Do backplates ACTUALLY do anything

[NicholasNicholasNicholas]

I mean i know linus did a vid on it but that was a while back. and i mean the metal ones, not the shitty plastic panes that are on nvidia cards. 

[AvocadosGuac]

1 minute ago, Nickathom said:

I mean i know linus did a vid on it but that was a while back. and i mean the metal ones, not the shitty plastic panes that are on nvidia cards. 

No

[NicholasNicholasNicholas]

Just now, Jrock said:

No

not even if they have paste between them and the back of the core?

[ARikozuM]

Makes the card look prettier and possibly helps with temps.

[EunSoo]

 

[aisle9]

11 minutes ago, Nickathom said:

I mean i know linus did a vid on it but that was a while back. and i mean the metal ones, not the shitty plastic panes that are on nvidia cards. 

Helps support larger cards and mitigate sag. Also, looks sexier than a bare PCB.

Edited May 5, 2017 by aisle9
removed part about cooling

[mariushm]

They can help make the card more rigid, the board won't bend as much due to its own weight.

If the top heatsink is screwed through the card to the back plate, a bit of heat can be transferred to that back plate so the heatsink may be just a tiny bit more easily cooled, so the fans may spin at slightly lower rpm at various loads, so the card may be just a bit less noisier.

 

Problem is most people including LinusTechTips review cards on the desk, basically outside a case, or without panels on the case, so whatever effect this extra back plate it has is so minimal (in this configuration) it won't show up in tests.

You'd have to close the panels of the case and run the system for half an hour or so to simulate the normal ambient temperature of insides of a case, then install a thermal camera or two inside to record the temperature of the backplate and the heatsink (to see hotspots on the card) , and also measure the rpm of the fans on the card. Repeat with and without backplate using the same benchmark (for example something like Metro2033 which is automated and has same scenes, so you'd be able to compare fan rpm speeds between the two runs)

 

You'll most likely see there's some improvement with backplate (most likely lower fan speeds by a few rpm , probably half a degree or 1c less heat under the gpu chip and so on...

 

Right under the gpu chip you won't see that area covered because that area is full of very small decoupling capacitors which can crack or not function properly if there's pressure on them from a backplate. Also, heat doesn't transfer well from the circuit board through a thermal transfer material to a backplate, fiber glass doesn't conduct temperature well.  So often even backplates have a tiny square cut out on them right under the gpu chip.

[Drak3]

@L.Lawliet@SCGazelle Depending on the material used, and the actual design of the back plate, there is reason to have them from the thermal perspective.

No, it doesn't make a difference to GPU temperature. But, it does help cool the VRM, VRAM, and any other components that need to dissipate heat, if the GFX card is designed to do so.

Prime example would be EVGA's ICX cooling solution. The backplate does serve as a heat sink for components (VRM being a key one after the ACX3.0 incident) other than the GPU. No, temperatures for those components are not regularly monitored in software (something LTT ignores in their video), and what airflow is present also plays a role (something else LTT ignores, running only on an open air test bench).

 

28 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Makes the card look prettier

24 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Also, looks sexier than a bare PCB.

Depends on the PCB and the back plate. Some are just fucking ugly abominations, like Zotac's yellow racing stripe abortion, or anything with ASUS' ROG logo.

Others look nice (Gigabyte's Windforce back plate), or look stellar in certain scenarios (EK's nickel back plate when under another block)

[smokefest]

Its only for visual, its nice tho i like backplates andmaybe a bit of "protection" ??

[smokefest]

7 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

@L.Lawliet@SCGazelle Depending on the material used, and the actual design of the back plate, there is reason to have them from the thermal perspective.

No, it doesn't make a difference to GPU temperature. But, it does help cool the VRM, VRAM, and any other components that need to dissipate heat, if the GFX card is designed to do so.

Prime example would be EVGA's ICX cooling solution. The backplate does serve as a heat sink for components (VRM being a key one after the ACX3.0 incident) other than the GPU. No, temperatures for those components are not regularly monitored in software (something LTT ignores in their video), and what airflow is present also plays a role (something else LTT ignores, running only on an open air test bench).

 

Depends on the PCB and the back plate. Some are just fucking ugly abominations, like Zotac's yellow racing stripe abortion, or anything with ASUS' ROG logo.

Others look nice (Gigabyte's Windforce back plate), or look stellar in certain scenarios (EK's nickel back plate when under another block)

I have the asus 1070 oc,

 

This backplate looks awesome to me : 

 

[Drak3]

1 minute ago, smokefest said:

I have the asus 1070 oc,

 

This backplate looks awesome to me : 

 

ROG logo is a fucking abomination. Otherwise, it's decent.

 

1 minute ago, L.Lawliet said:

TLDR: It doesnt matter much actually

Matters a good deal for EVGA's ICX equipped cards, and the Aorus card if LTT's shit video. But those are the only cards that I know are designed to take advantage of a back plate, and use it for a heat sink.

For cards like the Founder's Editions, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference because they just used the cheapest plastic that woulld withstand the heat of the VRMs, GPU, and VRAM. There are no structural properties to it, and it acts as an insulator.

[smokefest]

2 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

ROG logo is a fucking abomination. Otherwise, it's decent.

 

Matters a good deal for EVGA's ICX equipped cards, and the Aorus card if LTT's shit video. But those are the only cards that I know are designed to take advantage of a back plate, and use it for a heat sink.

For cards like the Founder's Editions, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference because they just used the cheapest plastic that woulld withstand the heat of the VRMs, GPU, and VRAM. There are no structural properties to it, and it acts as an insulator.

Wether a logo looks good or not is only an opinion  

 

I like the ROG logo, looks nice, that back plate, love it  

[applebook]

Yes, they give nerds wood.

[Nfrahm1]

They absolutely make a difference! They prevent gpu sag, they look fantastic, and they give the card an amazing solid feel. They can also prevent potential damage from scratches or bumps on that side of the card. For me, it's hard to find a downside to them, but if they vanished tomorrow I wouldn't be that upset. It all comes down to your personal preference!

[valkarian]

Too greedy to not want a backplate, too vain to show just the pcb, too scared to color it myself and too happy to just hold it in my hands.

 

When I unboxed my own Zotac 1070 AMP Extreme, I sat there for a good 1 minute thinking: What have I done.

 

The yellow is so hard to match, but if you use case lighting efficiently you're okay. Backplated also make it ALOT easier to handle graphic cards, with newer builders no longer worried to destroy the card just from handling it (or destroy their own fingers from a solder cut/stab) Regardless of heat efficiency, it can't have been that bad, otherwise manufacturers would not want it on their cards and would laud "NO BACKPLATE" as a feature (seriously, they would). I cannot emphasize how much an issue card sag was and we all like our twin fans firm and perky, not soft and droopy. If you get what I mean. But hey, to each his own, I don't judge. 

[Vode]

6 hours ago, Nickathom said:

I mean i know linus did a vid on it but that was a while back. and i mean the metal ones, not the shitty plastic panes that are on nvidia cards. 

They sink the heat but actual temps will stay the same so they are not very useful for cooling. If you don't dissipate the heat just sink it the ramp up will be slightly slower but peak temps will stay the same. A flat surface just is not good with heat dissipation.

 

Depending on the design the may actually help to spread the heat a bit to prevent hotspots... The Arctic design may actually help with temps but still not a whole lot. This design only is meant for VRAM (not much heatoutput) and VRMs (can run at 100C by design). Arctic provides thermal insulation between core and backplate so the core won't be cooled by the backplate.

 

 

Backplates in general are good because:

 

1) They look nice

 

2) They provide structural support and lessen the sag on heavy cards.

[Mick Naughty]

Seeing how the back of my pcb is 80c. Is say it couldn't hurt. Also having vram on the back makes a difference. Put a backplate on and it sat at 60c. And that's on air with the gpu at 56c. 

 

Even the exact same card with a water block, the backplate can hit 80c. So I made my own active cooling backplate and got the temps down to 35-40c. 

 

Idiotic for something that doesn't touch the gpu to help cool it somehow. Don't need Linus or some people without any knowledge behind it to say it doesn't do anything.