Eiswolf 240 GPX Pro RTX 2080/2080Ti M01 no longer cooling well?

bobo343

New member
Hello, I made a thread the other day about looking for the right thermal pads to do a clean up on my graphics card and apply some new pads. Name of the cooler is in the title, I'm on a 2080ti.

Long story short that's what I did (I've triple checked the pads thickness too, I only ended up changing the pads on the VRM and they are 100% 1.5mm as stated by the manual), but now I just can't get my core temps right, they soar under any stress test and the card downclocks itself/system shuts down. My first guess was a bad paste application, but I've reapplied several times now (using MX-4 and Kryonaut).

Is it a matter of tightness on the backplate meaning that contact isn't high enough? I've tightened it to a comfortable degree (where I'm at right now) and the idle temps are mid 40s (compared to 20s before) with the aformentioned high temps and thermal throttling problem. Temps will shoot to 88c on a stress test with severe downclocking, and I'll just close the test down to save it rebooting. This to me speaks of a lack of good contact with the chipset but I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

When I first put the card together over a year or so ago everything was fine, I had 20C on idle and mid 50Cs under load, I simply repeated the process in reverse and reassembled it and now I'm stuck with this issue. I think I've disassembled and repasted it 3 or 4 times thus far, I don't think I'm that incompetent with the paste for it to be the issue! I usually default to a decent blob in the center for it to spread once the heatsink comes into contact, but I've also tried applying it in a cross that goes across the chip for a shot at better coverage, still with poor results. When taking the card apart, it doesn't seem like paste coverage is a huge issue as the chip always seems to have a covering.

I tried tightening the card as much as it would go without damaging it, tightening all the backplate screws crosswise and going little by little more until each wouldn't go any further without any extreme force, and this resulted in the graphics card simply not working. The system would boot but I'd get no output, a loosening of the screws again allowed it to boot so I guess the PCB was was under stress from the cooler being just too tight.

I just can't find this middle ground for tightness for good contact and thermals, and not making the card stop working. I'm stressed and at my wits end here lol, any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you so much.
 
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bobo343

New member
So, a quick update:

Given that the VRM pads were the only things I changed, I opted to swap them for the slightly thinner 1.0mm pads that came in the pack. Maybe the brand I got were a bit less malleable and weren't allowing for contact? I don't know.

Anyway, new pads on, reinstalled the plate for maybe the 6th time, and finally a (moderate) success. Idle temps are low, and running heaven benchmark does not cause a violent increase in temps nor any real downclocking. However, I used to top out at maybe 68c running heaven, now the GPU temps will climb to the mid 70s and higher, a lot higher than my previous results (but still a lot lower than on air, and below the 88c thermal limit of the 2080ti).

Any idea what could have happened? This level of stability, with temps that are still relatively good implies I didn't totally botch the mounting like the previous few times. I opened up the case after a few hours and some tests to retighten the screws as the manual suggests, and they had a bit more give to be tightened, but nothing really changed temp wise.

It works and temps are fine, but I can't help but wonder what could have caused this difference? I used Kryonaut for the final application, which I was under the impression was as good as if not better than the MX-4 that I used in my original application, so I can't see the paste being at fault! Any help/advice would be great, thanks a bunch.
 

bobo343

New member
Just one more update:

Things are working "fine," but I'm about 7-8 degrees hotter on average than previous. I can't really figure it out, the only difference is the kryonaut compared to the MX-4, could it make that much difference? After so many failed reassembly attempts, I don't think I have the confidence to take it apart and reapply with MX-4 like I did previously, and as temps are technically fine I'll just stay as is.

Mildly disappointing that it's not as cool as before, but on the plus side it's still cooler and most importantly quieter than air. My reference cooler (EVGA XC Ultra) was absurdly loud, with fans revving up just to keep it at 84c, so I guess capping out even as high as 75c on this liquid cooler with my fans set to a maximum of 50% (highest inaudible level) is leagues better!

Suffice to say though, the stress from this has made me swear off taking apart cards and installing custom cooling solutions from now on haha. I'll either wait for an aftermarket card that has good noise/thermals on air, or buy one of those prebuilt liquid AIOs that some companies ship!
 

Metropolis34

Support
Staff member
Hi, this can have various reasons really. It is more a crsytal ball question :) The thermal paste that you are using is one of the best on the market. If you give us a call we can disscus this issue on the phone. Is it possible to send or post some photos of your build ?
 
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