Asus Strix GeForce GTX 1080 Ti press deck leaked

[HEXUS]

Reveals card will boost up to 1708MHz in OC mode, and 1683MHz in gaming mode.

Read more.

[shaithis]

I think 2x the contact area seems a VERY bold statement....implying that other coolers are making contact in less than 50% on the surface.....really?

[iworrall]

So... the cooler is pre-lapped?

[Raven74]

I think 2x the contact area seems a VERY bold statement....implying that other coolers are making contact in less than 50% on the surface.....really?

I think they ment if the contact for other brands is 98% they have 99% but they used a bad choice of words.

[scaryjim]

I think 2x the contact area seems a VERY bold statement....implying that other coolers are making contact in less than 50% on the surface.....really?

As I understand it most "flat" surfaces actually make far less than 50% true contact. I find it quite reasonable that a high degree of micro-polishing could double the true contact area between two metal plates...

[shaithis]

As I understand it most "flat" surfaces actually make far less than 50% true contact. I find it quite reasonable that a high degree of micro-polishing could double the true contact area between two metal plates...

If that were true, I would have thought (and extreme overclockers seem to bare this out) that lapping the chip would give the greatest gains....not the cooler.

[Andy14]

The speed increase on offer here sounds minimal (over the FE) and almost a small bonus. But if it lives up to that 29db noise (or lack of it) claim at full tilt then that's very useful to me.

[Jowsey]

I thought the whole concept of thermal interface material was to transfer the heat from chip to heatsink and the material fills in this little voids?

Seems a bit like polishing the underside of your car... happy to be proven wrong with data?

[iworrall]

I thought the whole concept of thermal interface material was to transfer the heat from chip to heatsink and the material fills in this little voids?

This is correct, but it's not as good as direct surface-to-surface contact. The more TIM used, the worse the heat transfer.

[meuvoy]

I can't see how improving the "smoothness" of the heatspreader can help reducing temps... Aren't them using thermal Paste?

[bitbucket]

I don't really understand how the benefit would be reaped. In the absence of two surfaces that are absolutely 100% in contact (which would be virtually impossible to manufacture), you'd still need to use some amount of thermal grease to ensure a good bond. Surely the system is only as good as its weakest link (the thermal grease).

Just thinking aloud. I'm no expert in the field, and I'm almost certainly being naïve.

[vitorppub]

I think i know someone who will have a nice birthday present 3rd April

[Spreadie]

If that were true, I would have thought (and extreme overclockers seem to bare this out) that lapping the chip would give the greatest gains....not the cooler.

I think you'll find that they lap the chips (IHS) because it's easier to do at home - a sheet of glass and a few grades of sandpaper. Try doing it with a tower cooler.

[Xlucine]

Thermal paste is meant to get displaced by the asperities¹ under the mounting pressure, so some areas will be direct metal-metal contact and other areas will have a void between the two surfaces. Smoothing the surfaces reduces the size of the asperities, so you get smaller voids and more proper contact between the surfaces. Achieving a mirror finish on a cooler in mass production is more challenging than lapping a surface with sandpaper, due to the cost of machine time - I suspect they're got some fancy carbide insert geometry that enables that finish

¹: Little bumps on the surface of materials

[mtyson]

Asus ROG have published a blog post about this card now:

https://rog.asus.com/articles/gaming-graphics-cards/the-rog-strix-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-takes-pascal-to-the-limit/