joemaniaci

So here it goes, for XFX and EVGA 780i mobo's, they placed foam pads between the cooler and the NB/SB to keep tension for the screws I guess, anyway, sometimes the foam pads gets between the actual NB/SB IHS and prevents the transfer of heat. Here is how to fix it.


Here is what you are taking off


Here are the 8 screws to take off. Before taking off, unplug and remove NB fan.


Close-up of SB screws.


Close up of NB screws.


Close up of the PWM screws. See the screw with the spring on it, make sure it goes back in place, it has something to do with ESA and who knows if it has to stay in that spot or not, better safe than sorry

NOTE: PRODUCTION 2 AND LATER REVISION MOBO'S NO LONGER HAVE THE SPRING, SO IT IS POSSIBLE THAT IT CAN JUST BE REMOVED IF YOU HAVE A PRODUCTION 1.


PWM heatsink closeup, very good placement of thermal pads.


Close up of the NB and NF200, you can now see the pads people have talked about, as you can the pads in this case are not in the way and you can see the inprint of the resistors in the foam. Those circular pads I just left alone.


Different story for my SB, as you can see the foam has been compressed by the SB IHS, all you have to do is just cut away this portion. You can also see why the foam caused this problem due to its horrible placement.


Here is a pic of the foam removed, you can also see how my SB never came into contact with the heatsink as the thrml cmpd has not been disturbed. Also, after the arm going from the NB to SB has been pushed away by the foam, it will not be flat. So you will have to use some force to get it flat again. I realized this after I tried to put the cooler back on, there was a gap between the SB IHS and the cooler.


Just a pic of everything all cleaned up.


Now to review, to cut away that portion of the foam I just used a regular knife, you can do that and just reapply the cooler with the foam pads still in place. However I ran into issues getting the IHS's for everything back between the foam pads, so what I did was just remove them all. I would recommend however to not do what I did. Go to a hardware store and get replacement razors for utility knives and use those flat against the heatsink so you minimize scratches. The thermal pads on the PWM i just left alone. Temps went from 80C to 58C, but everything is OC'ed so I could get lower temps with normal voltages and what-not.


EDIT:Well I learned of another reason for the cooler's to be so ineffective.

Its the screws, not the cooler that is causing the problem.

After examining one up closely and moving the plastic piece out of the way, I realized that the threads on the shaft of the screw dont go all the way down. I had always assumed that the reason the screw stopped turning was because the top of the plastic washer ran into the head of the screw, and this is not the case.

So as a temporary solution(only on the two SB screws) I wrapped a thin piece of small gauge wire around the base of the screw so that the wire was between the mobo and the black plastic washers. SB temp dropped 15C, current temps are NB(45) and SB(52). Which is good enough for me.

Permanent solution will be to find some mm thin rubber/plastic washers

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Blameless

I don't own a 780i, but if I ever get one, or something similar I'll have to watch out for the placement of the foam shims.

Thanks for the info.

Tricky

Nice info +rep. Why would they put pads on there?? There must be a reason.. Does this apply to the 680i T1/T2/A1 motherboards aswell?

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swatsor

I had the same issue...but I just cut the foam pads off all together. Is that a bad thing? :P

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joemaniaci

These are not present in the 680 mobo's and I have no idea why they put them on. Considering how far the resistors pushed in the foam, I feared that perhaps it was there to prevent contact between the resistors and the heatsink. But I too just completely removed all of the pads and crossed my fingers, and my computer still works. . . .for now.

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Edberg

I think it was to prevent the cracking of the chip from overtightening at the factory, it takes the load off the core.

MNiceGuy

Good information. I used to have a 780i and read about issues with what you're showing here. Rep +1

DavidNJ

What thermal grease or pad did you use between the heatsink and the chips?

DuckieHo

The spring is for EMI....

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AMD2600

This comes to me as no surprise. Should just use thermal paste. Make sure heatsink screws are well tightened.