I'm thinking about disassembling my PowerColor Hellhound AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT to swap out the thermal paste and pads with Thermal Grizzly Duronaut and TG Putty Advance. But before I dive in, I'd love to hear from anyone who's done this before. Specifically, I'm looking for details like the thickness of the thermal pads for the VRMs, how these pads connect with the IHS or heatsink, and if replacing the thermal pads with thermal putty is a wise choice. If you have any pictures from when you took yours apart, that would be awesome!
3 Answers
Replacing thermal pads can definitely help. Just be careful with the disassembly process; sometimes it's tricky to reassemble everything without losing warranty.
If you're planning to replace the thermal paste, I recommend trying PTM 7950 instead of Duronaut. I've had better results with it in the past!
Here's a link to a review that breaks down the disassembly: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/powercolor-radeon-rx-7800-xt-hellhound/3.html. Just a heads up, unless there's a real issue with your GPU, taking it apart might not be necessary. But I get wanting to keep it in shape!
Thanks for the info! I'm considering it because my card is nearing two years old and I think the thermal paste might be degrading. I've noticed a significant temperature difference during heavy use.
Totally understand. I live in a hot area myself, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s affecting the thermal performance.