So I tried to change my thermal paste because of Linus' video...

[MrTomnus]

Hey guys, thought this would warrant a post on the LTT forum.

 

I saw Linus' video today about changing the thermal compound on my GPU, and I decided to go for it. I'll give you a bit of backstory on my GPU.

 

So, I got my MSI R9 290 about 11 months ago, when I built my first ever rig, I was so happy with it - it gave me incredible framerates at 1080p, and after upgrading to 1440p it still performed amazingly. But the one thing that really got me was the noise of the thing. It would constantly be running at 100% fan speed. I thought this was normal since, well, why would it not be running at the speed it was "designed" to be spinning? 

 

The only other thing that worried me was the temperature. While at 100% load and fan speed, my R9 290 would be running at about 95 CELSIUS. Yep, you read that right. This was in games like Dead Space, Space Engineers, MGS 5 and Battlefield. Again, I thought this was normal since Linus made a thing of the reference R9 290 and 290X having a target temperature of 95C. So I thought this was all normal. Until my PC started shutting down because of the temperature. That made me stop playing Dead Space for a while.

 

Since the time I owned my GPU, I told a few friends about the performance I was getting and they were really skeptical. They always said that's really hot for a GPU to be running, but I just shrugged it off. But Linus' video today made me take the plunge and put matters into my own hands. I disassembled the GPU and looked at the heatsink to see if it was bent/broken. It was fine. Then I looked at the thermal paste.

 

HOLY SHIT.

 

This thing had the crappiest thermal paste job I had ever seen. It had dried out and barely covered 40% of the GPU die. I wish I had taken pictures, but I was desperate to get it off there and replace it with some MX-4 I had. I put it on, put the heatsink back and put my R9 290 back into my PC. Lo and behold, the results!

 

For those who can't see, in MGS5 I am getting 69C with 100% GPU load, and also 52% fan speed (which I forgot to include in monitoring). In BF3 I'm getting 70C with about 47% fan speed, and in Dead Space I'm getting about 75C with 50% fan speed. All of these are at 100% GPU usage.

 

So I just want to say thank you to Linus for uploading this video. Without it I would never have solved my problem, and my temperatures wouldn't have dropped 25 Celsius, not 3C like you said  Obviously I want to stress that my GPU wasn't properly constructed in the factory, and you might not see the performance gain I had. But if your temperatures are very high and you hit 100% fan speed often, I'd consider giving this a go. But you should remember this could void your warranty.

[kpreg]

BRB CHANGING MY COMPOUND

[Zeke]

Do you have a TwinFrozr one or some other edition?

[MrTomnus]

Do you have a TwinFrozr one or some other edition?

Yep, it was the MSI Twin Frozr edition.

[Mouse-Potato]

snip

 

Where your temps always that high or was it after 11 months you noticed an increase in temps?

[Zeke]

Yep, it was the MSI Twin Frozr edition.

Dang. I gotta check thermal paste on mine as well.

[Kyuubixchidori]

welp. hey, I have 2 cards. so if you can get a  25% gain, i should get 50%?

 

I CAN GET A FREE CARD WORTH OF PERFORMANCE?

 

/s

 

thanks actually really sweet. I have some spare compound, but I run my cards at 1.2 volts and they still do well. I think the fans hit 60%. I ask a lot of them. but I should check. but then again Im selling this pc soon. so....

[MrTomnus]

Where your temps always that high or was it after 11 months you noticed an increase in temps?

I think for the first month or so I was getting 70C. Then once I downloaded and played Dead Space about three months after building it, that was when I noticed it - especially with the shutdowns. I'm a novice builder so I thought it was just the card running hot (which it obviously was) - but not for the reason I thought. I just thought Dead Space was a terribly optimised game, that's all.

[Takata]

You really should have taken a photo of the previous paste application. >.>

[TheRetiredSlave]

I repasted my Asus Strix 980 just a few weeks ago. Dropped fan speeds by ~15%, dropped temperatures by a couple degrees, and I was able to run a slightly higher overclock.

 

Of course, I did shred that "warranty void if removed" sticker, but oh well.

[Mouse-Potato]

I think for the first month or so I was getting 70C. Then once I downloaded and played Dead Space about three months after building it, that was when I noticed it - especially with the shutdowns. I'm a novice builder so I thought it was just the card running hot (which it obviously was) - but not for the reason I thought. I just thought Dead Space was a terribly optimised game, that's all.

They probably used toothpaste from the factory as a TIM, glad your temps are a lot cooler now. Maybe they do this too all AMD cards to sabotage themselves and make Nvidia look better...

[MrTomnus]

You really should have taken a photo of the previous paste application. >.>

I know, I had the alcohol on the die and started rubbing, and the moment I wiped some off I though "Damn!! I didn't take a picture!" It was just very thin, bad quality paste that had gone all crusty. I could see most of the mirrored finish of the die underneath. It was just an all around terrible thermal paste job.

 

They probably used toothpaste from the factory as a TIM, glad your temps are a lot cooler now. Maybe they do this too all AMD cards to sabotage themselves and make Nvidia look better...

Haha, most likely! I'm glad too - I feel so bad for putting my poor GPU through those temps for so long...