GPU artifact issues after thermal paste reapplication

[Shinzo - Ed]

Hello everyone,

I have had my PC for professional work with Unreal Engine game development as well as gaming since November 2019, it's a Ryzen 7 3700X on a B450 GAMING PLUS MAX, GPU is the MSI 2060 Super Armor.

 

I think a year ago I started noticing that the hot spot temperatures always reach 105 degrees and the GPU reaches 72 degrees at which point the fans turn on full blast for 5 seconds then turn back down, they do this even with custom fan curves. So I decided a couple days ago to change the thermal paste to CoolerMaster MasterGel Pro V2 (I live in Algeria so product availability is limited). So, the thermal paste application was horrible on the die and I did my best to clean it but it hit all the surrounding small chips/transistors/SODs not sure what they are. After reassembly everything worked well, on full load the temps on hot spot never exceeded 80-85 degrees and the issue was gone but I immediately noticed that when opening my project in UE or certain games, the textures would flicker horribly, it was immediate on UnrealEngine but not in games. The black triangles on the GPU used to happen very very rarely on Unreal Engine, but very few of them and no "artifacty" lines.

The only solution was to underclock it, -110 on Core Clock hit the spot, but this morning after working for a few hours I noticed that it was back and only -200 made it go away. I did a full reinstall of drivers with DDU and everything. Help please lol I'll attach a video of the artifacts and a photo of my cleaning.

 

This is the artifact effects: 

 

 

Thank you.

 

EDIT: As a note, when the GPU is on full load, it has a constant coil whine, this has been the case for a long time maybe even since it first ran.

 

 

 

[Sarra]

Did you replace the thermal pads with same-size replacements? Looks like something isn't getting cooled, you might need to re-do your thermal paste application.

[Shinzo - Ed]

Wouldnt that show up in the temps?

Thermal pads are under a plate, i didnt touch them.

[BiotechBen]

1 hour ago, Shinzo - Ed said:

Wouldnt that show up in the temps?

Thermal pads are under a plate, i didnt touch them.

Give everything a good cleanup that you can easily reach with some 91-99% IPA, and then clean up the splooge from the thermal paste.

[Shinzo - Ed]

I did give it another clean this afternoon and this time no thermal paste was left anywhere, temps are still good but same effect is present.

[Mark Kaine]

8 hours ago, Shinzo - Ed said:

Thermal pads are under a plate,

pics?  seems like we seen everything,  except the thing that might cause your issues...

 

ps: hmm you're saying its behind the backplate?  a pic of the whole gpu might still help to identify the issue (maybe)

[Shinzo - Ed]

9 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

pics?  seems like we seen everything,  except the thing that might cause your issues...

 

ps: hmm you're saying its behind the backplate?  a pic of the whole gpu might still help to identify the issue (maybe)

No not behind the backplate, there are capacitors i assume or something with the msi logo, feel metalic that contact the heatsink + what i assume the vrams and pada under a plate. I never handled thermal pads but the small protruding pad part on the edge of the plate is very soft, like playdoh.

 

These are photos of the very first disassembly.

 

[Sarra]

What paste are you using? 

[Shinzo - Ed]

it's written in the original post, CoolerMaster MasterGel Pro V2

[Sarra]

2 hours ago, Shinzo - Ed said:

it's written in the original post, CoolerMaster MasterGel Pro V2

Oh, sorry, I did miss that.

 

I goggled it, it's not electrically conductive.

 

I would suggest trying to find a current VBIOS, and reflash the card. Other than that, there isn't anything I can think of that would cause this that isn't thermal related, but you either didn't disturb the thermal pads, or you replaced the GPU's paste, so that shouldn't be an issue.

 

Make sure you tighten in an X pattern half a turn at a time when you reinstall the HSF mounting screws. In fact, you might go pull all the screws out several turns (count per screw), and re-tighten them half a turn a time per screw to see if that helps.

[IkeaGnome]

Did you tighten the cooler down evenly? It might be the light and what's left of thermal paste in this picture messing with my eyes, but it almost looks like that corner of the GPU is folded down.

Spoiler

 

You're getting very uneven mounting pressure regardless of the condition of the GPU die.

[Shinzo - Ed]

I did tighten it following an X pattern but like 3 turns at a time. How tight should they be also? I try to tighten only with thumb and index finger to gauge the pressure and I stop the moment I can't turn it with 2 fingers and without using my whole hand.