblock was thrown in with the sale and I intended to use it on air. Before collecting, the seller re-fitted the air cooler. I stress tested it a bit, and it seemed fine. I did quickly take it apart to have a look inside, and I found the thermal pads weren't all original, and it looked a bit funky. Something to look at another time...

 

That time was tonight. On impulse I took it apart for a deeper look, with my spare thermal pads on standby to replace any that needed it. One thing that concerned me was that on one row of the VRM components, there was no contact between what looked like a heatpipe and the actual components. There was clear air between them! On further reflection, it looked like 1mm pads were put on top of the highest components, which meant the spacing was too great elsewhere. I replaced that with 0.5mm pads, and put 2mm pads in the other gap. That was then perfect. I also noticed a couple extra pads here and there, which I took out. I had to reference other images I found on the internet to verify what components should have pads on them. None were missing, and I could work out the correct thickness through observation. Mysteriously was a small 3mm pad in one spot without components under it, which I just totally removed.

 

At this point I was a bit concerned about not having good contact on the VRM components. Then I remember a Buildzoid video on GN's channel looking at the power delivery, and rewatched it. It did put my mind at rest, the VRM components at normal load (not OC) would be in ball park of 1W per phase. His words were to the effect it was very over-designed and even a bit of moving air would have been sufficient to cool it. That put my mind to rest I didn't cook it from my recent usage, although I have no idea if it was fitted correctly when the previous owner water cooled it.

 

I also feared all the "extra" pads the previous owner put on were at best bending the board, at worst making the GPU contact worse. So with the extras removed, I cleaned off the unknown old paste, and put on a generous covering of Kryonaut. Just done some gaming and temps do seem to have helped. I'm peaking around 77C playing Yakuza Like a Dragon at 4k Ultra, whereas before it was easily going above 80C and making more noticeable fan noise while doing so.

 

So, that is one of the risks of buying used, but I feel more confident in it now that I refreshed the cooling. Still wouldn't mind a 30 series card...

[jaslion]

And you can probably just do a super cheap 50$ watercooling loop with it if you hunt a bit for parts if need be :p.

[tarfeef101]

2 minutes ago, jaslion said:

And you can probably just do a super cheap 50$ watercooling loop with it if you hunt a bit for parts if need be :p.

lol the block is the most expensive part, yeah, but unless you're very comfortable with very cheap/sketchy parts, it'll be a bit more than that for the rest of a loop :D. you can't really even try to cannibalize an AIO cause that's almost assuredly a copper block, and those rads are aluminum 

[jaslion]

34 minutes ago, tarfeef101 said:

lol the block is the most expensive part, yeah, but unless you're very comfortable with very cheap/sketchy parts, it'll be a bit more than that for the rest of a loop :D. you can't really even try to cannibalize an AIO cause that's almost assuredly a copper block, and those rads are aluminum 

Depends on if the block is aluminium or copper. Watercooling can be done on the cheap if you try hard enough :p.

[tarfeef101]

Just now, jaslion said:

Depends on if the block is aluminium or copper. Watercooling can be done on the cheap if you try hard enough :p.

very few aluminum GPU blocks exist, it is highly unlikely. and idk what you're doing but even if you forego a res, get an aluminum rad, a no-name shit pump with barely as much power as an AIO pump, use barbs and zipties, and assume the block IS aluminum, I still don't know where you're getting that for 50 bucks. maybe belgium has cheaper stuff than canada by a lot, but that's not exactly an easy thing to do

[jaslion]

Just now, tarfeef101 said:

very few aluminum GPU blocks exist, it is highly unlikely. and idk what you're doing but even if you forego a res, get an aluminum rad, a no-name shit pump with barely as much power as an AIO pump, use barbs and zipties, and assume the block IS aluminum, I still don't know where you're getting that for 50 bucks. maybe belgium has cheaper stuff than canada by a lot, but that's not exactly an easy thing to do

Oh yeah I just ebay the stuff :p. At least once a week some dude throws a bunch of watercooling crap online in a box and there ya go. Did a few loops for clients with that stuff and made a nice bit of money from that.

[tarfeef101]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

Oh yeah I just ebay the stuff :p. At least once a week some dude throws a bunch of watercooling crap online in a box and there ya go. Did a few loops for clients with that stuff and made a nice bit of money from that.

okay used mystery boxes don't count... but yes you could do that. 

[jaslion]

3 minutes ago, tarfeef101 said:

okay used mystery boxes don't count... but yes you could do that. 

I kinda implied that with if you try hard enough. Doesn't have to be a mystery box but like 14 rads for 30€ and some random watercooling crap with it I take that

[tarfeef101]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

I kinda implied that with if you try hard enough. Doesn't have to be a mystery box but like 14 rads for 30€ and some random watercooling crap with it I take that

that's also not really applicable though, most people don't need 14 rads and can't get the value out of such a purchase. you have to consider the fact that an average user won't extract value out of more than what'll fit in their case, and anything else is worthless to them and wasted money. 

 

also damn if i got 14 NEW rads for that i'd be all over it. don't trust random ppl on ebay to give me intact rads which don't have any crap built up, rust, or whatever else one can do to their stuff. i get my rads primarily from aliexpress, but they're still nowhere near that cheap. at least better than getting brand name stuff from EK and the like tho

[jaslion]

3 minutes ago, tarfeef101 said:

that's also not really applicable though, most people don't need 14 rads and can't get the value out of such a purchase. you have to consider the fact that an average user won't extract value out of more than what'll fit in their case, and anything else is worthless to them and wasted money. 

 

also damn if i got 14 NEW rads for that i'd be all over it. don't trust random ppl on ebay to give me intact rads which don't have any crap built up, rust, or whatever else one can do to their stuff. i get my rads primarily from aliexpress, but they're still nowhere near that cheap. at least better than getting brand name stuff from EK and the like tho

Oh all the stuff I don't need I sell on after a good clean (metal safe draincleaner does a lot of good or just soda and whatnot depends on the metal). Almost always the stuff is in good condition. Just the pumps I do not reuse as I have no clue how long those ran.

 

Just gotta really google.

 

Edit:

In the summer I use on of the 240's I got in one of those boxes to help cool down my fishtank if needed during a heatwave. that rad got super bent in transport but works good enough for that.

[porina]

Maybe I need a better pump, but I hate pump vibration more than I hate fan noise. I have more than enough bits to build an all EK loop, as I used to run one. Now it's only occasionally dug up if I want to try sub ambient overclocking.

[Ebony Falcon]

Get a nzxt bracket in it and a 280 aio