Help! Struggling with High Core Temps and Throttling on My 3080 FE after re-paste and re-pad

[Oxious]

Hey everyone,

 

I've been trying to fix the thermals on my 3080 FE (purchased back in Q1 2021), as the temps have been higher than I'd like, and I figured it was time for a re-paste and pad replacement.

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

• Initially, I used 2mm Gelid Extreme pads and repasted with Arctic MX-4, based on a lot of threads I read from around 2021 these seemed the right size for when the card was purchased. However, the pads turned out to be too thick and caused poor die contact, which led to sky-high core temps.
• Next, I swapped to 1.5mm Gelid Extreme pads, which helped a little, but I was still getting high core temps and throttling.
• Finally, thinking maybe something about the pads changed and are just too firm to compress enough, I decided to try UX PRO Ultra Putty for the VRAM and FETs, along with repasting the core using Arctic MX-6. But while the VRAM temps are great, the core temps are still way too high, and it's thermal throttling.

I thought maybe the die isn't getting enough mounting pressure, but using the putty is nice and soft, and should have eliminated that possibility, right? I’m not sure what’s going wrong here.

 

I've tried a little thermal paste, a lot of thermal paste, a pea sized blob in the middle, a thin spread, a cross and 4 dots, everything I can think of.

 

I’ve taken the card apart and re-pasted, re-seated, re-applied pads / putty / paste and re-assembled it 20+ times by now, making sure the rear bracket is properly tensioned and replacing all the screws every time.

I’m honestly not sure how much more abuse it can take. I’ve tried different combinations of pads, putty and paste, but nothing seems to work. I’m at a total loss here.

 

Is my cooler screwed? Has it bent out of shape somehow? Is this just normal with the VRAM dumping all that extra heat into the cooler?

 

PC:

Ryzen 7 5800x with a Thermalright Peerless Assassin SE

Corsair 2x16GB 3600 DDR4

Corsair RM750 PSU

Corsair 4000D Airfow with 2 x 140mm fans blowing in from the front, with 1x 120mm fan blowing out the back and 2x 140mm fans out the top, all set to 100%

Ambient temp around 24c / 75f

 

Any ideas?

 

The temps and clocks from HWInfo64 while playing Split Fiction, with a 83°C temp limit, 100% power limit, and everything default:

 

 

Running FurMark:

 

 

Idle:

 

 

The cooler after the most recent attempt (the smooshed bit on the fets on the left side was all good before I knocked it out of shape)

 

 

The spread on the die after unmounting, looks like uneven pressure on the left side for some reason :

 

 

The bracket:

 

 

The re-paste:

 

 

 

Edited March 18 by Oxious
Added more pics

[wONKEyeYEs]

3 hours ago, Oxious said:

I've tried a little thermal paste, a lot of thermal paste, a pea sized blob in the middle, a thin spread, a cross and 4 dots, everything I can think of.

You don't mention what thermal paste.

I redid a MSI MECH OC Radeon RX 5700 XT which are known to run hot.

Used the recommended 1.5 & 2mm pads, Gelid.

I heard that pump out is a problem with paste for the chip so used Thermalright TFX spread over chip with applicator.

Worked well for me, all temps are good even when stressed.

3 hours ago, Oxious said:

Is my cooler screwed? Has it bent out of shape somehow? Is this just normal with the VRAM dumping all that extra heat into the cooler?

I have read that improving the memory cooling can raise chip temps.

[Oxious]

1 hour ago, wONKEyeYEs said:

You don't mention what thermal paste.

I used Arctic MX-6 which is supposedly quite good in regards to pump-out.

1 hour ago, wONKEyeYEs said:

I have read that improving the memory cooling can raise chip temps.

I hope it's that simple, although having it sound like a jet engine while gaming isn't ideal.  

I've added some more pics to my original post.

Edited March 18 by Oxious

[wONKEyeYEs]

10 hours ago, Oxious said:

I've added some more pics to my original post.

It does look like you aren't getting good pressure on the left side.

 

[Oxious]

So i thought i'd update in case somebody comes across the same issue:

It looks like the cooler was the problem.

 

After some looking around, I found this article: Link

I had a closer look at the cooler and saw some exposed copper on the part which contacts the die.

 

 

So I went on ebay and luckily I managed to find an original cooler from a 3080ti FE. I fitted it with the same putty and paste, and now it's fixed! 

It seems like my old cooler's vapor chamber may have been compromised so it was just a hunk of metal trying to cool the card.

Here it is running furmark: