Igor Wallossek of Igor’s Lab has extensively tested a number of GeForce RTX 40-series graphics cards from NVIDIA partners such as ASUS, Manli, PNY and Palit and concluded that most of them are a “ticking time bomb” waiting to overheat and eventually fail due to cheap thermal paste. It’s an explosive report that could have a massive impact on the current GPU market.
2VIEW GALLERY – 2 PICTURES
The investigation and report are now live (with video) at Igor’s Lab. The conclusion is quite compelling, showing how cheap thermal paste degrades over time and that it only takes a couple of months for it to become ineffective. The report claims that this is the reason why PC gamers with cards like the RTX 4080 Gallardo and RTX 4080 TUF Gaming are experiencing hotspot temperatures of over 100 degrees.
Igor Wallossek notes that he started investigating the problem after hearing about it from readers. After extensive testing, he found that cheap thermal paste that breaks down over time is the culprit. The good news is that the solution to the problem is straightforward.
Reapplying a high quality, good thermal paste to the cards immediately solves the high temperature problem and brings the thermal performance back to the right level. According to Igor’s Lab, several NVIDIA partners source and use the same thermal paste, which upon closer inspection (under a microscope) is a formula with an oily mixture that dries.
Igor Wallossek has also noted that the particles are simply too thick for thermal paste, and that it looks like aluminum oxide particles have been added to improve thermal performance in the short term (producing performance comparable to Thermal Grizzly’s Kryonaut) – a move that sounds questionable at best and punitive at worst.
For more information, check out the full report and Igor’s Lab findings. We’ll be monitoring the issue from our side. Stay tuned for updates on what could become a real GPU scandal over time, as more and more cards with this thermal paste lose performance and overheat over time. At the very least, we’d expect NVIDIA’s partners to take on the repairs and look at the issue from their side, especially since we’re on the cusp of a new generation of graphics cards.
