A YouTuber going by the name DandyWorks has found a solution for his overheating GeForce RTX 3070 Ti’s GDDR6X memory… by replacing thermal pads with copper shims.
The modder was able to achieve impressive reductions in VRAM temperatures on an Asus GeForce TUF RTX 3070 Ti, dropping by an insane 46°C, from 110°C to 64°C.
For this mod, DandyWorks needed copper shims, Kapton tape (or any non-conductive tape), and non-conductive thermal paste. He also used 400-grit sandpaper to smooth out the copper shims, but this may not be necessary for everyone.
Copper shims are meant to replace thermal pads, tape is used to cover any capacitor/SMD that can get shorted by copper, and paste to fill any tiny imperfections in those shims/memory chips. More detailed instructions can be found in the video below.
After modding, Dandy ran a crypto mining app (T-Rex) for over two hours. Memory temps were stable at 64°C, which is 46°C lower than the 110°C achieved with stock thermal pads.
If adding copper shims to your GPU sounds too hard or dangerous, there may be another less complicated way. In a follow-up video, the YouTuber employed a copper plate made specifically for his Nvidia RTX 3080. The plate was able to reduce GDDR6X temperatures substantially. Video below.
Made by CoolMyGPU specifically for some GeForce RTX 3080 AIB partners cards, it fits nicely around the GPU with some wiggle room left – for tolerance reasons, we assume. Plates for other cards are also available for purchase, such as Founders Edition GeForce RTX 3080/3080 Ti and EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 Kingpin Hybrid.
Dandy’s MSI RTX 3080 Ventus graphics card memory temperatures dropped by 25°C, from 94°C to 75°C, in his mining app, with even lower temps while playing Cyberpunk 2077. Impressive, huh?
Is your VRAM running at 110°C, too? Then these copper mods may help reduce temperatures; perhaps even allowing for higher overclocks. Brave enough to try? Let us know how you get on.
