R-T-B's PNY RTX 5080 OC Photo sideshow.

[R-T-B]

This is basically a minireview of my thoughts on this card I just purchased, coupled with a giant dump of unboxing and board photos.

I've posted the unboxing photos here already, but I recently put PTM4950 on and got some actual board shots that might be useful to voltmodders. So without further ado, the photos. Following that, my thoughts:

Box Art (Front and Back):

The inside the box contents (accessories here include the bare minimum adapter + a case prop for the GPU to prevent sag, which is a little nice)):

The card freshly unboxed, with protective plastic still on (oddly the text on the back appears upside down when installed):

The card undressed of the plastic, plus the front panel, which features dust protector covers:

The cooler dismantled and volt-modder relevant board photos (some are a bit blurry due to my phones cheap macro focus, apologies):

Note: Dismantling is pretty easy. Just remove the backplate philips screws (they are all the same) then go to the front panel and dismount the front IO cover by removing (if applicable) the dust covers and 4 identical phillips screws. Remove said backplate gently being careful not to tear it's included thermal pads. Then finally, remove the quad-mounted 4-phillips screw holder that secures the GPU to the heatsink, and lift gently. There, apart. The fan cables can stay connected, they will act as a pivot to work on the board while you apply paste or whatever, they have good length and are durable enough to not worry about dc'ing them.

Bottom line: The cooler performance is excellent, but the board is basically an "extended reference" design. It uses the same number of VRMs as best I can tell (I'm not really pro enough to tell if they are worse or better) and a largely similar layout that has me thinking this is basically reference design without the cabled out PCB portions (they just made it bigger). Still, the cooler performance is there, I've yet to see this card top 75 C and that was with the stock paste running a 3dmark stress test for a good hour loop. It's not surprising it does well there, it's a triple fan with a vapor chamber, so that's quite nice and better than the Founders. It's also the smallest OC card I know of other than the founders, which it is only slightly larger than (this is judged from a german online review, sadly I do not have exact measurements on hand).

Overall the good cooler performance is a pro, but the thermal paste application is a con. This thing was absolutely gooped with grey generic paste (you can still see some of the residue from the tidal wave of it on my shot, despite my best cleaning efforts, look near the caps). Though it performed well despite it, I'm certain the PTM I applied will do better. Also the thermal pads probably will need replacing if I ever open it again, as they are already showing signs of cracking and dryness / heat stress. Also they are already oozing silicone oil... On a card only about a week old, I would certainly like to see better care to paste application and pad quality. That being said the cooler carries it regardless, so probably not a big deal on a chip known to be cool like the GB203 coupled with a solid cooler, but of course as an enthusiast I would advise you replace them with PTM + maybe some other good pads for better performance (that's what I did, photos are of original pads just for the record).

On that note, this thing does have the infamous "warranty void if removed" stickers over essential screws, so something to consider if you are in a jurisdiction where that is enforcable (in the USA where I am it is not).

Overall, I feel the card was a good value and am happy that I got a good cooler with it that is totally solid in design. There is nothing wrong with it being derived from a reference board strictly speaking (although it does limit OC's power level to 396W, but that's plenty for me anyhow), and if the cooler performs well, the pads and lazy paste application is nothing an enthusiast like you hopefully are reading this cannot fix. Even if you aren't comfortable replacing the paste and pads, the cooler's excellent performance will probably carry the card to the extent that it still will perform better than a Founders Edition card, so not really a huge nag, just something to comment on.

So there you go, a frog's somewhat lazy thoughts on the GB203 (AKA RTX 5080) in PNY's OC form. Not bad, overall, and I'd highly advise you can pick one up if you can get it at or near MSRP. Hope you enjoyed, and good luck in scalper town.

PS: Anyone commenting on my lack of a clean table for disassembly will be eaten.

 

[rusty caterpillar]

This is basically a minireview of my thoughts on this card I just purchased, coupled with a giant dump of unboxing and board photos.

I've posted the unboxing photos here already, but I recently put PTM4950 on and got some actual board shots that might be useful to voltmodders. So without further ado, the photos. Following that, my thoughts:

Box Art (Front and Back):
View attachment 405093View attachment 405094
The inside the box contents (accessories here include the bare minimum adapter + a case prop for the GPU to prevent sag, which is a little nice)):
View attachment 405095View attachment 405096
The card freshly unboxed, with protective plastic still on (oddly the text on the back appears upside down when installed):
View attachment 405097View attachment 405098
The card undressed of the plastic, plus the front panel, which features dust protector covers:
View attachment 405099View attachment 405100View attachment 405101
The cooler dismantled and volt-modder relevant board photos (some are a bit blurry due to my phones cheap macro focus, apologies):
View attachment 405103View attachment 405104View attachment 405105View attachment 405102
Note: Dismantling is pretty easy. Just remove the backplate philips screws (they are all the same) then go to the front panel and dismount the front IO cover by removing (if applicable) the dust covers and 4 identical phillips screws. Remove said backplate gently being careful not to tear it's included thermal pads. Then finally, remove the quad-mounted 4-phillips screw holder that secures the GPU to the heatsink, and lift gently. There, apart. The fan cables can stay connected, they will act as a pivot to work on the board while you apply paste or whatever, they have good length and are durable enough to not worry about dc'ing them.

Bottom line: The cooler performance is excellent, but the board is basically an "extended reference" design. It uses the same number of VRMs as best I can tell (I'm not really pro enough to tell if they are worse or better) and a largely similar layout that has me thinking this is basically reference design without the cabled out PCB portions (they just made it bigger). Still, the cooler performance is there, I've yet to see this card top 75 C and that was with the stock paste running a 3dmark stress test for a good hour loop. It's not surprising it does well there, it's a triple fan with a vapor chamber, so that's quite nice and better than the Founders. It's also the smallest OC card I know of other than the founders, which it is only slightly larger than (this is judged from a german online review, sadly I do not have exact measurements on hand).

Overall the good cooler performance is a pro, but the thermal paste application is a con. This thing was absolutely gooped with grey generic paste (you can still see some of the residue from the tidal wave of it on my shot, despite my best cleaning efforts, look near the caps). Though it performed well despite it, I'm certain the PTM I applied will do better. Also the thermal pads probably will need replacing if I ever open it again, as they are already showing signs of cracking and dryness / heat stress. Also they are already oozing silicone oil... On a card only about a week old, I would certainly like to see better care to paste application and pad quality. That being said the cooler carries it regardless, so probably not a big deal on a chip known to be cool like the GB203 coupled with a solid cooler, but of course as an enthusiast I would advise you replace them with PTM + maybe some other good pads for better performance (that's what I did, photos are of original pads just for the record).

On that note, this thing does have the infamous "warranty void if removed" stickers over essential screws, so something to consider if you are in a jurisdiction where that is enforcable (in the USA where I am it is not).

Overall, I feel the card was a good value and am happy that I got a good cooler with it that is totally solid in design. There is nothing wrong with it being derived from a reference board strictly speaking (although it does limit OC's power level to 396W, but that's plenty for me anyhow), and if the cooler performs well, the pads and lazy paste application is nothing an enthusiast like you hopefully are reading this cannot fix. Even if you aren't comfortable replacing the paste and pads, the cooler's excellent performance will probably carry the card to the extent that it still will perform better than a Founders Edition card, so not really a huge nag, just something to comment on.

So there you go, a frog's somewhat lazy thoughts on the GB203 (AKA RTX 5080) in PNY's OC form. Not bad, overall, and I'd highly advise you can pick one up if you can get it at or near MSRP. Hope you enjoyed, and good luck in scalper town.

PS: Anyone commenting on my lack of a clean table for disassembly will be eaten.

Shame they covered so bad the airflow of the third fan, I understand is got good cooling but could have been better.
Congratz for the card and thanks for the tear down.

 

[R-T-B]

Shame they covered so bad the airflow of the third fan, I understand is got good cooling but could have been better.
Congratz for the card and thanks for the tear down.

Yeah most fans are probably a little blocked by the PCB, and the one backplate cutout is kind of subpar. I imagine it still helps some by pushing air out the sides of the aluminum fins. That aspect is a design choice that could have been avoided had they shrunk the PCB and used cables like the FE though... they also certainly could've made the cutouts larger. Still most pre-Ada cards functioned fine in this config so if it works, I'm not going to make a big deal about it.

Honestly I found the thermal paste application more eggregious. It wasn't a deal breaker or anything but some OEMs need to realize more isn't less, lol. Should have taken photos, stuff was spilling out onto the main PCB.

 

[rusty caterpillar]

Yeah most fans are probably a little blocked by the PCB, and the one backplate cutout is kind of subpar. I imagine it still helps some by pushing air out the sides of the aluminum fins. That aspect is a design choice that could have been avoided had they shrunk the PCB and used cables like the FE though... they also certainly could've made the cutouts larger. Still most pre-Ada cards functioned fine in this config so if it works, I'm not going to make a big deal about it.

Honestly I found the thermal paste application more eggregious. It wasn't a deal breaker or anything but some OEMs need to realize more isn't less, lol. Should have taken photos, stuff was spilling out onto the main PCB.

I hear you pre ADA worked, ADA had too, good uncovered shrouds and so on but, I see lack of progress.

Most manufacturers Nvidia or AMD(specially AMD this time) went in covering rad exhaust more or less and in top of that blocking third fan airflow on the back.

They make economy on 2 cents and not give you thermal pads for the back plate and spend 10-50 cents cost for airflow blockers, nonsensical metal and plastic bits all over the place.
And of course both are detrimental for the users. Again this is not progress in cooling.

And PNY are cards I would trust more than others.

Why not maximize the heavy rad you just place there to do the cooling, why reduce/ limit it... shrouds and idiotic arrow to show you where is the front of your case, maybe you just forgot



I know the radiator is capable prolly to cool well, but without those " choices of design" will be prolly more silent and maybe even 2-3C lower temps.

 

[R-T-B]

I hear you, but just to note, the "No-RGB" variants like mine aren't as bad with the top RGB logo. I didn't really show this I realize. Will grab a photo of that later.

Oh and there were thermal pads on the backplate, just fairly mediocre ones like a lot of the cards pads.

I view this card as a value proposition. It is not the best at anything really, but it is decently solid and you can sometimes grab it near NVIDIAs 1k MSRP, so that tempers my criticism a bit. Frankly for the price I wasn't even expecting the vapor chamber...

 

[freeagent]

One slice down the side of the shroud would fix it up, make that edge level, or even deshroud it and use aftermarket fans.

There is a guy here who did that with slim Thermalright fans..

Or just live with it because it probably isnt that bad

 

[R-T-B]

Yeah, I'm halfway to just cutting it out and saying "fuck warranty" lol

 

[Pets4Ever]

Speaking from experience, yes the PTM7950 was a good move. My 1yr old 4080S was hitting 107C on the hotspot in 3Dmark before, and just 80C on the hotspot after applying PTM7950. The paste they used must have been just awful to have that kind of performance within a yr of purchase.

Forgot to mention, my 4080S was also a PNY card

 

[freeagent]

Yeah, I'm halfway to just cutting it out and saying "fuck warranty" lol

I am also using a Thermalright Heilos pad, got it for 6 bucks.. should work well..

 

[R-T-B]

I am also using a Thermalright Heilos pad, got it for 6 bucks.. should work well..

It's not technically the same as PTM7950, but its an excellent grade immitation. I've heard good things, should serve well.

The shipping on my genuine pads makes the price per pad rather silly tbh.

 

[rusty caterpillar]

It's not technically the same as PTM7950, but its an excellent grade immitation. I've heard good things, should serve well.

The shipping on my genuine pads makes the price per pad rather silly tbh.

That is why I'm using Upsiren 8 putty is much cheaper, of course is harder to apply and make it even, and to avoid to put pressure on PCB by leaving budged putty.

The way I go when apply thermal putty is bellow.

I mirror the orange blocks on the back of the PCB and apply putty on whole orange area(reduce heat by proximity, reduce soaking and long exposure), in that way back plate will suck a lot of heat and your case fans or targeted fans will push it away faster.
The red blocks is a must, are the drv mosfets and will influence the smooth operation of the VRAM but also VRAM temps.

Call me extremist but that is what I do, with most of the cards where heat will kill performance and longevity. Longevity is lottery but, why betting when you can avoid it. For 9070 XT is clearly need it as is a very condensed PCB.



Hope it helps

Speaking from experience, yes the PTM7950 was a good move. My 1yr old 4080S was hitting 107C on the hotspot in 3Dmark before, and just 80C on the hotspot after applying PTM7950. The paste they used must have been just awful to have that kind of performance within a yr of purchase.

Forgot to mention, my 4080S was also a PNY card

I tend to focus on cooling VRAM and drv mosfets as GPU core can throttle down if is too hot not sure about the rest.

One slice down the side of the shroud would fix it up, make that edge level, or even deshroud it and use aftermarket fans.

There is a guy here who did that with slim Thermalright fans..

Or just live with it because it probably isnt that bad

Yes it might be well cooled a it is, the point is: PNY could have not spent money on shrouds and metal bits but, on better quality thermal pads and cover a wider area at least drv mosfets link to the backplate.
Deshrouding is not for everybody even that a 25 mm fan vs 10 mm fan talks for it self in terms of noise and cooling.

 

[Pets4Ever]

Upsiren 8 putty is much cheaper

Is see this as $42 for 50 grams on Amazon, is that what you're paying?

 

[rusty caterpillar]

Is see this as $42 for 50 grams on Amazon, is that what you're paying?

No, Upsiren 8 I buy it from Ali Express
About 23 EU for 100 gr.
Do not buy Upsiren 6 or any stuff made in Greece that is fake Upsiren you need the Asian stuff. Sometimes you have good deals on Amazon but comes from same source, also I used CX H1300 but is harder to use than Upsiren, basically is harder to mold in the desired shape. And do use gloves.

 

[Pets4Ever]

No, Upsiren 8 I buy it from Ali Express
About 23 EU for 100 gr.
Do not buy Upsiren 6 or any stuff made in Greece that is fake Upsiren you need the Asian stuff. Sometimes you have good deals on Amazon but comes from same source, also I used CX H1300 but is harder to use than Upsiren, basically is harder to mold in the desired shape. And do use gloves.

Ah that makes more sense. I'll have to keep this product in mind, thanks.

 

[R-T-B]

That is why I'm using Upsiren 8 putty is much cheaper, of course is harder to apply and make it even, and to avoid to put pressure on PCB by leaving budged putty.

Oh I don't put PTM on the VRMs... far too pricey. Only the core die gets that stuff. Just some thermal pads from Fujipoly for VRM and memory. They are pretty good and the right size, cut to shape. They certainly do the job, but would putty be better?

Deshrouding is not for everybody even that a 25 mm fan vs 10 mm fan talks for it self in terms of noise and cooling.

It also voids warranties in a lot of jurisdictions (if not all, they'll all probably TRY to do it), so it's pretty mixed bag if you go that route and expect warranty service.

Personally I don't care though, as I seldom warranty anything unless it's really super-duper their fault lol.

 

[Knight47]

It also voids warranties in a lot of jurisdictions (if not all, they'll all probably TRY to do it), so it's pretty mixed bag if you go that route and expect warranty service.

Personally I don't care though, as I seldom warranty anything unless it's really super-duper their fault lol.

You can deshroud PNY, Zotac, Gigabyte and Asus cards without touching the warranty stickers. As long you put back the shroud and cables the same way, nobody should tell if the card was deshrouded.

But sad to see that the pads are already torn after taking it apart once.

 

[R-T-B]

But sad to see that the pads are already torn after taking it apart once.

Yeah that one cracked/torn pad on the vram out of the box irked me. But I replaced em with good Fujipoly's so it probably won't happen again anytime soon.

I mean it may technically even be my fault, I do take things apart slightly roughly sometimes, but it seems like any fresh pad should handle the first dismantling if it's decent. Other than that been loving the card, but that paste and pad application was pretty subpar.

As for the deshrouding, I am tempted. I'll have to have a look sometime.

 

[Sol_Badguy]

Bottom line: The cooler performance is excellent, but the board is basically an "extended reference" design. It uses the same number of VRMs as best I can tell (I'm not really pro enough to tell if they are worse or better) and a largely similar layout that has me thinking this is basically reference design without the cabled out PCB portions (they just made it bigger).

It's pretty much the Epic-X without RGB.

PNY GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Epic-X RGB Plus OC Review

The PNY GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Epic-X RGB Plus OC combines strong performance with whisper-quiet acoustics, even during demanding gameplay. It keeps temperatures impressively low and features a clean design with an excellent RGB implementation.

www.techpowerup.com

Same PCB and cooler. Very nice implementation, the only real drawback is that backplate arrow blocking some of the airflow.
Congrats on the purchase and thank you for the details.

 

[Knight47]

Yeah that one cracked/torn pad on the vram out of the box irked me. But I replaced em with good Fujipoly's so it probably won't happen again anytime soon.

I mean it may technically even be my fault, I do take things apart slightly roughly sometimes, but it seems like any fresh pad should handle the first dismantling if it's decent. Other than that been loving the card, but that paste and pad application was pretty subpar.

As for the deshrouding, I am tempted. I'll have to have a look sometime.

I asked PNY and they said the paste is high-quality industrial thermal compound applied at the factory to ensure optimal thermal performance and long-lasting reliability.
They will void the warranty if you take the card apart.
But I have seen some reports on other places where the temperature was worse out of the box or paste pumped out in a short time.

 

[Pets4Ever]

I asked PNY and they said the paste is high-quality industrial thermal compound applied at the factory to ensure optimal thermal performance and long-lasting reliability.
They will void the warranty if you take the card apart.
But I have seen some reports on other places where the temperature was worse out of the box or paste pumped out in a short time.

At least in the US, it would be illegal for them to deny the warranty purely because the card was opened. They would have to assert that you had also done damage to the card

 

[R-T-B]

At least in the US, it would be illegal for them to deny the warranty purely because the card was opened. They would have to assert that you had also done damage to the card

Yep and given tech was is kinda my career that's not going to be an easy claim. Plus I docunented pretty much everything here.

My bet is the paste is a Shin Etsu chemical co product from the color and consistency. It's not the worst out there but there was far too much on my sample.

 

[MachineLearning]

Thank you for the photos, I haven't seen any other teardowns of this card.

I'm surprised that not all 5070 + tier cards are using PTM. Even the Sapphire 9060XT is using PTM7950 (1, 2).

I guess nVidia really is squeezing those margins as tight as possible.

At least the PNY 50-series is using ball-bearing fans. Unlike Gigabyte's entire lineup (1, 2), which uses sleeve bearing fans until the Aorus Master 5090 (which is DBB).

IMO every new card should come with PTM, basic thermal pads (none of this putty like Gigabyte and sometimes Acer (A770, A750)), and DBB or at the minimum FDB fans. If we're going to get price gouged, the cards ought to at least be reliable on paper. QC and random bad luck should be the only two things that kill these multi-Benjamin cards or cause component failure. And I consider TIM to be a component.

 

[rusty caterpillar]

IMO every new card should come with PTM, basic thermal pads (none of this putty like Gigabyte and sometimes Acer (A770, A750)), and DBB or at the minimum FDB fans. If we're going to get price gouged, the cards ought to at least be reliable on paper. QC and random bad luck should be the only two things that kill these multi-Benjamin cards or cause component failure. And I consider TIM to be a component.

Whatever cheap thermal gel they used wasn't tested enough. Gigglebit and the lot.
IMO a new card shouldn't have PTM because

1.thermal paste can be easy replaceable but, should come with high grade putty for VRM and VRAM, Upsiren 8, HT 10000, TG long lasting cooling performance and no leak of silicon oil as the pads.
Pads is hard to be replaced by users, they don't know the thickness, users have no calipers to measure the thickness.

Adding thinner pads is bad no cooling for VRM and VRAM.
Adding thicker pads is bad too as you can cause damage to the PCB, ripped pads under VRAM and core.

2. EDIT: Manufacturers should save the money they spend on PTM and use it for quality putty.

I asked PNY and they said the paste is high-quality industrial thermal compound applied at the factory to ensure optimal thermal performance and long-lasting reliability.
They will void the warranty if you take the card apart.
But I have seen some reports on other places where the temperature was worse out of the box or paste pumped out in a short time.

You wasted your time asking PNY, didn't expect any other answer from PNY or other manufacturers more than some marketing BS.

 

[Knight47]

Yeah that one cracked/torn pad on the vram out of the box irked me. But I replaced em with good Fujipoly's so it probably won't happen again anytime soon.

Could you list the pad sizes used?

Thank you for the photos, I haven't seen any other teardowns of this card.

I'm surprised that not all 5070 + tier cards are using PTM. Even the Sapphire 9060XT is using PTM7950 (1, 2).

I guess nVidia really is squeezing those margins as tight as possible.

At least the PNY 50-series is using ball-bearing fans. Unlike Gigabyte's entire lineup (1, 2), which uses sleeve bearing fans until the Aorus Master 5090 (which is DBB).

IMO every new card should come with PTM, basic thermal pads (none of this putty like Gigabyte and sometimes Acer (A770, A750)), and DBB or at the minimum FDB fans. If we're going to get price gouged, the cards ought to at least be reliable on paper. QC and random bad luck should be the only two things that kill these multi-Benjamin cards or cause component failure. And I consider TIM to be a component.

On nvidia, only Asus and MSI uses PTM.
PNY uses high-quality industrial paste, Zotac said it's generic paste, Gigabyte has their own paste that they order from the manufacturer, Gainward/Palit has TC-5026 paste.

Gigabyte uses ball bearing only on Aorus(Elite and Master) cards, that was true on 4000 series too, 5070 Ti Master has ball bearings too.

Whatever cheap thermal gel they used wasn't tested enough. Gigglebit and the lot.
IMO a new card shouldn't have PTM because

1.thermal paste can be easy replaceable but, should come with high grade putty for VRM and VRAM, Upsiren 8, HT 10000, TG long lasting cooling performance and no leak of silicon oil as the pads.
Pads is hard to be replaced by users, they don't know the thickness, users have no calipers to measure the thickness.

Adding thinner pads is bad no cooling for VRM and VRAM.
Adding thicker pads is bad too as you can cause damage to the PCB, ripped pads under VRAM and core.

2. save the money you spend on PTM and use it for quality putty.


You wasted your time asking PNY, didn't expect any other answer from PNY or other manufacturers more than some marketing BS.

At least Palit had an answer, they use TC-5026 paste.

 

[R-T-B]

Could you list the pad sizes used?

Darn, shouldve brought my calipers. Unfortunately I do not plan another teardown, but IIRC virtually all of it looked like thicker 1.5mm or 2mm pads.

Sorry but when you apply expensive PTM7950, it stays heh.