Any Gains from Periodically reapplying TIM?

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bebop460

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I think I did a pretty good job applying TIM to my cpu/xigmatek heatsink when I built the PC about 2 years ago.

I'm planning on overclocking this week (Metro 2033 has me sufficiently pissed off; 35 fps!? FFS).

Wondering if I can get better temps if I reapply TIM periodically, or am I good to go?
 
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If you used a good TIM, one that doesn't dry out (almost all aftermarket thermal paste are good),and you're confident that it's spread evenly then you're fine.

Unless you see a large temperature difference across cores/parts of the CPU, or a difference in temperature between today and the first time you put the heat sink and paste on then there's really no reason for you to reapply it.
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vertical777

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If you used a good TIM, one that doesn't dry out (almost all aftermarket thermal paste are good),and you're confident that it's spread evenly then you're fine.

Unless you see a large temperature difference across cores/parts of the CPU, or a difference in temperature between today and the first time you put the heat sink and paste on then there's really no reason for you to reapply it.
 
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bebop460

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Maybe there's been a small bump in temp but it's hard to say. I only recently downloaded Realtemp and realized that my fan controllers temp readings are way, waaay off.



Thanks for that info. Yeah, I'm definitely going to OC the beejesus out of the GPU as the temps for it are pretty good.
 
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Novuake

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Well it can not do harm, so do it. LOL

And ofcourse factory application of TIM sucks!
 
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bebop460

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Thanks for reminding me of that. Not sure if that will void my warranty though.

EVGA has a killer warranty. It was one of the main reasons I bought this GPU, as the GTX 580 was the last of theirs that has a lifetime warranty.

I'd definitely welcome another interpretation of their warranty, but as long as I don't damage the precious product sticker (I wonder if the sticker gets damaged when removing the GPU heatsink?), it sounds like they don't care what I do with it (https://www.evga.com/support/warranty/).
 
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Novuake

Novuake

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Nope, with EVGA it will not void the warranty it seems.
 
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JJ1217

JJ1217

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EVGA do not mind taking off the heatsink, as long as you return it in the way it was given to you. Also, unless you are really semi-retarded and scratch up everything while changing thermal paste, no vendor can tell you took off the heatsink. Just like overclocking (Once again, as long you are not a semi-retard).
 
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bebop460

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JJ1217: Thanks to Tom's forums, I went from a PC retard to quite passable at least. Why do you hate Seasonic? I'm just curious. I've never heard of anyone hating them.

Thanks for the info everyone, I appreciate it.

I think what I'll do is continue to record stock temps at 100% load, and see what kind of headroom I have. I'd like to get to 4.5 ghz and a massive clock increase on the GPU without sacrificing memory timings and frequency.

I probably won't reapply TIM to the CPU heatsink, but will likely wind up reapplying it to the GPU, or maybe getting an aftermarket cooler (Zalman is the only one I've seen for a 580) and some new case/CPU 'sink fans, depending on what the temps are like.
 
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