Powercolor Red Devil RX 6900 XT Limited Edition thermal pads

[dragospetre88]

Hi.

 

I am a not-so-proud owner of a second-hand Powercolor 6900 XT Limited Edition. Pretty soon, I noticed the card's hotspot temp going nuts in gaming, I asked a friend to check it out. After disassembling it, he told me the thermal pads needed replacing. I said ok, do your thing. Fast forward 2 sets of thermal pads later and even worse overheating (can't even play any games unless I limit my fps and use max 1440p resolution without reaching thermal throttling), I decided to ask for professional help.

 

Do you by any chance know the exact thermal pads thickness (and softness, as I heard it's equally important) required for this particular card? Also, I would really appreciate it if you gave me some links with specific thermal pads products fit for my model. 

 

Thank you very much!

[emosun]

Is there a reason the effectively new card was disassembled and tampered with instead of addressing other much more obvious avenues for temperature reduction?

[dragospetre88]

Because the other avenues were...addressed. 

[Falkentyne]

2 hours ago, dragospetre88 said:

Hi.

 

I am a not-so-proud owner of a second-hand Powercolor 6900 XT Limited Edition. Pretty soon, I noticed the card's hotspot temp going nuts in gaming, I asked a friend to check it out. After disassembling it, he told me the thermal pads needed replacing. I said ok, do your thing. Fast forward 2 sets of thermal pads later and even worse overheating (can't even play any games unless I limit my fps and use max 1440p resolution without reaching thermal throttling), I decided to ask for professional help.

 

Do you by any chance know the exact thermal pads thickness (and softness, as I heard it's equally important) required for this particular card? Also, I would really appreciate it if you gave me some links with specific thermal pads products fit for my model. 

 

Thank you very much!

That's why you don't trust the advice of "so-called" hotshot know-it-all "friends."  Everyone wants to act like the man, these days.  And unless he was already an experienced forum user or modder, I doubt he really knows much.

 

Check the 6900XT forums on overclock.net, hardforum.com, guru3d, and maybe the AMD radeon sub reddits and ask there.  Probably someone has measured the pads already.

You'll need to both repaste and repad the card properly with proper thickness thermal pads and decent paste..

 

When you do choose your replacement thermal pads, choose Gelid Extreme for the high compressibility.

For thermal paste, choose FuzeIce Plus, Thermalright TFX, Kryonaut Extreme, Gelid GC Extreme or SYY-157

 

Hotspot issues are either caused by very bad thermal paste application, bad or improper or too thin VRM thermal padding (not VRAM but VRM), or too thick thermal pads which interfere with core to heatsink mounting pressure (PSI). 

 

If you are unable to get measurements from anyone, you will need to do your own tests with toothpaste pressure spread + experimental thermal pads (NOT gelid extremes!  Gelid extremes are only once you know the thickness of all the pad areas).

 

First,buy some cheap pads like Arctic 0.5mm, 1.0mm and 1.5mm (all three sizes unfortunately) pads, of 145mm * 145mm, blue 6 w/mk.

You can also buy some clone pads on amazon of 6 w/mk. AIYUNNI is one popular brand.

 

Then experiment with different thicknesses for each main section (VRAM, and VRM).  VRAM should all use the same thickness, and VRM's should also be the same thickness on MOST cards.  Some designs may have a thicker or thinner pad in some sections!  Then put a small dab of toothpaste in the middle of the GPU core, do NOT spread it, .

Then screw in the X bracket and all of the heatsink screws, then immediately unscrew it and check for how well the toothpaste spread.  You're looking for both good pad contact (you should see evidence of pad compression!) and full compression of the toothpaste.  Experiment as needed.

 

Once you get proper measurements, then buy Gelid Extreme pads of the correct thickness and use those and apply thermal paste.  You can still use the card with the cheaper pads while you wait for the Gelid proper pads to arrive.

[dragospetre88]

Thank you very much!

[dragospetre88]

I have updates here. Powercolor replied and told me the thickness is around 1.65 mm +/- 10%. So should I buy Gellid 1.5 mm? 

[dragospetre88]

Got in-depth details for red devil 6900 xt limited edition pads that come from fabric. 7 w/mk pads are used.                   

l   Hardness: 20 shore 00

l   MEM Pad Size:10*12*1.65t (mm)

l   Left Side MOS Pad Size:7*64*1.5t (mm)

l   Right Side MOS Pad Size:7*105*1.5t (mm)

         

[ComradeSandwich]

Excellent info. The delta between my gpu and hotspot temps are concerning at best. Reapplied a heavy amount of Mx-5 and saw a drop a significant drop in both temps but still the same huge gap between gpu and junction. replacing the pads seems to be my last avenue before starting an RMA but I'm trying to avoid that route because I imagine P.C doesn't have new RD Ultimates laying around plus I'm very happy with this silicon.

[GamerDude]

On 8/5/2021 at 7:39 PM, dragospetre88 said:

Hi.

 

I am a not-so-proud owner of a second-hand Powercolor 6900 XT Limited Edition. Pretty soon, I noticed the card's hotspot temp going nuts in gaming, I asked a friend to check it out. After disassembling it, he told me the thermal pads needed replacing. I said ok, do your thing. Fast forward 2 sets of thermal pads later and even worse overheating (can't even play any games unless I limit my fps and use max 1440p resolution without reaching thermal throttling), I decided to ask for professional help.

 

Do you by any chance know the exact thermal pads thickness (and softness, as I heard it's equally important) required for this particular card? Also, I would really appreciate it if you gave me some links with specific thermal pads products fit for my model. 

 

Thank you very much!

Really, you should have sought other avenues to resolve your heat issue instead of resorting to this. When I first got my Sapphire RX 6800, I'd noted that during games, edge temp was in high 60's, junction temp had alarm bells ringing at mid 90's. I was troubled as my case, CM H500M has pretty good airflow (2x 200mm front intake, 1x 140mmm rear exhaust, 3x 120mm top thru AIO exhaust).

 

I then realized that the silly fan control/curve was set too low by default (in favor of quietness or low noise, not performance), even has a 'zero' fan till GPU hits a certain temp (>50C IIRC). I cancelled the 'zero' fan option (in Adrenalin Control Panel) revved up the fan curve aggressively which resolved the heat issue. I did the same with the RX 6900 XT (in sg) which I'd gotten to replace the RX 6800.

 

Now, with room ambient temp at 23-24C, my GPU idles at 28C(ET)/33C(JT) with load up to 67C(ET) and 86C(JT) after a hour of RE Village (at 3840x1080, max ingame + RT enabled). Please note, Junction Temp (JT) is the hot spot on the GPU, and as long as it's under 90C, I'm fine with it.

 

Edit - If your previous card had no issue with heat, it may be perhaps it didn't run as hot, higher end GPU tend to run pretty hot, so airflow within case and ambient temp do play a role. What worked for your previous card may not do as well with your present GPU.

 

Removing the heatsink shroud to get at the thermal pads may have voided the warranty on the card as well, but it depends on where you're at, but in my neck of the woods, removing the warranty stickers to unscrew the heatsink shroud from the PCB automatically voids the warranty.

[AKGPCREMODer]

I have this same card and noticed the exact same issue. I do suspect mounting pressure to be a big part of the issue. RE pasting helped by quite a bit. In was getting over 100c for the hotspot and 82-85c edge temps. an alarming delta. Now I'm getting 70-75 edge 84-88 hotspot. Going to try to use washers to increase the mounting pressure soon. I will report my results after completion.