If you want to do an apples to apples comparison use the same drivers as you used before but use the DDU driver reinstall method before reinstalling the old drivers. If you will need to take the gpu off the waterblock and make sure everything is making proper contact, you have no choice really.
 
The best place to get DDU is https://www.wagnardsoft.com/display-driver-uninstaller-ddu-
Make sure you use DDU's method for rebooting into safe mode and deleting current installed drivers
 
Make sure you go into setting first to enable rebooting into safer mode, creating a restore point and to NOT delete c:\Nvidia as that way you can go back to your old drivers without having to redownload them. If you deleted the install files for your old drivers download them first.
 
please take note of what I wrote above and watch this video after to see how DDU works
https://youtu.be/FPqUeU09cf8

109c on the hotspot isn’t right. Do another repaste.

Make sure you OC software is not running - turn it off & uncheck any box that starts the OC software on reboot - before you update your Nvidia driver
 
RE: "new pads" &"new graphene? strip in place of goop"
 
I've read reviews but never used a pad on a GPU.  What specific product did you use?
 
What pads did you use?  If they are the wrong thickness or hardness you can have issues with proper contact between components & cooler
 
 

XiloTheOdd
where is the hotspot sensor on the board? is it on the GPU core itself? why would the rest of it only reach 60C but the hotspot 109c? if you dont have an image a description of the location would suffice. like its by the transistors for power distribution etc.

Yes, the hotspot is on the gpu die. Only reason I could think of the hotspot being that high would be a bad thermal paste job, or the die has degraded. I’m actually going though a hotspot battle of my own with my 4090.

well i had this kind of result with paste so it is why i decided to try something else. but that said, i've had this temp before and had twice the performance. its not that it sits at 109c for more than a second, thats just where it'll spike to.
 
if its in the GPU die itself then im guessing it'd be dead center. but ill worry about that after i figure out why im only seeing 70% power draw. thats the anomaly here. odds are if it is a piece of hardware like a transistor i bumped at fault then i'll be opening it anyway. i just want to run through everything else it could be before getting to that again. i'll have time on the weekend to crack it back open and rethermal everything.

so a few things i've learned talking with EVGA support.
 
the hotspot temp, its in the memory somewhere, not the GPU processor. so the thermal pads you use for those aren't making good contact
 
and my power draw issue can quite possibly be a loose or removed component which i suspected from the beginning. i'll know more this thursday after work and will post my findings here once i confirm it. since most people have a history of asking a question, solving it, then not being anywhere to be found, then 3 years later people show up wondering.
 
i dont got links to the 14500 score but it is the average score for the same exact GPU model. as for the 7100 its consistent. all clock speeds are normal, temps (aside from mem temp being a bit high) are well within operational parameters, power draw is the only outlier sitting at 70-80% draw under load. not much else the score tells us otherwise other than there is a problem.

Gpu hotspot and vram memory temps are not the same thing.

Sajin
Gpu hotspot and vram memory temps are not the same thing.

one HWM was referencing one metric as hotspot, precision 1X was referencing an identical temperature as the GPU memory temp. i'd assume an EVGA software knows more than a non-EVGA software in that regard.
 
anyway. i've re padded the memory, used a video reference to see where most people put pads on their 2080ti cards. good contact everywhere, i'm still getting high temps. i'm not even sure anymore of what could be causing this, if the cooler was bad, the GPU would heat up as well as the memory, but the GPU stays fine while the Memory gets hot as hell, at least according to my cards metrics. i have seen a constant power draw closer to 90% at least, but without even touching it its back down to limiting closer to 70% because either temperature on the memory or some other problem.
 
i guess the important question here at this point as part of diagnosis, at what temperature for the MEMORY does the card throttle power draw? where is the sensor for the memory temp on the board?

so this post will be the marked answer in case anyone comes looking. the issue was indeed the memory temp on the card hitting a hard limit of 109C. i did a little "tweak" to intentionally make it get hotter to test this theory, and when it hit 109C the bench throttled it down to 70% power draw. with my recent bench test, it peaked at 107c and i was able to achieve a 130% power draw for the bench and regain the old score of 14200.
 
as for improving this temp any further, its probably not possible with this stock cooler anymore, either its warped from age, working on the card and cleaning it, or something else i cant think of. so this card may make it another year, hopefully for the new gen to drop so i can nab one of those. lol.
 
and incase anyone was wondering about what i was talking about using instead of paste for the GPU core it is this: Thermal Grizzly - Carbonaut (urls are not allowed so, search it up on amazon if your curious.)
 
before all this, my GPU would hit the low 80-82C range, due to the paste blobbing off to the side and very little being left on the processor itself. this sheet, stays in one piece and the only tough part is making sure it doesnt move when you secure the cooler to the card. i've managed to shave about 9C off that temp under load for the processor. so its really effective as the videos i've seen pushing it pointed out. to be fair thats goin from bad contact paste to this so, results may vary there.
 
anyway thank you all for lending me some brains on this. since EVGA isn't in the market for making cards anymore i've been trying to make this one last and keep up with newer generations.
 
edit: apparently i can't mark my own post as an answer...
 
^^^this is the ANSWER^^^
 
for lack of a way to do it. unless a moderator can override.

ty_ger07
I think paste on the core would cool the core better (in fact, short-term, I am sure without a doubt), and improve your contact issue with the memory thermal pads.  If you want to use a thermal pad on the core, I would suggest increasing the thermal pad thickness on the memory one size thicker from whatever you used in order to compensate.  Since you refuse to paste the core, you will need to adjust as necessary.  I guarantee you that your answer is NOT 'there is nothing I can do'.

again i've pasted the core, with 2 different kinds of paste and the result is the same, my temps are higher because over time of it heating and cooling down it liquefies and boils over to the edge, leaving nothing more than a smudge on the contact area for the processor. this carbon pad has shown the better results in that regard. not sure why your not trusting of that. i'm looking at better numbers for the processor than i've ever looked at since before i started this for that portion of it.
 
as for the memory, how thick we talkin for pads? i'm using 2mm which is what this cooler came with, got it all tightened down and only getting marginally better numbers. thankfully enough to have solved the issue of why power was being throttled. should i be stuffing it till it barely screws together? should i buy 3-4 different sizes of pad to figure out which one is thick enough? that makes no sense unless components of the GPU are shrinking with age, the old pads i could understand maybe losing contact over time, but they only lost contact after the 2nd time i pulled this GPU apart and then it was being difficult about getting proper contact again. so barring getting super fancy with some high precision calipers i dont have, these 2mm pads are making full contact, the only way they could make more contact is if i could wrap the whole memory chip in em. or have a cooler with a completely different design to make more direct contact with the memory than to put a metal plate in between the cooler and the PCB for memory and power delivery components. which, if i had a water block for the right model, would be the case. sadly i do not.
 
so the answer is, there is nothing i can do, without spending an inordinate amount of cash for a chance to get things to drop 10C at the most because products for 2080ti are no longer in production. anything i find will be second hand or "refurbished" like the incorrect block i got that has clear signs of usage. its not worth the money to risk getting dead components to RMA back till i find one that is good. so, i'm working with what i got. this is probably the best it'll get. the 50XX series is right around the corner. i'll grab one of those with a waterblock already to go on it asap and that'll be the end of this 2080ti and it'll be a backup if something happens.

Xilo, pastes don't "boil over".  You have a lot of great advice here in the thread, but as long as you're happy.