Question Is it possible to change the Thermal Paste on my Watercooled GPU?

[Valencious]

Hello everyone!

I have an RX 6900 XT LC TOP from ASUS, and I want to change the Thermal Paste because it is 3 years old already and because of my lust to OC it.

However, due to it being water-cooled, I'm wondering if there are any differences between changing Thermal Paste on a Water-cooled vs Air-cooled GPU which I have to consider because I don't want to break anything.

Also, are there any Thermal Paste requirements? I'd just use Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme like I did on my CPU, is that fine?

Thanks!

 

[COLGeek]

Changing the thermal compound on a GPU is a bit different than for a CPU. The main processor on the video card will use thermal compound like a CPU, but other components will use thermal pads that must be replaced as well.

The process is a bit more detailed than with a CPU.

 

[Eximo]

Have you measured the temperatures? Generally with a water block you won't see anything over 65 degrees even with a relatively small radiator. More typical for a GPU to peak at the high 50s after the loop has heated up. Hotspot may be hotter than this, up to twenty degrees higher, but that is still well under what your typical air cooler will deliver.

Honestly the benefits of watercooling are kind of lost on these more recent GPUs. They only perform a little better after all is said and done. The nice thing is that the boost clocks become incredibly stable.

Kryonaut will work fine, just make sure to spread it across the whole GPU die. Any bare silicon can quickly lead to instant death to a naked die.

In preparation, either find thermal pad thickness details from someone else's teardown, or order several different thicknesses so you are prepared.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Honestly the benefits of watercooling are kind of lost on these more recent GPUs.

This is exactly why I question the wisdom (and popularity) of AIOs. If video cards (which produce a crap-tonne more heat than CPUs) don't benefit much from water cooling, why would CPUs?

 

[thestryker]

GPU can use the same paste as CPU though I'd recommend using something long lasting just to minimize how often replacement needs to happen. You could even get something like the Thermal Grizzly Kryosheet. As mentioned by a prior poster make sure you have all of the thermal pad information before doing anything so you're prepared should you need to be.

This is exactly why I question the wisdom (and popularity) of AIOs. If video cards (which produce a crap-tonne more heat than CPUs) don't benefit much from water cooling, why would CPUs?

GPU die are massive when compared to CPU die, the operating frequencies are much lower, they have no IHS and higher power consumption models all leverage vapor chambers for air cooling. For example the die size for the 6900 XT mentioned here is about twice the size of the die on the 13900K and with stock operation both the GPU and CPU probably use close the same amount of power (video card power is entire board not just GPU).

 

[Eximo]

Water cooling for the CPU works actually pretty well. Boost behavior on CPUs is more directly effected.

Just depends on what you are after. Near silence is still possible with custom water cooling when you target more realistic power outputs, but also good for sustained loads at higher noise levels. If you are just gaming, CPU watercooling should be configured for silence, not performance.

The massive GPU dies make getting the heat out of a GPU easier. But the main thing that it does these days is make GPUs smaller. Massive heatsinks from the last two generations work great, but really limit what you can put in a computer. Eating up 4 PCIe expansion slots at the high end.

Personally, I don't overclock my GPU. 350W is plenty warm, I often run it at 280W. I do have my CPU overclocked a little at the moment, but I had plenty of headroom to do so, and it really is going to be the limit in a lot of the titles I play.