EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 SC Gaming review - Graphics Card Thermal Imaging Measurements (FLIR)

Thermal Imaging Temperature Measurements

A new addition to our reviews will be the inclusion of Forward Looking Infra Red thermal images of hardware. Over the past years we have been trying to figure out what the best possible way is to measure temperatures on hardware. Multiple options are available but the best thing to do is to visualize heat coming from the product or component being tested. The downside of thermal imaging hardware is simple, FLIR camera's with a bit of decent resolution costs up-to 10,000 EUR. Hence we passed on it for a long time. With a thermal imaging camera a special lens focuses the infrared light emitted by all of the objects in view. This focused light is scanned by a phased array of infrared-detector elements. The detector elements create a very detailed temperature pattern called a thermogram. It only takes about one-thirtieth of a second for the detector array to obtain the temperature information to make the thermogram. This information is obtained from several thousand points in the field of view of the detector array. The thermogram created by the detector elements is translated into electric impulses. The impulses are sent to a signal-processing unit, a circuit board with a dedicated chip that translates the information from the elements into data for the display. The signal-processing unit sends the information to the display, where it appears as various colors depending on the intensity of the infrared emission. The combination of all the impulses from all of the elements creates the image. We can seek hotspots on the PCB indicating, for example, GPU but also VRM temperature as well as how heat is distributed throughout a product. We do hope you will enjoy this new technology as it did cost us an arm and a leg to be able to implement it. 

We can measure pretty accurate temperatures at the GPUs and VRM areas. We can measure thermals down to a 10^th of a degree, our thermal camera is calibrated.

• There is no denying it, something is heating up the PCB alright. We reach almost 72 degrees C on M1, the GPU marker at the back-plate, which is spot on with what the thermal sensor reports back.
• At M3 (Measure Point 3) the VRM area can be measured it runs just close to 81 Degrees C on that spot, that is considered to be a normal temperature but most of it is blocked by the backplate so we cannot take a proper reading. 

When we position the thermal camera outwards we can see that the overall cooler design really works well. The hottest point is the top side of the card where there is some residual PCB/VRM heat detected. M1 is the hottest spot at a whopping 90 Degrees C. Remember, this is the graphics card 100% stressed.
 

Seen from the top side we see the image light up significantly. Once I placed a hotspot detector at the image we noticed a 96 Degrees C hotspot, that directly above the VRM area, so it's very hot alright. The majority of heat is exhausted, however at position HS1 we do see that heat is pushed out and above that location, and that ends up in your PC. The VRAM area is covered with a metal plate though so a lot of it is exhausted, just not everything. The overall thermal image can be rated as reasonable at best, that VRM HS1 spot raises concerns.