The copper thermal pad is available for purchase.
A few weeks ago we reported on a Youtuber who was able to save more than 45 degrees of temperature development by modifying his graphics card, which is not entirely harmless, and thus eliminate annoying throttling, i.e. clocking down in the event of overheating.
The high-end models from Nvidia starting with the Geforce RTX 3070 Ti are particularly affected, as the particularly fast GDDR6X graphics memory modules are installed on them. Unfortunately, they are not only very fast, but also get particularly hot. Over 100 degrees are not uncommon.
The memory chips are up to 105 degrees specified
more on the subject
Modder doubles VRAM but takes no pleasure in it
A copper plate instead of several copper plates
What does the mod do? The modification itself is quite simple. The thick thermal pads that are factory-fitted on the memory modules and connect to the cooling elements are replaced by copper plates. Copper has very good thermal conductivity properties, but is also an excellent electrical conductor. This makes the use as a heat-conducting plate not entirely harmless, since under certain circumstances short circuits can occur if the small plates slip or dust from grinding the same gets onto the circuit board.
Now the project by Youtuber DandyWorks could set a precedent: In his latest video he uses a large prefabricated copper thermal pad for his RTX 3080 instead of self-cut copper plates. The company will do that CoolMyGPU manufactured and sold. The advantage over the in-house production is that the pad fits perfectly and can no longer slip during assembly thanks to spacers to the GPU. In addition, it no longer has to be sanded extra smooth, which also eliminates the risk of copper dust.
Nevertheless, caution is required. Short circuits can not only destroy the graphics card, but also result in a fire and not only damage your PC, but endanger your life.
How much does the mod bring?
Temperatures:
| Before (GPU/Memory) | After (GPU/Memory) | change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 78 City / 88 City | 75 Grad / 70 Grad | -4.8 percent/-20.4 percent |
| Ethereum Mining | 65 Grad / 94 Grad | 58 Grad / 75 Grad | -10.8 percent/-20.2 percent |
| OctaneBench | 78 City / 92 City | 78 City / 76 City | +-0/-17.4 percent |
The temperature drops noticeably through the copper thermal pad. Above all, of course, on the memory chips, but also on the graphics chip, as the table above makes clear. By the way, without thermal paste, the pad for the RTX 3080 or RTX 3080 Ti costs 57 US dollars. That corresponds to around 52 dollars, shipping is not included. There is currently no copper thermal pad for the RTX 3070 Ti and the RTX 3090.
Like a modder the RTX 3070 from 8 to 16 gigabytes of RAM, you can find out here:
how do you see it? Do you perhaps have an RTX 3080 or RTX 3080 Ti yourself and are concerned about the high memory temperatures? Would you buy such a copper thermal pad? Feel free to write it in the comments!
