There seems to be a rising problem of terrible temperatures in new graphics cards.| That’s according to Igor’s Lab whose audience has been providing him with the information of some GPU hotspot temperatures reaching 100°C just a few months after purchasing them new. These come from a range of manufacturers and different fabrications so seems to come down to the thermal paste vendors.
Apparently they come in with great data sheets with great performances, and crucially low pricing considering the kilograms manufacturers will use. Great for reviews and initial testing, but after prolonged usage that deteriorates drastically. The primary reasons for this seem to be pump-out, outgassing, and hardening of the paste that breaks its performance.
Igor’s testing
The article has been translated by Google from German so some nuances may be lost and mistranslated but should be mostly true. We see Igor has set up a thorough lab for testing out the thermal paste, and it is rather extensive with the ability to check temps, pressure, and composition, so putting the paste of the Manli RTX 4080 Gallardo that had these thermal issues has given an insight into what the problems might be.
Thermal paste minimal resistance, Source Igors Lab
Thermal paste testing, Source Igors Lab
Thermal paste interface resistance, Source Igors Lab
Firstly, when testing out the thermal paste, this one starts dripping out in a short time, suggesting a very liquid grease that others do not do. Plus it was found that the effective thermal conductivity reduces drastically as the layer thickens. Under a microscope, it looked to be rather oily on the outside floating between the large Aluminum Oxide particles that reach 16µm. That is mostly fine to achieve high thermal conductivity, but those large gaps let all the oil flow through and cause the spillage.
So if you have an affected option it is rather simple to fix by replacing the thermal paste. But that’s only if you can’t warranty claim as apparently some are rejecting RMA claims due to the high hotspot temps, which is caused by the manufacturing cost-cutting and problems. Hopefully, Igor can make a difference in getting these changes brought in by manufacturers, but at least you might now know why your GPU is overheating.
