AliExpress GPU Backplate Coolers Tested, Mostly Useless

der8auer He examined two very uncommon cooling options from Aliexpress, geared toward reducing the floor temperature on the backplate of the Finest Graphics Playing cards. Nonetheless, after testing it with a Gigabyte RX 6900 XT, it discovered that each coolers fell quick in efficiency and didn’t present any tangible enchancment in graphics card temperatures.

Backplate cooling is nothing new, however the cooling units Der8auer demonstrated are very uncommon, very giant and hulking units with lively cooling. That is extremely overkill for many graphics playing cards, because the backplate would not (normally) include any high-voltage elements that might require highly effective heatsinks. The one exception could be the RTX 3090 (non-Ti), which has half of the GDDR6X reminiscence ICs on the again of the board. However even on this case, passive cooling from the backplate is normally ok if you happen to’re not into reminiscence overclocking.

The primary cooling unit Der8auer examined was made solely of copper, consisting of two followers housed in a copper heatsink consisting of 5 giant copper sheets stacked on prime of one another. The set up mechanism included zippers and tape to “securely” mount the cooling machine to the GPU backplate.

The following machine is much more weird, with a really uncommon L-shaped design that includes three very lengthy warmth pipes linked to a distribution plate at one finish and a heatsink on the different. Der8auer stories that directions aren’t included with this mannequin, however the machine apparently makes use of the identical zippered mounting mechanism because the outdated machine, because the machine lacks any screw holes or any subtle cooling mounting.

Throughout testing, Der8auer discovered that neither cooling resolution lived as much as expectations, with solely a Gigabyte RX 6900 XT reducing backplate temperatures by 5C and 8C respectively. Worse nonetheless, each options didn’t decrease GPU temperatures in any respect and didn’t present any tangible profit to GPU life or efficiency.