The problem I have with my 3090 is the VRAM on the top of the card hitting it's max temp. The backplate just doesn't cool it well enough.

If that copper plate really works so well, the design might get copied by card manufacturers, unless CoolMyGPU has managed to patent it. It's hard to say from the photo, but if that plate is of uniform thickness and not machined, some Chinese factory should be able to laser cut thousands of them in a day. I don't think the price would be many dollars a piece. Maybe there are some other complications in using them. Only people with lots of experience with custom cooling graphics cards would know.

Stairmand:

The problem I have with my 3090 is the VRAM on the top of the card hitting it's max temp. The backplate just doesn't cool it well enough.

backplate usually raises the temp, by experience

Kaarme:

If that copper plate really works so well, the design might get copied by card manufacturers, unless CoolMyGPU has managed to patent it. It's hard to say from the photo, but if that plate is of uniform thickness and not machined, some Chinese factory should be able to laser cut thousands of them in a day. I don't think the price would be many dollars a piece. Maybe there are some other complications in using them. Only people with lots of experience with custom cooling graphics cards would know.

AIBs should have known about copper plate, just that these copper plate don't allow for any margin of error that thermal pad do. A lot of things can go wrong if the copper shim is slightly thicker than it should be, like crushed BGA on VRAM or poor thermal contact between die and cooler.

Kaarme:

If that copper plate really works so well, the design might get copied by card manufacturers, unless CoolMyGPU has managed to patent it. It's hard to say from the photo, but if that plate is of uniform thickness and not machined, some Chinese factory should be able to laser cut thousands of them in a day. I don't think the price would be many dollars a piece. Maybe there are some other complications in using them. Only people with lots of experience with custom cooling graphics cards would know.

It's not hard to copy for AIBs, just costs more because they have to mill out more material to make the raised surfaces for the memory. Thermal Pads are cheaper, which is why this is never gonna see the light of day out of the box. And as mentioned in the post above, everything has to be perfect.

This is alot worse then the copper shim needed foe 7950/7970 GPUs and certian coolers.

Agonist:

This is alot worse then the copper shim needed foe 7950/7970 GPUs and certian coolers.

flashback! 😱 😱 😱 😱

Krizby:

AIBs should have known about copper plate, just that these copper plate don't allow for any margin of error that thermal pad do. A lot of things can go wrong if the copper shim is slightly thicker than it should be, like crushed BGA on VRAM or poor thermal contact between die and cooler.

Everything about copper plates would increase costs either directly because copper is much more than thermal pads or indirectly like you said due to failures.

JamesSneed:

Everything about copper plates would increase costs either directly because copper is much more than thermal pads or indirectly like you said due to failures.

TheDeeGee:

It's not hard to copy for AIBs, just costs more because they have to mill out more material to make the raised surfaces for the memory. Thermal Pads are cheaper, which is why this is never gonna see the light of day out of the box. And as mentioned in the post above, everything has to be perfect.

$1,149.00 card + $10 for the copper plates?:p

Caesar:

$1,149.00 card + $10 for the copper plates?:p

I cant argue with you. I was not taking there side but I promise costs were a factor for them including RMA costs for extra failures. If you see where EVGA switched from the UP9511 vcore and AOZ power stages to an Onsemi NCP81610 and Onsemi power stages for the 3090 FTW3 you will realize they all try to make these as cheap as possible and still function. Which is pretty wild considering prices but tis the truth.

Has me thinking for my Razer ... Copper shims for my laptop | TechPowerUp Forums

"GDDR6X temperatures should not surpass 100C in our testing of Nvidia's best RTX 30-series cards, including AIB partner versions, to avoid thermal throttling. If the temperature of your GPU's memory hits 110 degrees Celsius or above, the graphics card will limit clock rates and stronger cooling will be required" I guess i'm lucky as i needed to RMA my ASUS RTX 3080 TUF just after 8 months, as temps on memory are reaching 112 degree, and go even higher while gaming. I wasnt mining on it, but CP2077, RDR 2, FH5 - 2-3 hours of game and you got it, not to mention core - 84 degree with hotspot 100 - on ASUS TUF. Thats very interesting as when the card was new it had 75 degree on core, around 90 on hotspot and 102 MAX (after 10 minutes furmark) on memory. Also i saw that termopad on VRAM (closer to video outputs) was not touching heatsink (around 0,5mm gap). Unfortunally ASUS customer service told me, that these temps are fine (!!!!!) and i guess i gonna receive untouched GPU. And unfortunally there is no copper plates for ASUS TUF. Even if there will be, unfortunally these are hell of expensive. I could use termopads, but everything above 12 w/mk is hell out of expensive also now. I live in Poland, this country is getting more poor than Uganda and i will illustrate the prices; - RTX 3080 10GB LHR - 6,450zł - Eventual termopads replacement - 500zł - Copper plates if available for 56$ - 238zł - Average payout in today situation - 2,700zł That how it look like. Not to mention most of termopads are not available here (specially 2,5mm), there is also no thermal putty (something with 10 w/mk) available and shipping is making is doubling its price. I'm using O11 Air Mini with 2 additional fans on bottom, there is no way for better air cool the GPU (I even adjusted fans RPM to not blow too fast). So i guess only way is to sell that baky GPU and get 6800XT from ASUS or MSI, and never touch GDDR6X again. Nvidia should use that plates in instructions for AIB partners as its only way to guarantee longewity of memory modules, by decreasing temperature. Nothing will change my mind, 100+ degree on any computer component is deadly over time, and it looks like 3080/3090's have big bomb on board with time fuze.

Even on Founders Edition cards, replacing the pads with Gelid Ultimate and adding extra to the back of the memory chips completely eliminates memory throttling. No need for a copper shim. For example RTX 3080Ti FE great results after thermal pad replacement. : nvidia (reddit.com)

vlad_8011:

"GDDR6X temperatures should not surpass 100C in our testing of Nvidia's best RTX 30-series cards, including AIB partner versions, to avoid thermal throttling. If the temperature of your GPU's memory hits 110 degrees Celsius or above, the graphics card will limit clock rates and stronger cooling will be required" I guess i'm lucky as i needed to RMA my ASUS RTX 3080 TUF just after 8 months, as temps on memory are reaching 112 degree, and go even higher while gaming. I wasnt mining on it, but CP2077, RDR 2, FH5 - 2-3 hours of game and you got it, not to mention core - 84 degree with hotspot 100 - on ASUS TUF. Thats very interesting as when the card was new it had 75 degree on core, around 90 on hotspot and 102 MAX (after 10 minutes furmark) on memory. Also i saw that termopad on VRAM (closer to video outputs) was not touching heatsink (around 0,5mm gap). Unfortunally ASUS customer service told me, that these temps are fine (!!!!!) and i guess i gonna receive untouched GPU. And unfortunally there is no copper plates for ASUS TUF. Even if there will be, unfortunally these are hell of expensive. I could use termopads, but everything above 12 w/mk is hell out of expensive also now. I live in Poland, this country is getting more poor than Uganda and i will illustrate the prices; - RTX 3080 10GB LHR - 6,450zł - Eventual termopads replacement - 500zł - Copper plates if available for 56$ - 238zł - Average payout in today situation - 2,700zł That how it look like. Not to mention most of termopads are not available here (specially 2,5mm), there is also no thermal putty (something with 10 w/mk) available and shipping is making is doubling its price. I'm using O11 Air Mini with 2 additional fans on bottom, there is no way for better air cool the GPU (I even adjusted fans RPM to not blow too fast). So i guess only way is to sell that baky GPU and get 6800XT from ASUS or MSI, and never touch GDDR6X again. Nvidia should use that plates in instructions for AIB partners as its only way to guarantee longewity of memory modules, by decreasing temperature. Nothing will change my mind, 100+ degree on any computer component is deadly over time, and it looks like 3080/3090's have big bomb on board with time fuze.

The default pads on almost all cards are absolute garbage. Look like double-sided foam sticky pads not for heatsinks even on the Rog Strix card. And they quickly decline in efficiency over time as you experienced. As above replace with Gelid Ultimate. Thermal pads fit easily in an envelope. I'm sure someone will post them to you for the cost of postage if you ask ebay sellers.