Does 970 Backplate help cooling?

[JamesBE]

Hi,

So, I just discovered that end of last year EVGA had a promotion that you could get a free backplate for your 970, which I of course overlooked completely.
So I'm looking into getting some for my 970's, but I was wodering.

Do these backplates help cooling at all? Seeing that there are some thermal pads on the RAM modules on that side op the GPU.

Does anyone have "solid" proof of the efficiency?
Proof of badassness I do not need. I'm already convinced of that

Thanks guys.
James

[Mao_Zedong]

Not really; they may reduce temps by 1-2C, but are mostly for looks.

[UnlimitedTMD]

you would probably not see any difference at all

[Enderman]

they are mostly for looks

metal backplates might reduce the temps of the PCB by a few degrees when using thermal pads, but its not a significant difference

[PirateCoffee]

Reduces GPU Sag.

[FireFox]

Reduces GPU Sag.

 

Thank Jesus they put one on the GTX 780 Lightning, teh fat bitch weights around 1.5kg lol

[TheMcSame]

Backplates are there to reduce sag and make the card look good.

 

They can help cards run cooler but you're looking at a small change, maybe a 1-2c but nothing huge.

[Atmos]

If it makes contact with back mounted memory, and uses thermal pads, then yes, they can do quite a bit sometimes.

 

In most cases though, it might only reduce the pcb temp by a few degrees, since it doesn't have a thermal compound and doesn't make full contact in many cases.

[ForsakenLive]

Some backplates have thermal pads and do make a difference, specially since Nvidia likes putting VRAM chips in the back.

 

However most backplates out there do a minimal temperature difference (1-2°C), but also reduce sag and look cool.

[Mick Naughty]

They are there for the select few who have cards with ram on the back of the card. Or help support inferior cards stay straight.