Players are complaining about performance losses with their Nvidia graphics card. An expert has examined the graphics cards and explains who is to blame for the problems. However, it is unknown if and how many manufacturers are actually affected.
The colleagues from Tomshardware report that Igor Wallossek from Igor’s Lab is said to have checked some new RTX 4000 graphics cards. Several players reported significant performance losses affecting their graphics card.
Wallossek disassembled several graphics cards and quickly found the culprit for the problems.
How many graphics cards and how many manufacturers could actually be affected is unknown.
Cheap thermal paste is said to cause temperature problems
What is the problem? The problem is the thermal paste used on the graphics card. Igor Wassolek explains that it must be a cheap product. On the first day, the paste offers excellent performance, but it degrades much faster than that of other manufacturers. This is reminiscent of the issue with New World, where graphics cards were destroyed because a defective component was used in some graphics cards. The manufacturer apologized for the broken GPUs.
What does this mean for the graphics card? This significant deterioration in thermal paste will pose a real problem for graphics card owners: Some players report that hotspot temperatures at their GPU reach over 100 degrees Celsius after just a few minutes, and fan speeds rise to nearly 100%. Subsequently, the performance of the graphics card is throttled.
Igor Wassolek examined the thermal paste more closely and explains that the paste contains particles of up to 16 µm, which are far too large for thermal paste. These are particles of aluminum oxide, used to achieve higher thermal conductivity in the short term. However, due to the size of the particles, the oily mass dries out quickly and loses its effectiveness.
Numerous Nvidia partners allegedly affected
Who is affected by the problem? According to Igor’s Lab, almost all board partners of Nvidia are allegedly affected. Because (almost) all board partners of Nvidia seem to be supplied by the same thermal paste manufacturer. After two or three months, performance problems arise.
Board partners (AIB) are manufacturers who receive the PCB from Nvidia but then implement their own cooling or make their own adjustments. All custom graphics cards typically come from such partners.
However, it is not known how many manufacturers and producers are allegedly affected. It could also be a manufacturing error and a batch of thermal paste is defective. Therefore, the whole situation remains somewhat unclear.
Can anything be done about it? Yes, and that is actually the good news in this story. Most graphics cards can be disassembled with little effort, and replacing the thermal paste is not much more complicated than with a processor. Typically, good thermal paste costs no more than 10 euros.
However, check beforehand whether you will lose your warranty when you replace the thermal paste or thermal pads. With some manufacturers, the replacement is covered by the warranty, while with others it is not. So, be sure to check your manufacturer’s terms before replacing!
Our MeinMMO editor has already replaced the thermal paste on his graphics card. Why it was worth it can be read directly with us at MeinMMO: 5 euros and a screwdriver solved my biggest problem in the gaming PC
