Wrong Thermal Pads: Tear-Down of MSI RX 5700 XT Evoke OC

[@GamersNexus]

Original review of the MSI RX 5700 XT Evoke OC is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6HNZXluprp1e9k Grab the GN modmat or toolkit on the store! store.gamersnexus.net/

[@JonManProductions]

My 2070 MSI Armor can stay cooler than that thing XD

[@glutenfreegam3r177]

Steve, could you try throwing proper sized thermal pads on the MSI card and test again for memory temps? It looks like a full sized pad on those memory chips might help and there is PLENTY room on the heat-sink...if you look closer, the uncovered portion is inward, towards the center of the HS, NOT extending outward like you are suggesting in the video (12:41). I am VERY interested in this card and would appreciate your help. Thanks for the reviews and tear-down vids. Cheers!

[@mikelowder7082]

dont they realize the likely hood you will disassemble a gpu you were sent or that you buy jebus lol

[@reluttr2]

@@glutenfreegam3r177 Yeah I am curious what would happen with proper pads and perhaps a higher quality thermal paste on main chip.

[@TheNews1990]

This is a common thing with MSI cards. I have a MSI Armor RX 570 8GB OC with the same sized pads.

[@Danthrax66]

Wait, the top ram had the thermal pads on the top of the ram, and that metal plate clearly contacted the thermal pads, so they just needed bigger pads that extended down closer to the core. So they really didn't need to make the plate bigger, they just needed to use properly sized thermal pads.

[@GamersNexus]

Yeah, got disoriented when flipping it over a bunch of times. That's correct. Bigger thermal pads would do it.

[@Noise-Bomb]

Gamers Nexus Seems like a plain oversight tbh. A very stupid one but I really don't believe the bigger pads would make any significant cost difference even in huge production quantities. Edit: Okay you even stated that the thermal pad price is negligible so my comment gets kinda irrelevant but hey guess I should watch till the end before commenting...

[@sbeve7445]

@@GamersNexus Further raise the question why they used smaller thermal pads on only the top two memory modules. Are those 0.01$ worth of thermal pads really worth saving?

[@alexatkin]

Even rotating the existing pads putting them central should make a huge difference.

[@shaneeslick]

I notice this too, MSI just seemed to have used pads too small, even the other 6 Pads aren't as big as the Memory Modules, that's a really lazy thing to do, I have an MSI B450M Mortar, RX580 Gaming Plus & GTX1080Ti Gaming X & have been really happy with the performance & Quality, but their efforts with the X570 & RX5700/XT seem to be pretty Lazy & Cheap

[@sbeve7445]

Conclusion: buy the cheaper but better Sapphire card

[@farjanahmed5142]

Buy* edit it

[@DorianColeman]

Red Devil all the way

[@sbeve7445]

@@farjanahmed5142 ya typo

[@rdablock]

it's a major shame, this is the best looking GPU I've ever seen tbh

[@redrock425]

@@DorianColeman the Red Devil special edition is only £20 more than the Evoke in the UK. No brainer really.

[@quonslecn7755]

Technically speaking, the "Warranty void if removed" sticker wasn't removed. A Philips driver may have poked through it, but it's still in place. Hasn't been removed ;)

[@TheGauges420]

Yep only the screw was removed, not the sticker.

[@psiklops71]

the double sided tape is the warranty

[@dabombinablemi6188]

If I remember correctly, in the US at least the "warranty void if removed" sticker is actually bullshit.

[@DeadOGChannel]

@@dabombinablemi6188 Yeah, I don't think they can enforce that in the U.S.

[@onionring1531]

Any country with good consumer protection laws makes that note on the sticker irrelevant if not illegal.

[@Socrates_Nuts]

I always love Steve's reaction to warranty stickers. His voice rang from the heavens when I found one on my new Strix.

[@nmgotitluser5234]

Retest with proper thermal pads. It looks like the memory will fit on that plate

[@megapet777]

Why? Who would want to open brand new card? Why not just buy sapphire...

[@truedarklander]

@@megapet777 bro just for science, to see if the cooler's trash or not.

[@magadadaskolin4667]

@@megapet777 Garbage thermal paste made from dirt or slave children corpes probably?(Replace) Garbage cooler?(remod noctua with help of scalpel and replace). Installing additional rgb? List go on...

[@sgredsch]

yea, the plate is not too small, they just used way to small thermal pads, which is ridiculous. retest with proper thermal pads please.

[@Hyde-Jahf]

@@megapet777 some folks will come here after already buying the card. Those are the folks that will need the info the most.

[@Magic_Bao]

I just got myself a Sapphire Pulse after watching your review. Now this video gave me some comfort that I made the right choice.

[@Puffalupagus360]

The thermal pad situation was just saddening.

[@Juggernautdemon]

So basically, stick to Powercolor or Sapphire as always if you want good AMD AIB cards.

[@420BulletSponge]

And avoid Diamond and XFX like the fucking plague

[@outsideredge]

I'm just wondering why Sapphire released the Pulse version first. Isn't the Pulse line supposed to be the more value oriented line, and Nitro+ supposed to be the premium line? If so, shouldn't the Nitro+ cards be released first?

[@natterman2037]

@@outsideredge the Nitro+ is Sapphires top card.. Usually has higher clocks and some series had different or you could say better coolers...

[@Marplegamer]

what about the 3-fan Gigabyte rx 5700 ? looks good aswell

[@stargazer162]

@@420BulletSponge What's wrong with XFX?

[@Thadiusofx3]

Just built my 2nd desktop after 10 years of being out of the biz. Specs - i7 9700k, RTX 2080 Super, 16 gig ddr4 corsair vengeance, 500gig Samsung NVMe M.2, Cooler Master 212 evo, 2tb barracuda, and Cooler Master H500 Mesh. So excited had to tell someone :)

[@YungPixel]

That's all well and good but what colour is your rgb set to is the real question.

[@Thadiusofx3]

@@YungPixel lol tbh I haven't figured out how to control it yet 10 years ago it was cathode tube lighting and would have to change it out completely if you wanted to change colors.... I feel old and I'm only 30.

[@anomous2307]

Nooooice, I just went up to a 2600 and a 5700 budget build about 3 weeks ago. Can you feel the POWA?! You have a nice combo enjoy.

[@Od3o_ela_sabil_rabek]

try to change thermal pads and thermal paste and make thermal review again and see if there's any difference .. i hope

[@JessClimbedCeleste]

A request for future teardowns; you're great at keeping things organized and explaining what you're doing so someone could follow along to replace thermal paste or fans, but would you be able to give some more detail on the hardware you're removing as well? Things like thermal pad thickness and maybe even screw type (thread/length/etc) if you're able to identify them. Info like that isn't too common online (thermal pads maybe, but definitely not screws), and as someone who's lost the mounting hardware for the heatsink of a card, that kind of stuff would be great for trying to find replacements without taking apart another one. Keep up the great reviews and teardowns!

[@chronicalcultivation]

WTF are you doing, MSI? Between this and the BIOS update issues.. Wow. And you did so well with AMD stuff a year and a half ago..

[@TheAssassin642]

@@6Twisted man.. I just bought a gaming pro carbon for my 3600. The feature set was just so good. I mean, they have to fix the BIOS right?

[@TheAssassin642]

@@6Twisted I'm ok with losing support for older CPUs. Though I'll be pissed if they release a MAX version in a few weeks.

[@TheAssassin642]

@Curtis Riceman it has a bigger BIOS memory chip so you won't lose any features in BIOS updates

[@TheBackyardChemist]

@@TheAssassin642 The B450 Tomahawk MAX is already out

[@TheAssassin642]

@@TheBackyardChemist yeah but I wanted a Carbon MAX

[@RustedCroaker]

And the Sapphire's card has fuses on the PCB, the MSI's doesn't. The little detail that could save your card if your AIO will leak or somthing.

[@syncmonism]

Yeah, and the backup bios and bios switch too! The Sapphire card has so many premium features for only $10 over MSRP. They have set the gold standard with card design. Maybe they decided to go all-out this generation because they figured that there'd be a lot of first-time AMD gpu owners because of the general AMD hype train with Zen 2 and Navi? Or, were their cards always this good for this low of a price? I thought they used to be more expensive.

[@amak1131]

@@syncmonism A backup bios and bios switch are mostly worthless to most users and those that know what they're doing. I've flashed a few Nvidia cards and, unless you're absolutely insane, those extra features are a moot point.

[@kevadu]

Wait, aren't the half thermal pads still on the *outside* edge of the card? So the excuse that only half would be contacting the plate because of the plate size doesn't even work here...

[@jackadams99]

I totally agree

[@whatdafarkenhell7110]

You saw wrong, or perceived what you saw incorrectly, the thermal pads you saw were for the components on ther other side of the GPU.

[@ancelrick5396]

You are spot on. a larger thermal pad would indeed make complete contact with the plate. There would have to be a hole in the plate for it to NOT make contact. Just pause at 7:32 , it's obvious.

[@ShovelShovel]

Steve is usually right but the thermal pads are on the outside so a bigger pad would make full contact with the heat plate. The reason they likely made the thermal pads smaller is because they are directly on the heat pipes so they would have better heat transfer anyways and don't want to steal more heat dissipation from the GPU.

[@pandabuttonftw745]

MSi have a history of really dodgy cost-cutting.

[@bebisibeb]

@@6Twisted they're not chinese.

[@awawdasd4341]

@@6Twisted While taiwan is in china, it's light years ahead of mainland china.

[@Jaymiecain1]

@@6Twisted Taiwan and China are not the same nation. The Republic of China and the Peoples Republic of China are different countries. I think it goes back to the civil war China had (Nationalist vs Communists) and if I remember Taiwan is the last "Nationalist" strong hold, China never invaded it.

[@zuminlair92cp]

@@6Twisted I'm Taiwanese and I don't like someone say we are Chinese. More important, I don't like communist.

[@mustafas9011]

Xalinsky everthing chinese. Taiwan id chinese. Period. Goodbye

[@kurt8327]

Just like with vega, go with XFX, Sapphire, or Powercolor.

[@RustedCroaker]

XFX in the same league with MSI. Stick to the last two.

[@SDcharge2k12]

Meh I’ll stick with my water cooled MSI reference card thanks!

[@RustedCroaker]

@@SDcharge2k12 My condolences!

[@Xenoray1]

@@SDcharge2k12 dude..rly..

[@kurt8327]

@Curtis Riceman no

[@kaldo_kaldo]

I'd like to see you put proper pads and paste on there (like the thermal grizzly pads and kryonaut or something) and see if it fixes it

[@kodato92]

JESUS, MSI had the same problem i had with Accelero Xtreme 3, only those 2 memory got 50% of thermal contact... But why MSI u did this faulty cooling design?

[@strixkuriboh7581]

Question, will you be reviewing the XFX THICC2?

[@afracturedwinky7181]

Seconded. Also curious about the Xfx RAW 2 and any potential tear down videos?

[@chronicalcultivation]

It's the same dumbass cooler design as the Fatboy. The RX590 Fatboy I own, performs worse than the Sapphire Nitro RX580 I own. It shouldn't. The older chip should perform worse, but it doesn't, because the Nitro has such vastly superior cooling that while the Fatboy throttles down due to temp, the Nitro keeps going at boost clocks.

[@Socrates_Nuts]

@@chronicalcultivation but it's thicc..

[@0o0garth0o0]

This!!! Im waiting for a GN review of that bad boy. Errr uhh, girl? I'm not due for an upgrade but I love watching tech content and a video of this card WILL get my view.

[@420f37]

@@chronicalcultivation but the name gives it +6.9 fps

[@skilledshots7200]

Would be nice to see a review and teardown of the newer ASROCK RX5700 xt within these comparisons

[@keremkesici4244]

Gotta save them pennies though. Quite sad that alot of manuf. do that to keep the cost low,

[@dra6o0n]

Sooo having to cut down thermal pad thickness by 1-2mm to squeeze out like a 1~5% saving in price?

[@Breloom286]

@@dra6o0n no man, its a lot less, the diference between those is like 15 to 20 cents, they are cutting cost but even for them is not much. They just painted it like gold ans sold it like it, they are coming back to the pre 2014 era

[@allothernamesbutthis]

makes no sense to me. a customer is spending $400 and the bean counters want to place the company branding on the line to save $1 a unit. if they are that desperate to save $1 focus on the packaging!

[@dra6o0n]

@@allothernamesbutthis it's happening everywhere, not just computers. There is only so much wealth in the world before people start fighting over it.

[@shoailwaniya]

@@allothernamesbutthis it wouldn't be just this video card they they are cutting costs on. MSI make around 1.6 millions mobo's and over 1 million video cards per month from one of their Chinese factories. At a saving of $1.00 per unit we are looking at a saving of over $2.6 million per month or over $31 million per year. They are more than likely saving between $2-$5 dollars per unit at the manufacturing level which means the factories management team look like hero's for their shareholders and board members. Remember its all about making more money with limited resources while spending less on expenses which means a higher profit level for the company and the various stakeholders. Even with the negative press for the thermal pads from this video card the company is most likely supplying parts for other companies where those companies have customers that "don't care" OR will never be aware of the cost cutting measures as the products they will end up buying will be doing "good enough" so they will get away with it. I'ts just good business practice tbh and happens everywhere.

[@harktischris]

I haven't been following you all for that long, but you all do some of the most detailed breakdowns and best reviews I've ever seen. This video showing the direct causal link between some inadequate thermal pad coverage and higher memory temps (which most other reviewers didn't even note or call out in their own MSI Evoke OC coverage) is a great example of that. Keep up the great work!

[@NinerowCenter]

because of the good price, i bought a reference 5700 xt. It boosted itself up to 2000mhz and was running hot (Junction temp 110°C). I limited the frequency to 1800mhz and then my card was not even reaching the 90 degrees anymore. I have a nice airflow with bequiet fans and a additional sidepanel fan which let my card run at 60-78°C with 1800mhz. The amd reference cooler is blowing with 2150 RPM at 80°C and 1650 RPM at 55°C. I wouldnt have bought the card if I had not seen the GamersNexus videos. Thank u steve for helping me to decide. Now the Card is in good hands and part of the PC Build Family. Sounds a bit crazy, but since im giving to my PC Components Names, i called the 5700XT Steve. Compared to all my favourite PC Builder Channels, you make the best 5700xt Reviews.

[@zivkeren1226]

One engineer at least is going to sleep tonight with satisfied smile on his face.

[@kingofnfsfan]

A taped together shroud, half contacting thermal pads, no bios switch... the MSI AMD lineup sucks this year. And they did so well on the RX480 Gaming X a few years ago.

[@syncmonism]

They will probably release many different models of RX 5700 XT and 5700, and hopefully soon they will replace or update this model. They no doubt have a cheaper version on the way, and I wouldn't be completely surprised if one or more of their cheaper versions actually perform better, at least in terms of thermals (they just probably won't look as nice).

[@xWood4000]

I really hope the MECH OC doesn't have the same problem but I wouldn't be surprised if it's disappointing.

[@Artcore103]

Steve the coldplate is big enough to cool the entire memory module. I'm surprised you didn't catch that, but notice the pad is on the FURTHEST part of the memory from the center, which means the other half is not beyond the plate, but further inward. They literally just put half sized thermal pads on for no reason, the area is there to cool the whole thing. This would be an easy mod. And even if a module did stick past the cold plate, it would still be beneficial to put a pad on the whole thing when only half of the pad touches the cold late. the pad itself will allow for some increased heat transfer horizontally from the module.

[@n3m37h]

There would be no need for re tooling. The outer most edge (furthest from the die) of the memory is making the contact, it would of just covered MSI's serial number on the heatsink. Weird reason to only use half a thermal pad

[@BFl0]

Quality control with MSI seems to have gone south lately. What a shame because I have been a fan of MSI products for a long time. Against my better judgement, I went ahead and bought this card knowing what I was probably getting into; mainly because I got it for $360 after rebates. I like techie projects so I had every intention of tearing the card apart even before installing it. Yep Steve, they only made ONE tweak to this card since you reviewed it; they removed the tape and instead put two small foam/rubber spacers between the cover on that small area that you pointed out instead. The thermal pads are the same crap offset job as you have reviewed here too; and in fact, they completely missed a memory module with no thermal pad at all! I carefully removed all of the thermal pads and applied my own new ones with complete coverage for each module. I removed their soupy thermal paste and applied a better paste and spun the card up on a Ryzen 9 3900x 12-core. It posted a 15,265 PassMark score (ver. 10) with the latest Adrenaline drivers as of this posting. Decent but nothing to go crazy over. It'll be fine for my specific needs and should last quite a while. If I've learned one thing here it's that I may never buy another GPU without first taking it apart and inspecting the factory thermal job. Thanks for doing this review.

[@Fas7Blas7]

When we can get a breakdown review for the powercolor red devil? Im excited 😌

[@spacedoutcowboy5211]

"Friendship ended with Ifixit I am my new best friend"

[@yukiphoenixx]

I would like to see the judgement of MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming X (spoil alert : half sized thermal pad, too)

[@Gunnberg85]

Thumbs up to GN for another awesome in-depth teardown. Thumbs down for bad MSI practices. For shame, MSI.

[@haomingwu5744]

You are completely correct, MSI does this. My R9 390x died 4 month after the warranty expired, so I decided to open it up. ALL the thermal pads were like that, not even 50% (more like 30%). I see burn marks on those components and the card is pretty much SOL, tons of artifacts and green spots in 3D rendering. I replaced all the thermal pads myself and ended up with another 3-4 month of use before it completely just artifacts way too much to bare, probably one of the memory chips going bad from the heat. Note worth taking that the thermal paste on the gpu was half as well, the other half was on the PCB board...this is probably a QC problem but many users of 390x from MSI has complained about bad thermals. I was able to get the card under 80c on full load vs 95c brand new by just redoing what should be done in the first place. Everything is also hidden behind that warranty void sticker which stops people from fixing their shit. I'd stay away from MSI with this shady practice, either they are saving a dollar per card or this is some planned obsolescence or both.

[@bigchaw69]

This dude makes some crazy high quality content like who in the hell else tests power supplies with equipment like this guy does

[@harmzegt8066]

I guess the double sided tape is to prevent vibration and vibration noise of that bracket.

[@tin2001]

I'd say so. Probably an issue they discovered after production started. Really nothing wrong with it since 99.9999% of people aren't going to ever open it.

[@KooYu]

Since we realized the plate isn't the issue, if possible I would like to see a cooler transplant and/or a thermal pad change, to see if it makes any diference comparing to the Sapphire one.

[@laszlokorodi7355]

I soo want to see an official reply from MSI, apologising and fixing these issues.Of course, fixing it for free for those already bought this card.

[@laszlokorodi7355]

@Bartosz Bartek just send it back, get a refund, buy the Sapphire. The best way the companies understand is the way the money goes. You make a bad product, less buyers will take it.

[@EvilTurkeySlices]

The warranty void if removed sticker isn’t illegal, it’s just illegal to enforce. I actually like those as it gives you a good idea if the card has been opened or not. They should maybe replace the text with something along the lines of “card has been opened if seal is broken”

[@InssiAjaton]

I suspect the reason for the double sided tape might be to eliminate vibration noise. A cantilevered part of sheet metals vibrating with the fans would almost certainly cause rattling in some unfortunate units.

[@JaytheJaskonian]

A client I'm building for picked this card up because it was the cheapest 5700xt on Newegg. It'll be delivered later this month. I hope it's not bad enough that they have to return it and get a different model, or pay more for the sapphire model.

[@viperbite18]

Scratch the "aluminum" its probably nickel plated copper. Especially if its soldered to the heat pipes as you said.

[@somebody22222]

12:40 you have that backward. the base plate for the memory is big enough to cover the whole memory chip. if it wasn't, the other half of the memory closer to the gpu would be covered. but you can see the half side that is away from the gpu is covered by thermal pad. so the fault is during assembly.

[@dra6o0n]

"Warranty void if removed" most likely are stickers placed on them when manufactured outside of USA, where it is 'not illegal' to have. No one bothered to remove them for sale in USA. So to see this changed is to get laws passed in Asia (where mass production happens) regarding 'warranty' but good luck with that.

[@zorvalth6]

@Gamers Nexus , you are mistaken about the half pads, they didnt need to make a bigger plate, the non-covered part of the mem is on the inner side where there is a plate over it, they just needed a bigger pads, but i dont think this is the problem. It could be the closed backplate over the core part, and also could be if MSI is using bigger voltage for the same clock speeds. You can test this.

[@johnknouse6984]

Steve: a) Love the hair. Remember when I used to have hair that long. Now only part of it could...the rest left me lol. b) Love the videos, man. You're not all Boxxy-like doing goofy crap all the time. You get down to the nitty-gritty and point out the logic (or lack thereof) in your reviews and comments. c) I wouldn't normally pay so much for a 10-piece tool kit...but if you say it's high quality, I'm believing it. Just ordered a toolkit...both because watching your videos is refreshing (education and knowledge is so underrated nowadays) and because well...i need a good kit for working on all my rigs that I can carry it one pack...rather than having to try to keep track of 3-4 different kits. Love the channel. Stay real and keep the good, sensible info coming.

[@ProjectRebootUK]

This makes me concerned about the MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT Mech...which I am considering buying, but now I have seen this, I'm not so sure. Will it fall to the same errors ?

[@qlum]

I think the solution sapphire solution is not for thermal isolation but rather for easier manufacturer. They don't have to redesign the main cooler for different cards but only the cooling for the memory / and vrm cooling portion. As well as not having to make the main cooler more complicated just to cool other parts. The vrm / memory cooling on the sapphire one looks actually pretty cheap to make and it also reinforces the pcb.

[@XFourty7]

If it fits, Steve sits. I think the transplant comparison would be very interesting, but agree it might not be worth the time. Take it easy guys.

[@zys52712]

Since the half thermal pad is on the far side of the memory chip, doesn't that mean the plate already covers the whole memory chip and they just need to put larger ones on there?

[@muzallisam5068]

Most probably the thermal pads were installed in the wrong orientation.

[@catalystguitarguy]

so replace the thermal pads with a minus8 pad or something. that's disappointing cost cutting.

[@saminavy7124]

Just how much money does it really save... It's ridiculous by MSi I can't say for sure but I don't see them doing this to Nvidia

[@pokeguy742]

@@saminavy7124 Nvidia is the only GPU manufacturer in the topmost performance bracket, so cards in that price bracket have more effort behind them. AMD's been content to stay in the low and mid tier performance segment, so manufacturers won't put as much effort behind these cards. Asus is the only one to even have a fully custom pcb for the 5700xt, and that's (afaik) only on the Strix model, and I theorize the only reason they even did that was because they were obligated because the Strix lineup is at or near the top of their product stack. Most AIBs aren't gonna do anything besides use the reference design with a custom cooler, because the 5700xt is a midrange product from AMD. There's nothing to it besides value proposition, and value-oriented products will get more cost-saving measures so the companies producing them get a better profit margin than they would get if they put actual effort into the product. It's unfortunate for everyone, but that's just how it is.

[@RustedCroaker]

​@@pokeguy742 That's why Sapphire or PowerColor cards are so good, they don't make Nvidia cards! So avoid any other brand if you want good AMD GPU.

[@HowDareYouu]

You DON'T need to extend the plate!. The area that needs more padding it's inside (closer to the center of the gpu). You can just add a bigger thermopad

[@0FFICERPROBLEM]

I'm so appreciative Gamers Nexus produces this type of in depth, honest content. Seriously an important player in the YT tech channel space.

[@JosueRodriguez1225]

I dislike how you always just toss or slam down carelessly items you are reviewing. Just my opinion. Love your channel.

[@gfg_horseman7159]

To me it looks like there is no excuse for the small thermal pads @Gamers Nexus It looks like the pads could extend toward the GPU with no issue, as they are placed on the far side of the memory modules to begin with, so putting larger pads on would end up creating greater surface area contacting the cold plate....... idk how you didn't notice this in the review. It might be worth replacing those thermal pads and retesting the cards thermals to compare what an actual full coverage thermal pad would do for mem temps. Keep up the good work! Love the content, and I can let an oversight slip every now and then.

[@fergus247]

The warranty void sticker was a red flag. They obviously didnt want people take off the cooler and see the tiny thermal pads?

[@mikka1986]

The plate is actually big enough to cover the whole chip, adjust the pad to the middle of the chip might work.

[@Jedex96]

Edit: someone already noticed in the comments. 16:45 Isn't the baseplate already big enough? The thermal pad was in the furthest position on the memory module and the baseplate has the marking of the thermal pad well within it. Thus the thermal pad size is the problem not the baseplate, or am I missing something?

[@Jedex96]

@Hazard The thermal pad is certainly too small to cover the memory chip properly. About the reason why they made it this way, I can only guess it was a mistake in the early production.

[@GeorgeNoiseless]

3:04 "MSI should feel bad" -- perfect summary right there. Pinching pennies on a product that expensive, yikes. Thank you Steve & GN team for exposing this.

[@HisNameIsRobertPaulson01]

The Gamers Nexus store has an awesome picture of Snowflake checking out one of the tools. Make sure to check that out when browsing through the store. That's worth it in of itself.

[@jasongooden917]

i would love for you to test the sapphire cooler on the msi pcb

[@BRUXXUS]

Me too!

[@Neggy-Z]

I hope we this, also maybe replace the thermal pads on the MSI cooler to see if that helps with temps.

[@lhl2500]

I really want Noctua to make a GPU cooler for reference boards. Sure, you'll lose the warranty, but I have very litle trust in these board suppliers ability to manufacture a proper cooling solution.

[@Rippthrough]

It also looks like there's nowhere near enough compression on those thermal pads for them to make decent contact and heat transfer anyway - they're barely distorted from their base shape.

[@wyattroncin941]

Wait a minute, those pads are short for no fucking reason. If the plate was too short the pads would be near the middle. You can see the pad marks on the plate, if they put a full pad on those it would be just fine.

[@STSummit]

MSI has never cared about VRAM cooling. They completely neglected a chip on my R9 270x which caused the card to freeze up and require a reboot to make my PC functional again. I had to run my fans above 70% to prevent the chip from overheating.

[@HayBayle]

I guess they were banking on the GPU selling on the looks over performance. "Bigger thermal pads? Nah, it's GOLD dude."

[@Xoron]

The cold plate is actually big enough since a full heat pad would extend towards the center.

[@UrokLizard]

It looks like the memory thermal pads are smaller because the rest of the area is considered a "don't put stuff here" zone, like with those dummy devices put over a CPU socket to make sure there are no SMD's that are physically contacting the "dont put stuff here" area. Not sure what the device is called, could've sworn I saw it featured on this channel a month or three back. The thermal pad aligns with a white line on the PCB, so that's my suspicion with that "defect"

[@3800S1]

It would be great if more companies offered bare PCBs for us people that bin the stock cooler straight away and throw a water block on it.

[@jt1734jr]

One vote for swapping the coolers

[@QantonisQ]

It would be a cool video to replace the thermal pads with proper ones and test again to see the difference in temperatures. Who else agrees?

[@lukaround1]

Sapphire is amazing and probably the best purchase I've made in the past few years, reliable as fuck and don't even bother OCing. They already crank it for you

[@georgf9279]

I think it's probably rare that the cooler is interchangabe between two different AIB brands. So you should definitely take that chance to do a 1:1 cooler comparison with the same board running the same bios and all that. It's not really indicative of what the consumer can buy but still interesting.

[@dnakatomiuk]

Can't believe it's got no copper base or at least heatpipes, I had a 7850 2gb from his but I've had plenty of sapphire cards in the past and I've just cheaply upgraded to a 7950 3gb for like £20 and that is also a sapphire card and it's brilliant

[@waffle911]

The plate completely covers the RAM chips on the edge; that's why the pad is at the premise edge of the chip. There's no reason they can't use a full-size pad.

[@ale-lp]

Please swap the coolers and compare! It would also be great to see if bigger thermal pads would fix the problem altogether...

[@bootyholeman5659]

It seems logical, however rather than assuming the half pads on the mem is the cause of the poor thermals, put some full pads on and compare the results.

[@lacucaracha111111]

What you MAY be able to go with sapphires solution, is mounting a morpheus 2 to it while properly cooling memory and VRM

[@Jtw0912]

As far as i know the "warranty void if removed" stickers aren't in themselves illegal, they just can't enforce it. But yeah, when manufacturers do that it does still leave a bad taste in my mouth.

[@TheNiteNinja19]

The half thermal pads are on the wrong side of the chip, they never made contact with the heatsink, because the lip of the heatsink is closer to the core coldplate, and the pads are further away.

[@lordofnothing.]

Hey GN, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you look at the memory thermal pad position and then at the mark it left on the cooler. THEY ACTUALLY JUST PUT TOO SMALL PADS ONTO IT. the cooler is big enough. the tooling was right. they JUST were saving on thermal pad size! crazy!

[@capacitiveguitarresistance]

Look how thick those thermal pads are. I would redo the whole thing with direct contact via thermal past and aluminum.

[@prpredatorz310]

Fun, would be a good experiment to put the proper size thermal pads on and run a few tests to see if thermals get better. Also, is it possible this was just on your model and more an oversite during build or design choice? Maybe some worker didn't want to get more pads, it was the end of the day and he was tired and just used what he had left some odds and ends and thought, "nobody will notice"

[@MikaelKKarlsson]

Don't delay, get your GN toolkit today. 🤣

[@b0om2k]

Suffice to say, I'm feeling pretty happy that I bought the Sapphire Pulse right now. For a product with "premium" aesthetics, MSI should have taken more care to ensure better build quality.

[@ehohackner]

the size of the aluminum plate that touches the memory isn't the problem. just the half sized thermal pad, which can be easiliy replaced, at least...

[@Wolf_1775]

I didn't know that those stickers were illegal... Now I've got some research to do. Video liked just for that.

[@user-pb2uo4gn6y]

Can I, in theory, change thermal pads myself? And you didn't mention their thickness. If you can add it in the description - would be great!

[@kemalnottaturk2500]

MSI and Sapphire clearly got the board design from the same place. The fuses and BIOS switch seem to be the only obvious difference. Is this an alternate AMD reference design? I have the Pulse. Plenty good enough.

[@redrock425]

Shows the value of reviews. I saw multiple very good reviews of the Red Devil and ordered one. No real downsides to them, a bit cheaper would be nice but all GPUs seem expensive atm.

[@theboldfuture2341]

I don't get why MSI didn't just extend the length of the thermal pad? they've put the half that does contact further away from the GPU die, not closer - so the idea that it was tooling on the heatsink doesn't really add up? looks to me like if they just used a full size pad, it would contact across the cooling block...

[@bundesautobahn7]

Warranty stickers are also illegal in the EU.

[@jasonmcgrody9472]

I love the reaction shots on these teardowns where we are seeing the good/bad as Steve sees them. Great stuff!!

[@andreibolohan686]

Could you test the 3 Fan Red Devil from PowerColor?

[@secondsystems3479]

Replace those pads with proper coverage on the modules and do a comparison on temps. Would really wanna see the results. Cheers Steve!

[@2EOGIY]

it looks like a QC issue. It is a single pad cut in half because one was missing.

[@BRUXXUS]

Those are some thick thermal pads on the memory, too! I can't imagine that helps with conduction that well.

[@DeadNoob451]

Maybe theres an issue with mounting pressure if they used thinner therm pads. Still seems like a hackjob overall though.

[@BRUXXUS]

@@DeadNoob451 Yeah, that cold plate was clearly not designed for this card layout.... 😐

[@carwynvan]

It's such a shame that MSI cheaped out on the thermal designs because the aesthetic design is really nice on it! Really minimalist and not in your face.