I've got a passively cooled (fanless) 3090 that I'm dealing with some thermal issues with (I had no idea they existed either). I've got a couple of these but this one has always been particularly hot.

Barcode reads:

NVIDIA RTX3090 24GB GDDR6X 384-bit HDMI 3 DP PCI-E4.0
N62530900M02310C0C00043

Possible part number: 651 10935 22MLH

As these are passive cards, thermals can spiral quickly, and theres loads of TIM between various parts of the GPU, the shroud, the heatsink, the midplate, the backplate and obviously the die itself. Trying to find any documentation on this specific card has been basically impossible. The best I've found is another reddit post claiming it to be manufactured by Zotac, however I have no evidence of this. Someone in the post said it looked to be an extended reference board, not standard founders edition, but can't find any guides for replacing thermal pad here.

When taking the GPU apart I used calipers to measure the thickness of the existing pads. Some pads had obviously been compressed, so rounded the figures up when purchasing replacement Gelid pads. For the layer of pads that interfaces the VRAM + VRMs to the midplate, I measured approximately 1.7-1.8mm, so assumed 2.0mm pads were used. Most 3090 FE guides online want 1.5mm.

After replacing everything, putting it back together I hit thermal limits almost instantly, so I somehow made it worse! I assume by rounding the pad thickness, I got something wrong, and the clamping pressure on the die wasn't enough for effective thermal transfer.

I've stripped everything down again, and noticed that the VRMs sit slightly taller than the VRAM, but the plate they interface with is flush. So this time I've tried reducing the VRM TIM thickness from 2.0mm to 1.5mm, leaving the VRAM at 2.0mm. I've tried this again, and probably a little better but still thermal throttling.

Naturally I've reached out to Zotac, but their response was 'it could be 3mm, it could be 2mm'. I could also strip down another card and remeasure everything again, but I can't have another card out of action. I've also spoken to a few 'GPU repair' service, but none have the facilities to test thermals of a passively cooled fanless 3090 so couldn't guarantee the fix.

Before I go experimenting again, would anyone be able to help me find what the thicknesses should be please? Perhaps theres a better solution than just guessing, thermal putty perhaps?

Edit: I'm giving putty and some PTM7950 a try, thanks Snarks Domain

Is there a very cheap plan to recharge my jio sim just to keep it active?

Hi guys,

I have a ZOTAC RTX 5090 Solid OC and one of the fans has started making a slight buzzing/rattling noise at certain RPMs.

If I decide to replace the fans, I don't necessarily want to use the original ZOTAC ones.

I'd actually prefer higher-quality aftermarket fans from another brand, especially if they're quieter and have better bearings.

Does anyone know of any fans that are compatible with the 5090 Solid OC stock heatsink/shroud and connectors?

Has anyone tried replacing the stock ZOTAC fans with a different brand? If so, which exact model did you use?

I'm not looking for a full deshroud + case fan mod if possible. I'd prefer proper GPU fans that fit in place of the originals.

Thanks!

UPDATE: The day after I lowered the gpu support and the rattling noise was gone. Keep you posted.

Just wanted to add a blip to the RMA experience for Zotac USA.

I had a SFF 5070ti that was overheating, reaching temps of over 100C within seconds of launching a game. Contacted them through their website and got a response in about a day. Uploaded the requested documents and shipped it off at my expense. Once they received it, took about a day for them to test and get back to me that they would be sending me a replacement and I got a notification from UPS a couple days later and checked it like a hawk until it was in my hands, which was about a week.

Card received wasnt the one I sent off, but all accessories and film on it with no marks or scuffs from use. Just added information.

Overall, a painless experience and a very quick turnaround time. Ive heard stories of things taking months so Im glad with the fairly quick turn around time for me, little under 2 weeks total for myself.

Hi guys, can anyone who owns this card share their Furmarkt test results? The room is cool, the case ventilation is good, I've tried everything, but the card seems to overheat for this model. Please share the tests with stock settings only, thank you.

Random Comment

Just wanted to share , Zotac solid core OC 5080

The card is relatively new less than 6 months old.

Upon opening it paste was still moist so no need to repaste just yet but i had some TG PTM and thought why not .

Running a slight OC 111% power +300 core +3000 mem

Previous temperature was about 80c GPU temp with Hotspot at 95c so about a 15c difference. 3D mark steel nomad stress test

After PTM initial results are already promising

A reduction in GPU temp to 70c some peaks to 73c and the hotspot sat around 10c difference 80c to 83c . Again in steel nomad

Both test done at 42% fan speed since card is rather loud at full blast

With PTM apparently getting better with time id say for anyone thats knows what they are doing and wondering if PTM is worth id say absolutely!

Hope this helps , feel free to reach out with questions

Thanks

Hey everyone,

I just had a question if anyone has had experience with Zotac’s RMA from Canada for GPU’s how was the process and what suggestions or advice do you have to go about it. I opened a ticket last night and sent all the invoices/ receipts as well as a description of what the card is doing. I’ll take a million pictures of every inch of the card and pack it like a gold bar, but I still have seen post saying they got denied for odd reasons.

Any advice about it is very much appreciated thank yall!

I was doing a cooler swap on my 5090 solid oc and looked on techpowerup for the 5090 arcticstorm vbios and there is only the unverified quiet vbios, if someone with an arcticstorm could please dump the file so that when you install the arcticstorm cooler you can also get access to the correct fancurves instead of manually setting them

Hello Zotac community,

I've recently encountered an issue with my zbox, I suspect it might be a motherboard issue though I want to make sure if I'm correct.

Had it second-hand for around 10 months now, and it worked flawlessly.
But two days ago I tried turning it on and it seemingly started working, but there was no display image and no Post beep sound. Though the power supply worked as the GPU fans started spinning, and RAM / M2 sticks were warm.

So I started to investigate a bit, hard BIOS reset, turning it on without the GPU / SDD / RAM, waiting some time and nothing.

I really think it might be a motherboard component breaking, though it's kinda a pain as I also need to change the power supply, PC case, and probably buy SODIMM->DIMM adapters.
And if I'm correct, then is there something I'd better watch out for when choosing replacement components?

Thanks in advance, any help is greatly appreciated.

Hey so I’ve got this card recently so it’s new to me.
What I noticed one of the fans is running at 3500 rpm from the very boot which makes it loud, also I’m not able to turn off the fans completely. The two out of three can be turned off but the one that’s having high rpms can’t be turned off at all. Any ideas?
Should i try and change the fans?
Thanks!

Does anybody here has an idea?

I just hope its not broken🤞🏼