Bad Mount On 5080 Core Epic X Block?

[jbernstei]

I recently built my first loop in a number of years using an Alphacool Core block for my PNY Epic X 5080, and I am wondering if I have a bad mount.

I'm wondering if I have a poor mount as the GPU instantly hits 50c under load (like cyberpunk at 4k, furmark, anything that has the GPU hit its power limit), and this is much higher than my past experiences with other GPUs that draw similar power.

This is with an ambient temperature of 21c.

The loop seems to be sufficient, as the temperature will only rise by about 5c with a water temperature of around 30c before hitting steady state, but the actual temperature value itself seems high with a delta of up to 35-37c between the core and the water temp.

For thermal compound i used a Thermalgrizzly PTM sheet which I cut to size with about 1-2mm of overhang over the side of the die.

Is this 35c core to water temp delta indicative of a bad mount?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Eddy]

Phase-change pads only start to perform properly at around 50–60 °C. Your card actually stays too cool for those pads to work optimally. We haven’t had particularly good experiences with them internally either.

But in general, you won’t get much lower temperatures anyway. The specified heat output isn’t the only important factor — what really matters is the heat flux per mm². Just to give you a comparison from the CPU world: it’s actually easier to cool a socket 4677 CPU with 500 W than a mainstream AM5 or 1851 CPU with 200 W. Simply because the mainstream CPUs release more heat per mm².

So at best, you might get down to around 45 °C, or maybe 2–3 °C better with a good thermal paste.

Also, keep in mind there are always tolerances in GPU die height. If you happen to have a chip that’s on the lower end of that tolerance range, the contact pressure will naturally be slightly less.

Honestly, at 50 °C under Furmark, you’re already doing pretty well.