GPU Cooler Degrading? Interesting issue..

T4rd

T4rd

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Anyone ever seen a GPU/Heatpipe cooler wear out or heat pipes go bad on coolers?

My son has had this MSI RX 570 8GB since November 2018, and although it still runs pretty much anything he plays at 1080p UW, for the last year or so it has been running much hotter and louder than he ever recalled beforehand. I checked it out after he complained enough and figured it needed to be repasted, but that didn't help at all and of course I cleaned out the heatsink fins thoroughly as well.

It pretty much shoots up to around 89C and stays there while gaming at 100% GPU utilization. The heat pipes remain pretty cool to the touch while it's at this temp as well, leading me to believe that the coolant inside of them has either degraded completely or leaked out somehow. What's also interesting is that the fans were running at ~90% speed while at that temp, but out of curiosity, I lowered them to 50% (where you can can't even hear them really) and the GPU temp didn't change at all at 100% utilization and ~89C.

Googling it, I can't find much evidence of others experiencing this, so just wondering if anyone has seen something like that here. I got a 3080 12GB to replace my 2080 on the way right now and I'm about to hand that down to him anyways. That will be overkill for the games he plays for a while and it's a super quite card so I'm sure he'll appreciate that. I just thought it was an interesting issue and wanted to post about it here.
 
The only way that can be possible is if theres no contact. How does the paste spread look? Those Armor style coolers have very little support and they can bend the bracket on the back of the card so it stops having as much tension. I would try putting little plastic washers under each corner and try a reseat.

I'm sure its possible for heat pipes to lose the coolant inside since its such a tiny amount, but it has to have several. It seems unreasonable for all of them to lose it at once, and I'm pretty sure that card isn't a vapor chamber.
 
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LigTasm said:
The only way that can be possible is if theres no contact. How does the paste spread look? Those Armor style coolers have very little support and they can bend the bracket on the back of the card so it stops having as much tension. I would try putting little plastic washers under each corner and try a reseat.

I'm sure its possible for heat pipes to lose the coolant inside since its such a tiny amount, but it has to have several. It seems unreasonable for all of them to lose it at once, and I'm pretty sure that card isn't a vapor chamber.
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Hmm, alrighty, I'll try the washers if I can find some or maybe those little mobo spacer pads as I'm pretty sure I have plenty of those. But I can touch the heatsink block near the GPU and it's def hot so it seems like it's absorbing heat like it should, but just not much heat seemingly being carried away from the heatpipes. I'm not sure if the heatpipes should be getting nearly as hot as the block itself or not though.
 
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T4rd said:
Hmm, alrighty, I'll try the washers if I can find some or maybe those little mobo spacer pads as I'm pretty sure I have plenty of those. But I can touch the heatsink block near the GPU and it's def hot so it seems like it's absorbing heat like it should, but just not much heat seemingly being carried way from the heatpipes. I'm not sure if the heatpipes should be getting nearly as hot as the block itself or not though.
Click to expand...

Is it a vapor chamber? I thought the Armor models weren't but that could explain it. You'd basically have an air gap. If you take it back apart post a picture of it, I'm pretty curious now.
 
What does the TIM spread look like?

To answer the question, yes, if you had a leak in them, it actually is possible for heat pipes to dry out, and then you get this behavior, where they just work as pretty crap heatsinks. Vapor chambers behave similarly - they're basically just flat heat pipes. They can also warp if they get hot enough, and then won't make contact with the die properly.

It's unusual for this to happen, but it's not totally unheard-of.
 
Any solder connections, or press fits, pulling apart due to heat cycling?
Any cracks in the heat pipe?
 
Heat pipes can Crack or develop holes and let the oil out. It's rare but it can happen. That essentially means the cooler is broken.
 
I put my 2080 in his PC today and other than some egregious coil whine I just recently started noticing before the swap, it's a massive upgrade for him in a few games I tested; went into them and cranked settings from medium to max in a couple games and at 2560x1080 most of them are still under-utilizing the GPU at his 85hz cap.

So I took the ol'570 out to check out the block contact and it doesn't seem that bad to me:

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I guess there's that tiny spot in the bottom left corner that looks like the paste missed, but that's about it. I put a dab more paste on that spot and some other spots just to ensure there's enough now.
8UdV2rawdWZ-gh_1FOQTzv=w1057-h1409-s-no?authuser=0.jpg

39frr8ADIDnOeNzcEsyA0x=w1057-h1409-s-no?authuser=0.jpg


Here are the screws it uses on the block; they're springy screws that seem like they should provide enough pressure when tightened down adequately to the board.

86Bo5CcX5Yj05Y-lhmmVXid=w1948-h845-s-no?authuser=0.jpg


So not sure if that tiny uncovered spot is it or if the cooler just took a shit somehow. My son claims this card used to stay in the 60-70s for temps and now it still stays at around 89C at 100% GPU utilization regardless of what the fans are doing. Might never know now unless I just feel like playing with it some more. I was going to resell it to one of his friends or something for super cheap, but guess I'll just give it away at this point with the caveat that they may need to get a new cooler for it.
 
Wasn’t the design specification for that card for it to run at 90 degrees? I seem to remember people getting their panties in a bunch about it. Could be misremembering and it’s some other card, this old brain is getting pretty full.
 
Personally I would do a full repad and repaste on the card before I would single out the cooler, also check that the fan is working through the full rpm range, just because it is turning does not mean that it is functioning as designed. If the temps are still out of whack, then I would say replace the cooler.
 
T4rd said:
My son claims this card used to stay in the 60-70s for temps and now it still stays at around 89C at 100% GPU utilization regardless of what the fans are doing.
Click to expand...
It could just be a driver bug, but then I would expect we would have heard about it by now. That aliexpress replacement heatsink is under $20, worth a try for sure. You (or whoever you give it to) will also want to replace the thermal pads and do a better job of aligning them with the vRam.
 
Try some PTM7950 on the GPU die. It may settle under temp to fit the die and cooler gap.
 
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