As long as I had my XFX 6800xt, I had some temperature problems. The GPU temperature went up to 80°C and the hot spot temperature usually stood at 105°C, but occasionally went up to 110°C. So the fans were screaming as if they were being slaughtered.
So I removed the shroud, replaced the 90mm fans with 120mm fans, which I had lying around in my “tech box” and which are now hanging on the heatsink through zip-ties. And a 100x100 3mm thick thermal pad between the backplate and the back of the board.
Result: Furmark (as an extreme example) just manages to bring the respective temperatures to 57°C GPU temperature or 75°C hot spot temperature.
I would never have thought that an investment of €8 could make such a difference
i put pads at the back of my 6800 XT, initially it helps but after gaming for a while, the backplate gets heatsoaked and it goes back to the same terminal temperatures as before the pads, albeit just a slower climb to reach there.
so no, your “€8 investment” didnt do the heavy lifting, it was the deshrouding with the giant fans that did.