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MSI 980 TI Armor 2x

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q9650

Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2016
Location
San Diego
So I recently picked up a MSI 980 TI Armor 2x. I have a mild overclock with no increase to the core voltage, and i'm hitting 85C whilke playing witcher 3. The card throttles the overclock at that speed bringing it down to 1408Mhz, so I set up a custom fan curve in MSI afterburner. With the fans at 100% the card still hits 85C :mad:. I have already reapplied thermal paste and saw no difference. Could something be wrong with the card or is this normal? The room temperature is 80F (27C).
 
Pretty high ambient there...

Can you detail your case airflow please?
 
Pretty high ambient there...

Meh. The difference between 70F ambient and 80F is not going to have much, if any meaningful effect on the card. I've run my cards at 110F ambient before and still kept them below 80C after an hour of gaming. I would say there is a problem. How is the airflow in the case? Do you have it locked in some computer case/ desk with no airflow options? Have you confirmed the fans are indeed spinning at 100%?
 
If you ran your card at 110F ambient and it hit 80C, then at 70F it would have been running at 58C. Yes hyperbole, but lets keep it poignant.

In this situation, his card would be running at 80C at 70F, so its still indicative of other issues. Case flow is *probably* the culprit.
 
Case flow is *probably* the culprit.

This. Hence my question about detailing case airflow.
Higher ambient temps than we're accustomed to seeing will also exacerbate the issue of poor case airflow.
 
Here is my case flow. 3 120mm intake. H100I GTX set as exhaust and 1 140mm Exhaust.
Its a Corsair Air 540 case.
20160605_120223_resized.jpg
 
What are the CPU temps while this is going on with the GPU?

Looks like the case is in a pretty tight area... Is the exhaust just getting pulled straight back into the intake?
 
What are the CPU temps while this is going on with the GPU?

Looks like the case is in a pretty tight area... Is the exhaust just getting pulled straight back into the intake?

I have moved since then. I tested it again with all case fans at 100% and the H100GTX with a custom fan curve. I also set the 980TI Fans to 100%. I tested playing witcher 3 with the side pannel on and off.

ON
CPU: 54-58C
GPU: rose to 85C and throttled

OFF
CPU: 50-57C
GPU: rose to 85C and throttled

Im not sure whats going on. They were tested back to back with ambient temp at 80F
 
You're definitely having an issue on the GPU side of things.
Try replacing the paste again, take a picture of the die when you pull the heatsink off, before you clean it.
 
I'll take it all of and take pictures when I get time (It's finals week). There aren't any errors and it's idle Temps are fine, the problem is purely thermal. I don't remember there being any chips in the die. I did buy this used and it does seem to sag a bit (not sure if a backplate would help that). Could it maybe be warped and not making full contact with the heatsink?
 
The sag could be doing it. Try supporting the corner with zip ties.
 
The sag could be doing it. Try supporting the corner with zip ties.

Before removing everything and re-applying thermal paste I tested with the same conditions and same ambient temp after zip tying the pcie plug corner. I stabilized at 80C steady for 20 min. So I am assuming my problem is that the GPU sag caused the PCB to bend and create a bend in the die portion, lifting it just enough to prevent full contact with the heatsink. I'd love input on possible permanent fixes or if anyone has ever had this issue. Seems really weird, ive never heard of this problem. And since I believe the problem is the PCB sag then sanding the heatsink to make it flatter may not help me. I suppose I can buy a straight edge to see if the Heatsink is not flat. Would a ridged backplate help? Like one from EK?
 
A heatsink contract surface shouldn't be exactly flat anyway.

A backplate could help, yes.
Leaving the zip ties there will also help.
You could consider a support rod instead if you're worried about looks.
 
So would an EK backplate like this work by itself or do i need a waterblock for these to work?

https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-fc980-gtx-tf5-backplate-rev2-black

Are there any other placed i can go to find backplates? Also, if the Armor 2x shares the same PCB as the MSI Gaming then i would be able to use the Gaming backplate right?

The link you gave answers your first question.

If the PCB is the same, yes. You'll need to confirm, but IIRC they make blocks just for your GPU...
 
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