HR-03 GTX (GTX 280) - VRM (Bad) & General Temps

[-x-th]

I just recently snagged the HR-03 GTX for my GTX 280, and am a little confused and concerned about the VRM temps.

For the most part, all temps have dropped by a full 20C+ on the core (10C+ on mem and ambient) with the HR-03 and a 120mm on medium (Antec TriCool; great fans) which works great and far quieter than the stock fan cranked when gaming.

However, the VRM temp seems insane, hitting upwards of 78C+ under load, which it didn't with the stock cooler.

What's bizarre though, is that the temp will drop immediately after load by a full 20-30C down to 40-50C, literally within about two seconds. Does that even make sense? Would seem the sinks are working great with that kind of drop, except that load temps for the VRM are way too hot.

Since they're small chips, for which this HR-03 uses a large plate with tiny thermal pads to cover, that could be a problem, because the pads are tall enough to touch the chips and the plate is mounted with pushpins, so without the pads, there's no way to apply thermal adhesive, as it's just flat metal that wont reach down far enough. I don't think the pushpins will pull the plate down far enough.

This is the problem they were having originally, with the VRM overheating, which is why they retooled and re-released the HR-03 GTX.

Otherwise, the HR-03 GTX works great and dropped my temps by a full 20C+ all around (for those interested and wanting to know it's effectiveness). Under load with stock fan cranked to 90%+, I'd still be hitting high 60's; now I don't go above 52C with the 120mm always on medium.

If someone could let me know how to resolve this, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks much.

P.S.
Can you apply thermal adhesive on the pads?

Because without the pads, it's just the metal plate which I don't think will reach down far enough to touch the chips.

 

[vick1000]

Thermal adhesive won't help.

Maybe take a dremel to the stock heat sink and cut the VRM cooling part off. Or just wait for a better solution from a aftermarket company.

I knew the VRM plate they were using was not going to work well, and it's aggrevating that nothing else has been released to cool these cards since they were released. The plate is not dense enough, and is not much more than a thin heat spreader, thus lacking enough surface area to be effective.

You could try some different thermal pads, like the ones that came with the old Arctic Cooling Silencers (light grey, feel like clay and cool to the touch). I used to get them on e-bay, but the AC parts store is gone. Shin-Etsu makes some CPU pads, but I don't think they are thin enough.

 

[-x-th]

Thermal adhesive won't help.

Maybe take a dremel to the stock heat sink and cut the VRM cooling part off. Or just wait for a better solution from a aftermarket company.

I knew the VRM plate they were using was not going to work well, and it's aggrevating that nothing else has been released to cool these cards since they were released. The plate is not dense enough, and is not much more than a thin heat spreader, thus lacking enough surface area to be effective.

You could try some different thermal pads, like the ones that came with the old Arctic Cooling Silencers (light grey, feel like clay and cool to the touch). I used to get them on e-bay, but the AC parts store is gone. Shin-Etsu makes some CPU pads, but I don't think they are thin enough.

Well, thin enough might not be a problem, as if they're a bit thick, I can get them pushed down enough and perhaps slice off a thin layer if needed. I'll have to cut them to size anyway, but are different thermal pads even going to help?

I could attempt your suggestion about taking the original VRM cooling section out of the original GPU housing, but I don't know how well that would go, if at all.

Thermal paste would not work if used on the pads, you mean?
That would make sense, since the heat is not dissipating through metal, but there's not many options here.

It's not a matter of waiting for someone to release something better. There's no way for me to reassemble the original GPU housing at this point. I'm stuck using this, unless I snag a new 280 now and put this one aside. I'm a hardcore gamer and my PC is on day and night (also for work, as I work from home).

EVGA's specs state that the VREG is safe over 70C, but I don't trust it getting that hot, unless they're referring to something else. The stock cooler kept the VRM at 43C max under load at 90% fan speed.

They ended up releasing the cooler with the same damn problem it had in the first place that they stated they were fixing before this release, and now I'm screwed. They will be hearing from me about it, most certainly.

Is 70C+ even remotely "safe" for the VRM? Or is this just completely screwed?

I was about to buy my wife a 280 for her system, but now I'm forced to buy myself a new one as well, if this is going to burn up. It might have dropped dramatically in price, but they're still $375 a pop, so we're talking $800 with shipping, all due to a cooler that was released as screwed as it was, which they were supposedly fixing. Wonderful.

People need to know about this, so hopefully this brings it to someone's attention, that this cooler is still not manufactured well in terms of the VRM cooling, which is a major problem

There has got to be some solution here. Maybe I'll try another thermal pad, though they've been difficult to find... and maybe rig perhaps two longer sinks on the VRM (such as on the mem chips?) if I can even find those. I could use thermal adhesive in that case.

There's got to be something I can do here with this...

I'm definitely sorely pissed off.

 

[Compddd]

Why on earth would you have to buy another 280 for yourself? Put the stock cooler back on with some artic silver ceramique or something.

 

[vick1000]

When I said use the stock cooler, I meant cut off the VRM cooling part with a dremel tool or hacksaw (what ever you can use). If the Thermalright plate is just not gettting pressed down hard enough, you can get som small screws and nuts, and some plastic washers from the hardware store, those should allow you to force it to a tighter fit

Is the plate getting hot at all? Do you have any airflow directed at it?

 

[-x-th]

Why on earth would you have to buy another 280 for yourself? Put the stock cooler back on with some artic silver ceramique or something.

Part of the original housing, including the fan, was damaged.

My wife and I brought new furniture into the house, and in the process... well, lets just leave it at that.

Either way, that's not the point. I shouldn't have to have bothered doing so in the first place. Shoddy design and/or workmanship should not fall on the consumer.

So, the point here is that I need a resolution so I indeed don't have to purchase another 280 for myself. Using the old housing is not an option now.

 

[-x-th]

When I said use the stock cooler, I meant cut off the VRM cooling part with a dremel tool or hacksaw (what ever you can use). If the Thermalright plate is just not gettting pressed down hard enough, you can get som small screws and nuts, and some plastic washers from the hardware store, those should allow you to force it to a tighter fit

Is the plate getting hot at all? Do you have any airflow directed at it?

Ah, smart idea... thanks. I hadn't even thought of that.

Airflow? Most definitely.

Not sure if it's because it's not down tight enough (could that be the problem?) though it seems to be, nor if the plate is getting hot. I can check on that. Should it be?

If I dremel off the old plate, I'll definitely use AS5 thermal adhesive to mount it on, if I'm able.

 

[spenny2112]

The plate should b getting sorta hot as a sign that it is conducting heat away.

 

[-x-th]

The plate should b getting sorta hot as a sign that it is conducting heat away.

Well, it is getting a bit warm, but obviously not enough.

Is there anywhere I can find good thermal pads that might help? Not finding any at the moment. Not sure if tightening down the plate more would help either, though it's pretty tight as of now.

Also trying to figure out how I'd mount the VRM section cut out of the original GPU housing (haven't done it yet), or if thermal adhesive would hold it on, if I decided to try that. A better thermal pad would be best, probably.

I don't know, but this has turned out to be a major damn hassle, and if I cant get the VRM cooled down when under load, it's eventually going to fry itself.

Anymore creative/general suggestions would be appreciated.
Right now the only gaming I feel safe doing is Guild Wars with the wife, because any FPS and graphically intense game, even Left 4 Dead, and I'm hitting upwards of 78C+ on the VRM, and that's just not good.

P.S.
What about my idea of using those long heatsinks, such as those that are meant to cover multiple mem chips, across the VRMs?

If I can get 'em to fit side-by-side, certainly I'd think they'd work far better, especially since the rest of this plate really serves no other purpose other than being the right size to reach the mounting holes.

Cant seem to find any long sinks, or decent (i.e. ones that stick well), but is someone could possible direct me to some...? If that would work well...

 

[vick1000]

The problem with anything that does not use a mechanical mounting system, is it will hinder thermal trasnfer. Thermal tape or epoxy does not tranfer the heat as good as a paste or pad.

The problem with long sinks or memory sinks, is not only the mounting system, but the VRMs are not linear on the board, they are spread out all over the place in an almost "random" like pattern.

If the VRM sink is not getting hot, it's not doing it's job, and may in fact be insulating the heat and making matters worse. Having air flow over the back of the card is pretty important too, the VRMs transfer alot of heat into the PCB and out the top of the board (if in ATX orientation).

 

[-x-th]

The problem with anything that does not use a mechanical mounting system, is it will hinder thermal trasnfer. Thermal tape or epoxy does not tranfer the heat as good as a paste or pad.

The problem with long sinks or memory sinks, is not only the mounting system, but the VRMs are not linear on the board, they are spread out all over the place in an almost "random" like pattern.

If the VRM sink is not getting hot, it's not doing it's job, and may in fact be insulating the heat and making matters worse. Having air flow over the back of the card is pretty important too, the VRMs transfer alot of heat into the PCB and out the top of the board (if in ATX orientation).

Using a "mechanical mounting system" doesn't help heat transfer to my knowledge (i.e. being mounted with pushpins) and I never mentioned using thermal tape.

Also, these VRMs are "in order", meaning there are two rows of three, and one single one to the side. Except for on much older cards, I've not seen VRMs spread out all over the place in a long time. Even my old x1900xtx has them straight in one row, and on the GTX 280, there's only seven, and in two rows, with one off to the side.

There's actually enough room to place normal mem chip sinks on each one in an alternating pattern, and mount them with AS5 thermal adhesive, such as with mem chips, which is what I'm going to do. Only option I have, really. The plate is useless, and while it's getting somewhat hot, it's not doing it's job. AS5 adhesive does an excellent job at transferring heat and keeping things stuck when they need to stick. I used them on two other GPUs on the mem chips. Should be no different in this situation, especially since this plate is only using cheap pads on the seven VRMs (the plate comes with the pads already placed on it) that obviously aren't of any use.

 

[dccmadams]

stock gtx 280 hs work fine.

 

[-x-th]

stock gtx 280 hs work fine.

I don't understand what this is supposed to mean... cut out the stock sink from the original housing and use that? If that's what you meant, I'd have to make sure it's not too heavy for the small amounts of AS5 adhesive to hold on, otherwise I'll have to go with individual sinks.

 

[vick1000]

Yeah, and memory chips get real hot don't they. If you knew how epoxy works, you would understand why paste is better.

If you look at the stock sink, there is more than just the line of FETs bieng cooled by it. There are other components all over the end of the board that require cooling.

 

[DerComissar]

stock gtx 280 hs work fine.

Ya, dccmadams, your reply really helps this thread. You must enjoy being a troll.

-x-th: Thanks for creating this important thread. I have a 280 as well, and have just purchased an HR-03GTX for it. I have installed several other HR-03 series heatsinks on various Nvidia cards ranging from the original 8800 series to the 9800 512mb cards. I have found that copper ramsinks, such as those made by Enzotech, are more effective than the light alloy crap that Thermalright provides. As for the HR-03GTX, in my opinion the plate they supply for the vrm's is a piece of junk, probably created by an inbred Taiwanese engineer.
I am going to use several Enzotech sinks on my card, their copper ramsinks on the memory chips (low-profile version on the back chips) as well as some of their mosfet sinks on the vrm's, instead of the stupid plate. I intend to ghetto-mod the fan to a dual 92mm or 120 mm setup to cool all of the card. Finally, I intend to mod an Enzotech copper nb heatsink to replace the supplied pot-metal hsi sink. I am using bolts with plastic washers to replace the push-pins where necessary. I hope that these suggestions will be of some benefit to you. I will let you know how it works out for me.