YouTuber DandyWorks has tried to fix the problem regarding the temperature of the GDDR6X memory, most common with the NVIDIA RTX 30 series. We know that the GDDR6X memory can easily function normally with all the specs at high temperatures (above 100 °C). However, the cooling capacity of the graphics card cooler is certainly not up to the mark.
The Youtuber DandyWorks replaced the thermal pads that originally came with the ASUS RTX 3070 Ti TUF graphic cards and used custom copper shims instead. One important factor to be kept in mind is that, unlike thermal compounds, copper is highly conductive. Proper insulation must be used due to this factor. Moreover, copper shims are quite expensive as compared to thermal pads, but are still relatively economical (~13 USD on Amazon).
Dandyworks also gave some suggestions on the copper shim sizes. He recommended that if the graphics card shares the cold plate with GPU and memory, then 0.2 mm thinner shims should be used. If the cold plate is not shared, the shims can be equal in thickness as the original pads. Being made of copper, they can easily be ground down to the required height.
We must consider that this type of modification, especially with such an abundance of thermal compounds, can invalidate the warranty. However, this also depends on the graphics card manufacturer and the warranty rules in the area.
The use of such an amount of thermal paste under the copper shims is still arguable, but it is a very interesting fact that this quite simple mod reduced the temperature from 110°C to 64°C under load. The Youtuber utilized crypto mining software to test the temperature during longer use.
Another important fact is that this will not be comparable to a typical GPU use. Dandy’s graphics card has lowered GPU clock and improved memory speed. According to him, the fans were set to 100% speed (3000 RPM) which is normally unacceptable for normal ears.
Via VideoCardz