Why am I having to change my GPUs thermal paste every few weeks due to temps?

[Msuni]

So I have a Asus ROG Strix RTX 2080ti which is like 3 years old at this point and randomly a few months ago the fans started ramping up to max RPM when the temp reached a given threshold, 74°C, every few seconds or so. After changing the thermal paste the issue went away and the card was reaching like 76°C max without any fan issues, however this only lasted a few weeks and then the same issue arose again. I have changed the paste probably like 4 times at this point as well as changed the thermal pads once, given it's a 3 year old card probably should have been done a lot sooner. I put a dollop of paste the first few times then decided to manually spread to ensure that it covers the entire surface. But nothing seems to work. The fans have started ramping up again every few seconds after being completely fine for weeks. I have no idea what to do now. Any suggestions?

[Dedayog]

Just now, Msuni said:

So I have a Asus ROG Strix RTX 2080ti which is like 3 years old at this point and randomly a few months ago the fans started ramping up to max RPM when the temp reached a given threshold, 74°C, every few seconds or so. After changing the thermal paste the issue went away and the card was reaching like 76°C max without any fan issues, however this only lasted a few weeks and then the same issue arose again. I have changed the paste probably like 4 times at this point as well as changed the thermal pads once, given it's a 3 year old card probably should have been done a lot sooner. I put a dollop of paste the first few times then decided to manually spread to ensure that it covers the entire surface. But nothing seems to work. The fans have started ramping up again every few seconds after being completely fine for weeks. I have no idea what to do now. Any suggestions?

No, something else is wrong.  You're not supposed to change thermal paste within 3 years, let alone every few weeks.  It isn't the paste, it doesn't "wear out" that fast.  GPU's aren't maintenance items, nor are CPUs for that matter.

 

Did you download a new driver that changed the fan curves a few months ago?  Can you alter the fan curve currently to ramp up at a higher temp?

[CommanderAlex]

What thermal paste are you using? Some thermal pastes suffer from a "pump out" effect due to cyclical thermal loadings that cause the paste to run off the die. 

[Msuni]

12 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

No, something else is wrong.  You're not supposed to change thermal paste within 3 years, let alone every few weeks.  It isn't the paste, it doesn't "wear out" that fast.  GPU's aren't maintenance items, nor are CPUs for that matter.

 

Did you download a new driver that changed the fan curves a few months ago?  Can you alter the fan curve currently to ramp up at a higher temp?

As this issue has been going on for a few months at this point I have installed multiple drivers if and when they get released. Prior to the issue I didn't mess with the fan curve at all. Since having this issue I have set a custom fan curve but the fans still just ramp up, it overrides it.

[Msuni]

15 minutes ago, CommanderAlex said:

What thermal paste are you using? Some thermal pastes suffer from a "pump out" effect due to cyclical thermal loadings that cause the paste to run off the die. 

Noctua NT-H1.

[CommanderAlex]

2 minutes ago, Msuni said:

Noctua NT-H1.

That's the culprit. NT-H1 suffers from pump-out and I've used it on bare die on a MBP and even still after repasting it would run in the mid 80s-90s idle. Bought MX-4 and temps are considerably lower (50s-60s idle).

 

Here's a video of what finally led me to believe it was the paste causing this and not installation error. 

 

Supposedly NT-H2 fixes this, although Noctua states they are both safe to use on bare dies. 

 

[Dedayog]

1 minute ago, CommanderAlex said:

That's the culprit. NT-H1 suffers from pump-out and I've used it on bare die on a MBP and even still after repasting it would run in the mid 80s-90s idle. Bought MX-4 and temps are considerably lower (50s-60s idle).

 

Here's a video of what finally led me to believe it was the paste causing this and not installation error. 

 

Supposedly NT-H2 fixes this, although Noctua states they are both safe to use on bare dies. 

 

Interesting, learn something new today.  Though how you can have a product that does this still on the market is beyond me.

[CommanderAlex]

4 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Interesting, learn something new today.  Though how you can have a product that does this still on the market is beyond me.

I don't get Noctua's statement that they are both safe to use in laptops, which have bare die cooling, so that same principal in a graphics card still applies (yes there is more at play such as orientation). Even the reddit forum appears to discuss this more so about the "pump out" effect. Too bad NT-H2 is pretty damn expensive compared to NT-H1 for just a couple ^oC change in temperature imo. 

[Msuni]

9 minutes ago, CommanderAlex said:

That's the culprit. NT-H1 suffers from pump-out and I've used it on bare die on a MBP and even still after repasting it would run in the mid 80s-90s idle. Bought MX-4 and temps are considerably lower (50s-60s idle).

 

Here's a video of what finally led me to believe it was the paste causing this and not installation error. 

 

Supposedly NT-H2 fixes this, although Noctua states they are both safe to use on bare dies. 

 

Oh wow really? I assumed that it was a good thermal paste, never did much research just probably heard someone say it in a video at one point. I'll definitely try MX-4 and hopefully that'll do the trick - seems like it will though. Cheers

 

7 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Interesting, learn something new today.  Though how you can have a product that does this still on the market is beyond me.

That's what i was thinking, and from a reputable brand as well. (As far as I'm aware anyway)

[CommanderAlex]

3 minutes ago, Msuni said:

Oh wow really? I assumed that it was a good thermal paste, never did much research just probably heard someone say it in a video at one point. I'll definitely try MX-4 and hopefully that'll do the trick - seems like it will though. Cheers

 

That's what i was thinking, and from a reputable brand as well. (As far as I'm aware anyway)

MX-4 for like a 10g tube was ~$8, cheaper than the tube of NT-H1 10g. It works great and glad I did my research using for bare die. 

[Dedayog]

5 minutes ago, CommanderAlex said:

MX-4 for like a 10g tube was ~$8, cheaper than the tube of NT-H1 10g. It works great and glad I did my research using for bare die. 

Outside of the pre-applied stuff, I have used Grizzly's Kryonaut and it works fine as well.  Just throwing another option out there.

[CommanderAlex]

2 hours ago, Dedayog said:

Outside of the pre-applied stuff, I have used Grizzly's Kryonaut and it works fine as well.  Just throwing another option out there.

Yeah that's another premium paste option to look into too. Haven't decided to get it since it's so damn expensive per gram. 

[Dedayog]

2 hours ago, CommanderAlex said:

Yeah that's another premium paste option to look into too. Haven't decided to get it since it's so damn expensive per gram. 

It is, but I look at it like this... I use it once for 5 years then buy a new tube anyway.  So use a small amount of MX-4 and then throw the rest out, pricing is a lot closer then.  Now if you use a lot of paste, obviously price is an issue.