Infrared Temperature Measurement
In order to obtain a more detailed understanding of exactly how our modifications affect performance, we measured temperature changes through an infrared camera. Up until now, we were only measuring the GPU's thermal situation. But a graphics card contains many other components that are sensitive to overheating, and may critically influence performance.
At idle, low clock rates and voltages yield a nice, cool board. Temperatures across the PCB are virtually undetectable by the thermal camera. Only the VRMs register a bit of warmth.
If we put the card into a case with minimal airflow, the passive cooler does its best to keep Nvidia's GP107 cool. Even next to MSI's stock configuration, it fares well enough, too. The card glows orange in our infrared image, but these temperatures are typical of any graphics card cranking through a game like Metro: Last Light.
It's only when the card is installed into a completely passive PC and allowed to run for an hour that it saturates from edge to edge with heat. In spite of the thermal challenges this environment presents, the memory still runs cool enough to prevent any heat-related damage.
We have to conclude that this passive cooling mod is quite successful from a purely thermal standpoint, even if we had to battle a little bit with its placement.
