Gamers are complaining about performance losses on their Nvidia graphics cards. An expert has taken a look at the graphics cards and explains who is to blame for the problems.
Our colleagues at Tomshardware report that Igor Wallossek from Igor’s Lab is said to have checked some new RTX 4000 graphics cards. Several players had reported significant performance losses affecting their graphics cards.
Wallossek had taken apart several graphics cards and quickly found the culprit for the problems.
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Cheap thermal paste is said to cause temperature problems
What is the problem? The problem is the thermal paste installed on the graphics card. Igor Wassolek explains that it must be a very cheap product. The paste offers excellent performance on the first day, but the paste wears out much faster than other manufacturers’.
And this significant deterioration of the thermal paste then becomes a real problem for the owners of the graphics card: some gamers explain that after just a few minutes, hotspot temperatures on their GPU reach over 100 degrees Celsius and the fan speeds increase to almost 100%. The performance of the graphics card is then throttled.
Igor Wassolek took a closer look at the thermal paste and explained that the paste contains particles of up to 16 µm, which are much too large for thermal paste. These are particles made of aluminum oxide to achieve higher thermal conductivity in the short term. Due to the size of the particles, however, the oily mass dries out very quickly and loses its effectiveness.
Allegedly several Nvidia partners affected
Who is affected by the problem? According to Igor’s Lab, almost all of Nvidia’s on-board partners are affected. Because (almost) all of Nvidia’s on-board partners seem to be supplied by the same thermal paste manufacturer. After two or three months, there are problems with performance.
On-Board Partners (AIB) are manufacturers who have the board supplied by Nvidia, but then install their own cooling or make their own adjustments. All custom graphics cards usually come from such partners.
Can anything be done about it? Yes, and that’s actually the good news. Most graphics cards can be disassembled without much effort and replacing the thermal paste is not much more complicated than with a processor. Good thermal paste usually costs no more than 10 euros.
However, check beforehand whether you will lose your warranty if you replace the thermal paste or the thermal pads. Some manufacturers cover the replacement under the warranty, but others do not. Therefore, check your manufacturer’s terms and conditions before replacing!
Our MeinMMO editor has already replaced the thermal paste on his graphics card. You can read why it was really worth it here on MeinMMO: 5 euros and a screwdriver solved my biggest problem with my gaming PC