This suggests that the contact between the chip and the cooler is poor; for example, because the thermal paste has dried or is distributed unevenly. If the delta is as high as 30 degrees Celsius or more, the card will already be significantly overclocking to avoid damage (thermal throttling).
When performing PC maintenance, pay special attention to your graphics card. After all, with proper GPU care, you can specifically avoid performance losses.
Dell
The first step of maintenance is cleaning: to do this, first turn off the PC, press the power button and disconnect the power cable. Open the case and blow out the cooling fins with compressed air. Important: Be sure to hold the fan blades in place with your finger or a piece of tape.
If fans spin uncontrollably due to compressed air, they can act like a dynamo and send electrical voltages back to the motherboard or destroy their own bearings. If simple cleaning isn’t enough, it’s time to replace the thermal paste.
Note: Regluing a GPU could void the warranty for certain models and manufacturers. See your documentation for more details.
Conventional thermal paste is an option, but some users prefer phase change material (PCM), such as the PTM7950 thermal pad. The name derives from the material’s physical property of being solid at room temperature (in the form of a pillow) but liquefying at temperatures of around 45 to 55 degrees Celsius.
Expert Tip for GPU Maintenance: Phase change materials, like PTM7950, change their physical state depending on temperature, which is ideal.
JOYJOM
This phase change ensures that the material perfectly fills microscopic irregularities when hot, while solidifying again when cooled. This avoids the dreaded “pump-out” effect, whereby traditional thermal pastes are gradually squeezed out of the gap due to thermal expansion of the chip.
