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Nvidia GPU partners reportedly cheap out on thermal paste, causing 100C hotspot temperatures — cheap paste allegedly degrades in a few months (www.tomshardware.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 65 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

Enshittify my thermal paste to save 10 cents on a $500 graphics card why don't you.

Why not leave off a few resistors or use leaky caps while you're at it.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 months ago

Not that it makes it ok, but I'd bet a large amount of money the single biggest reason for this happening now is how much Nvidia has been squeezing their board partners. It's why we lost EVGA.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Supplied on rolls, Bergquist SIL PAD®materials are also applicable to a fully automated pick-and-place process

The answer is money, but it’s not material cost that’s driving these crappy thermal interface pads, but labor expenses (and I’d guess consistency too). Pick-and-place is absurdly fast at putting components onto a PCB, and if they can put the pre-cut pads onto the board that’s huge for a manufacturer.

It’s the difference between slapping a post-it note, or the dot/line/X/cross/etc method with grease. No contest that TIM pads win for them, any fallouts get handled via warranty.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I assume they got a CEO from a car company.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

At least it wasn't a Boeing executive.

You'd run a benchmark test on your computer and die.