Gigabyte graphic card - TIM GEL application failure?

[BoggledBeagle]

After inspecting a Gigabyte RTX 5070 Ti Gaming OC card with unusually strong smell, about which I reported here:

Smelly brand new graphic cards? Remanufactured?

Recently I purchased and tested some graphic cards, all brand new, sealed and without any signs of anybody handling the cards before me. ASUS 5080 TUF Inno3D 5080 X3 OC MSI 5070 Ti Gaming Trio Gigabyte 5070 Ti Windforce OC SFF Gigabyte 5070 Ti Gaming OC Sapphire RX 9070 XT Pulse Sapphire RX...

www.techpowerup.com

I discovered, that my particular sample (SN 250641092344) seems to have pretty large gaps between the cooler and components, with quite large parts of the RAM chips not covered with the thermal gel at all. This does not seem OK to me.






I believe that the Gaming OC 5070 Ti card has the same PCB and body as the 5080 card, which has been reviewed and disassembled on this site, and the RAM chips seem to be covered a bit better on this card:



How does the gel application look on your Gigabyte card?

Is my card manufactured correctly? It looks a bit shoddy to me. On the other hand, it seems to work normally.

 

[_roman_]

I had the impression there is always a silicium die and just bonding outside. Why do you want to cool the unnecessary package?
Has something changed in manufacturing ICs in past 10 years?

Only gigglebyte knows why to cool the chokes

 

[BoggledBeagle]

I had the impression there is always a silicium die and just bonding outside. Why do you want to cool the unnecessary package?

Good point, I would expect you to bring the information how large is the silicon part that needs cooling in this particular RAM type???

 

[DirtyDingusMcgee]

It looks a bit shoddy to me.

The Gigabyte company slogan

 

[anonuser57]

That can't possibly be factory condition. There are supposed to be thermal pads on those components. Thermal putty is unusual in that sort of application. Especially on the memory, there should be pads not putty.

 

[kiddagoat]

That’s a head scratcher for sure. I guess some manufacturers are using the putty now.

I’d replace those with pads myself. Especially given that shoddy application of TIM.

 

[eidairaman1]

That can't possibly be factory condition. There are supposed to be thermal pads on those components. Thermal putty is unusual in that sort of application. Especially on the memory, there should be pads not putty.

Poor ga qa

 

[LabRat 891]

It's machine-applied. I'd bet money that whoever is in charge, felt like they could save on overheads by reducing the volume applied, slightly.

I've gotten a Gigabyte card BNIB w/ 'machine tightened screws' that had completely fallen out, and others w/ nearly no torque at all. Clearly, whoever runs their assembly facilities, is most-concerned with cost-cutting, wherever (seemingly) possible.

That can't possibly be factory condition. There are supposed to be thermal pads on those components. Thermal putty is unusual in that sort of application. Especially on the memory, there should be pads not putty.

This generation of cards, AIBs have latched onto the popularity of Honeywell PTM, and thermal putty instead of pads (as most AIBs outright refuse to provide the specification for pads, mounting pitch, etc.)
Gb (and others, IIRC) actively advertise Gel/Putty VRAM, VRM, etc. TIM as a feature.

 

[eidairaman1]

It's machine-applied. I'd bet money that whoever is in charge, felt like they could save on overheads by reducing the volume applied, slightly.

I've gotten a Gigabyte card BNIB w/ 'machine tightened screws' that had completely fallen out, and others w/ nearly no torque at all. Clearly, whoever runs their assembly facilities, is most-concerned with cost-cutting, wherever (seemingly) possible.


This generation of cards, AIBs have latched onto the popularity of Honeywell PTM, and thermal putty instead of pads (as most AIBs outright refuse to provide the specification for pads, mounting pitch, etc.)
Gb (and others, IIRC) actively advertise Gel/Putty VRAM, VRM, etc. TIM as a feature.

Hence my comment above yours, there aint any there it seems

 

[BoggledBeagle]

The thermal gel thickness above the RAM chip seems to be roughly twice of the package thickness, is this something like 2mm of gel? How thick are the usual pads you find on the ram chips, are they this thick?

 

[W1zzard]

Is my card manufactured correctly? It looks a bit shoddy to me. On the other hand, it seems to work normally.

Have you tried contacting Gigabyte support with this? What's their response?

 

[BoggledBeagle]

I managed to photograph a different 5070 Ti card from the same manufacturer, the Windforce model:



You can see that the gel layer is much thinner and properly spread on the RAM packages. This looks OK to me.

I believe there is some design or manufacturing problem with the Gaming OC cooler, which leads to this cooler not being close enough to the components.

Have you tried contacting Gigabyte support with this? What's their response?

I have not, I got the Windforce and Gaming OC models and I intended to return the Gaming model to the retailer due to its smell.

Now when I see the difference in the gap between the cards, I believe that there is something wrong with the Gaming OC model, some faulty batch of coolers???

EDIT:

Side by side, the difference in gaps between Windforce and Gaming models is quite apparent!

 

[BoggledBeagle]

I examined another Gigabyte 5070 Ti Gaming OC card, this time probably earlier production SN 250341060231. This card has the gap between the cooler and RAM also large and the packages are even more bare.



Not only that, but this card has also deformed PCB in the PCIE slot area. I am not sure you should attempt to insert the card so much bent in the PCIE slot?

The newer card has just 5-10% of this deformation, it is significantly more straight.



Given that these cards have the same PCBs and bodies as 5080 cards, these problems probably exist on these cards too.

EDIT:

I checked, that the picture is not distorted - the brochure edge perfectly corresponds to a straight line in MS Paint. You can then illustrate the bend in the PCIE slot area this way:



The whole PCB appears to be bent by more than 5 mm in its whole lenght.