As the title states. I've been having a heck of a time with controlling temps on this card recently. Noticed temps soring to 85c in 7days to die. ive never air cooled this card always liquid cooled all my gpus. this is the first time I'm having this issue. when I redone some of the tubing I swapped coolants to XSPC EC6. Before I ran EK cryofuel blood red for years no issues. due to recent events I've swapped coolant brands. this is when I've noticed these temps.  
 
While I had the system apart re-bending tubes I ordered Kingpin Thermal paste. applied it top the gpu and cpu. started having issues. so I pulled the card back out and removed the block found out I didn't apply the paste very well. that stuff is thicker than a snicker. so I went back with my tried and true Arctic silver. same outcome. Hotspot temps i just seen was 109c. I know I correctly applied the paste this go round as I always spread the paste. I know there's mixed views on how to correctly do this. but this has always worked well for me.
 
today I pulled the rads out swapped out my noctua fans back to my lian li as everyone was saying that's the issue since temps would come back down once I pulled the front cover off the case. my cooling loop is the exact lay out in this case as it was when I put my 8600k build in it. 
 
When I changed over to my 12900k with the classified z690 I was using my lian li fans no issues. the 8600k build with this gpu was with my  noctuas no issue.
 
could this be an issue with coolant? as now fans have been proven not to be the case here. 
 
I'm literally stumped. Also what else could factor into high hot spot temps? Thanks in advance
 
Case: Fractal Designs Define s2
 
mobo: Classified Z690
 
Cpu:i9 12900k
 
RAMM: corsair dominator 32 gigs ddr5 6000
 
GPU: Evga 2080ti xc gaming
gpu block: EKWB Vector
 
PSU: Evga Super nova 1300
 
Coolant: XSPC EC6
 
 
 
 
 

Nice specs on your Rig
 
Some info on your radiators would help us understand .....
 
High Hot spot temps:
 
1) Poor contact between block & GPU die
  -->  Not keeping block flat/ level when tightening
--->> Thermal pads that are Too thick or Too hard ... ?
 
Did you clean the blocks ?
 
Is your CPU block directional / plumbed backwards? (You mention replacing tubing, no idea how far you went)
 
General high temps after coolant maintenance:
 
1) trapped air
2) pump cavitation
3) slow coolant flow .... pump speed / condition .... maybe blockage, somewhere in your loop?
 
 

I’ve cleaned the blocks inside and out. As far as I can tell no trapped air. Coolant is opaque sorry left that out. I have had hard tubing in this case since the 8600k build. I just re did some of the tubes I was unhappy how they turned out bend wise. As far as pads I had to order some replacement pads from ek but one of memory serves correct I had to source from some where else. As far as having a blockage shouldn’t be any. But valid point.

might have found the issue. EK no longer produces the thermal pad size i need for my ram chips. they need to be .5mm and the thermal pad of that type is now 1mm to 1.5mm i bet i ordered the 1mm. can some one help me find said thermal pad?

Thermal PAD E 0,5mm - (RAM 8X)

General dimensions: Type E (100 x 16 mm) - precut to 8 pieces
Thickness: 0.5mm
Working Temperature: -55 ~ +200°C
Hardness: 5 (Shore A)
Elongation: 100%
Specific Gravity: 2.6 g/cm3 (+/- 0.2)
Flame Rating: V-0
Dielectric Breakdown Voltage: >4kV
Volume Resistance: > 10^11 Ohm-m
Main ingredient: Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) 85-95%

there are some 0.5mm thermal pads listed - you would need to cut to size, or at least into strips to cover several ram chips
 
https://www.performance-pcs.com/search/?q=EK+thermal
 
EK Thermal PAD F 0.5mm - (120x16mm) (EK-THERMAL-PAD-F-05)
 
EK Thermal PAD G 0.5mm - (120x24mm) (EK-THERMAL-PAD-G-05)
 
and there are other bigger thermal pad sizes ..... (avoid the conductive one)
 
did not even look for other brands of thermal pads, that PPCs might also sell

Well now I feel dumb. Lol thanks for the help.

Found all the packages I used from ek for the thermal pads. All is correct sizes or at least thickness. Still going to replace the pads once I get the new ones in. While playing cyber punk earlier temps spiked to 80c. Took a break and came back. Ram no oc on memory just upped power target and temp limit. Temps started to rise again. Pulled front cover and everything stabilized. Just shut cyberpunk down after a good session with temps and hot spot never rising above 70c. And gpu temp with in +/- 10c from hot spot. Running furmark now and gpu leveled off at 50c with hotspot 67c.

Cpu never gets above 60c. With cover on I see cpu rise to just under 70c. Now cpu and gpu are 2 degrees difference of each other. This is why I’m stumped and leaning towards a coolant issue at this point. Cpu block is oriented for correct flow path. Next step shortly is reinstall front cover and restart furmark.

I am 12 minutes into furmark run where as last night 9 minutes in with cover installed hotspot spiked and gpu temps reaching 80c+.

Rad info is as follows EK cool stream SE 360 slim x2 I’ll get a picture of the system and hw info window and post them. In all my years dealing with liquid cooling this is honestly the first time I’m stumped with diagnosing heat issues

first is hwinfo with msi afterburner https://imgur.com/tg6Nz6N
 
second is image of system layout https://imgur.com/a/TnhrNLM
 
i cant seem to get actual pictures to upload here but hopefully this helps

running furmark with front cover reinstalled and im seeing hotspot rising. front panel filters are freshly cleaned made sure of that yesterday. while furmark was running pulled panel off instantly dropped 2c and continued. that in itsself points to airflow issues. but again same exact layout as the last build in this case. now you see why im so baffled

See this thread to post photo from host site  PSA adding a photo to your Post - EVGA made some changes - Post Directions below
 
you can use "Copy Image Link" (by rt clicking) on your Imgur photo
 
https://i.imgur.com/HDTP5Y4.jpeg

https://imgur.com/tg6Nz6N