MSI 1080Ti Duke: remove thermal tape?

[80251]

I have an MSI 1080Ti Duke and am planning on migrating it to liquid metal with the stock heatsink. I have a high powered delta 127x38mm fan and nidec 127x50mm fan zip-tied to the heatsink that both put out up to 200CFM.
Some thermal tape is installed that thermally couples the heatsink to the VRM circuit inductor packages. It's quite thick (probably > 3mm) and I'm thinking it would be better to just have the nidec 127x50mm blowing directly on the inductors than to rely on the 3mm thick thermal tape and the small contact area with the heatsink to cool these VRM circuit inductors, but I could be wrong so I thought I'd ask here first. The thermal tape I'm referring to is the light gray thermal tape across the inductors. It doesn't make great contact with the heatsink either. As shown in the photo, the cold plate has no interface/connection to the inductor/capacitor thermal tape. I was thinking of removing both sets of thermal tape because they make minimal contact with the heatsink (only along the edges of the fins).

 

[basco]

but would you not have to remove the whole metal plate?

 

[N3utro]

Dont do it.

The performance gain you'll get from it wont be noticeable and you'll get unremovable stains on the GPU die and the heatsink due to LM after.

Plus 1 tiny drop of LM gets where it shouldn't be and it's goodbye GPU.

Source: i've tried LM on my 1080ti with waterblock and custom watercooling last year.

Just use regular non conductive thermal paste like artic silver MX2.

If you need more performance dont waste your time on this, sell your card and get a better one

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Haven't seen a break down of this card but keep in mind liquid metal and aluminum heatsinks don't get along together at all.

 

[Vya Domus]

Direct airflow over the VRM area works better only if you use an AIO watercooler with something like a Kraken G12.

The thing is the air that is blown onto them is already hot from the heatsinks itself, it's best to keep the contact with the base plate.

 

[GerKNG]

Liquid metal on a GPU does barely anything except being dangerous.
i tried it on a 2080 Ti AMP Extreme and the difference between Conductonaut and Kryonaut was 1-2°C.

go with MX5 (not MX4 or MX2... these pastes deteriorate quite fast on a die), Kryonaut Extreme or maybe GC Extreme.

 

[80251]

but would you not have to remove the whole metal plate?
View attachment 206213

I have a better picture I just added. The thermal tape directly connects the VRM circuitry inductors and capacitors to the heatsink and not very well either.

The base plate of the heatsink is Ni plated Cu.

 

[eidairaman1]

I have a better picture I just added. The thermal tape directly connects the VRM circuitry inductors and capacitors to the heatsink and not very well either.

The base plate of the heatsink is Ni plated Cu.

Msi's thermals are yuck, id look up akasa for thermalpads.

 

[basco]

ok with the new picture i understand and i would just try it and look at temp comparison.

 

[robo74s]

Hello, I need a new paste MSI GTX 1080Ti Duke, I decided between Kryonaut or MX-5, won MX-5. I have a problem determining the thickness of the thermal pads. Can you advise what thickness to order? Well thank you. I apologize for the bad English.

 

[Shrek]

Are you sure you are not heating up the capacitors? and coils should have little problem taking the heat.

 

[80251]

Are you sure you are not heating up the capacitors? and coils should have little problem taking the heat.

The thermal tape is so thick and yet it doesn't even completely cover the top surface of the caps or inductors and it's interface to the heatsink fins is only along the edges of some of the fins. It's certainly blocking the airflow of my powerful 127x50mm fan too. If I take off the heatsink again I'm going to yank the thermal tape, but at this point it's mostly a dead issue.

 

[Nike_486DX]

Dont do it.

The performance gain you'll get from it wont be noticeable and you'll get unremovable stains on the GPU die and the heatsink due to LM after.

Plus 1 tiny drop of LM gets where it shouldn't be and it's goodbye GPU.

Source: i've tried LM on my 1080ti with waterblock and custom watercooling last year.

Just use regular non conductive thermal paste like artic silver MX2.

If you need more performance dont waste your time on this, sell your card and get a better one

Well in defense for the lm i would say that not everyone is willing to repaste a card 5 times a year (which is exactly what i had to do with my HD 7970 back in the day, tried MX2, Mx4 Silver 5 Deepcool Z3 Z5 Z9 all sorts of thermal paste, after 1-2 months i see temperature increase and the paste got physically liquified). Liquid metal = 2 years of stable performance (at least i didnt need to repaste my hd 7970 anymore once i got conductonaut on there, 2 years later and the temps didnt rise). Yes, you need to apply it correctly. (But that is to be expected for a solution that is more advanced)

To the op: make sure that the heatsink base is a single slab of copper/nickel coated copper, and not direct contact heatpipes. With direct contact heatpipes solution (apart from being inferior, cuz not all of the heatpipes are touching the die), its not recommended to use lm for that kind of heatsink, because the aluminum part is just too close to the application spot, so as gallium is being absorbed into the copper, it will eventually get to the aluminum... soo if your card's heatsink base is solid block of copper - just go ahead (make sure to spread the lm well, without leaving excess), but if its got direct contact then think twice.