On this card there is also a small strip of aluminium on the back of the PCB right below where the VRMs are located, there is a pathetic amount of thermal material that comes in contact with the backplate to aide in removal of heatsoak from the back of the PCB, I cleaned all of that crap off and applied some nice fresh Artic MX4 on the strip and also the GPU.
Since re-applying thermal paste on that aluminium strip the backplate is actually very hot now so it is good to know that it is helping remove heat away from the PCB.
After doing all of this I reduced my idle temperatures by about 4 degrees and underload about 3 degrees (also very warm ambient today).
Not important at all but I also like the orientation of the GPU, not sure if this has any electrical engineering advantages or just a quirk from AMD
All rebuilt and clean
The vast majority of the points I've achieved is done with just that card, she has done some work. She deserves a little care