It's been a year of overheating, and it's hard to figure out what to do next.
It's been a year of overheating, and it's hard to figure out what to do next.
I purchased my 3080 Aorus Master about a year ago, and I've experienced thermal problems right from the start. The initial heat performance was quite poor, but after some repairs and swapping out thermal pads, the situation seemed to deteriorate further. I've repasted it multiple times—around six to seven—and changed the pads three times. At first I used 2.5mm pads for the front, then switched to 1.5mm, and now I'm using Thermal Grizzly Minus 2mm pads, thinking the pad height might be the issue. I mostly rely on Kryonaut for repasting, but recently switched to Gelid GC-Extreme after doubting the authenticity of some Amazon tubes I bought. I've experimented with various thermal pastes, standard amounts, and even thick layers, but nothing seems to resolve the problem. With the side panel off, temperatures sit around 86°F on a 360W setup with 92% fan speed, and when the case is sealed it drops to about 280 watts. Most reviews for closed cases show readings between 60-65°F at 60% speed, though higher wattage models exist since this is the Rev 1 with only two PCIe slots. This card is a massive 4-slot unit, featuring the largest heatsink I've ever seen. At one point I had to return it via RMA for unrelated reasons, and they sent it back with their own pads—probably including thermal paste too. I’m not sure if I’m doing anything wrong, and I didn’t want to bother anyone by posting here. Have you encountered any similar issues? Could this be a manufacturing defect? Thanks! Specs: Windows 11 64-bit, Ryzen 9 5950x, RTX 3080 Aorus Master (Rev 1), 32GB Corsair Vengeance RGB 2x2tb, generic NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSDs, MSI B550 Tomahawk Corsair RM850x H115i Platinum RGB, Intel AX200 Wifi card, 3x Corsair case fans, latest BIOS.
Here’s the information you provided:
You mentioned a case and suggested including a picture. Please share the details or image so I can assist further.
It seems you're pushing things a bit too far. 86 Degrees is still comfortably within the acceptable range, though it might run a bit hotter and perform slightly less. It's still safe. The Aorus Card likely isn't doing well as a cooler—open bench tests can hit 65, but that doesn't reflect the full picture. I don't trust reviews claiming thermals in the 60-65 range underload for a 3080 in a sealed case unless all fans are running at full speed, the GPU is cool, and the room is chilled. Unless you're using a ChonkyBoi cooler with excellent fan design, expect most cards to stay around 73-80. The room temperature plays a big role; it can vary a lot depending on how warm it is. If your case gets very hot with poor airflow, you're likely facing the worst scenario.
Consensus reached. I believe your GPU is being restricted by the PSU enclosure being too close. Possible test approach: set up an open-air bench with the motherboard exposed, remove the case cover from the motherboard area and plug everything in to monitor temperatures during load. This could confirm if the GPU is the bottleneck. I also suspect your case lacks sufficient airflow, and it seems the only intake fans are being forced through the AIO, which may cause both restricted airflow and increased heat from the radiator.
I chose the cooler with the "ChonkyBoi"-style design to sidestep overheating problems. This unit offers four heat sinks and the largest one I've seen, just 13mm shorter than the biggest 3080 model. My room temperature is around 23-24°C, which is a bit warmer than usual but shouldn't significantly affect performance. The side panel on my case remains open, and I often run stress tests with the CPU at low load. I'm used to temperatures near 85°C during gaming, though the fans running at full speed can be bothersome. I was hoping to finally resolve this issue if it's fixable.
I saw another photo and didn’t realize it could be a problem. Looking at the side, it seems fine enough for me. There’s roughly 5cm or 2 inches of space below.