GPU's thermal pads alternatives

[shampoo911]

modding brothers... i am seeking advice...

i already posted here on Tom's Hardware seeking for an answer... still no exact answer... howevera new riddle is invading my brain...

due to lack of tech support from sapphire where i live (venezuela), i opened my GPU for a quick checkout, paste replace and stuff... i noticed the thermal pads...

what are they made of?

is there any other material that i can use to replace them???

 

[Cygnus x-1]

Not really, maybe different thermal pad material. The pads are there to bridge the gap between memory and other hot running chips on the board to the heatsink/fan.

 

[shampoo911]

Not really, maybe different thermal pad material. The pads are there to bridge the gap between memory and other hot running chips on the board to the heatsink/fan.

what if i replace it with a s***load of thermal paste? will it make any difference?

 

[Cygnus x-1]

That's a bad idea the paste would have to be very thick and would likely not make contact and definitely not after a little time goes by. Did you throw the pads away?

 

[nforce4max]

It depends on the size of the gap but on most cards the gap is just to large for paste to work. You must find either new but better thermal pads or use something else instead. You can cut sheet aluminum or copper that is close to the thickness of the gap and then use paste on both sides of the metal shim. Temps will be better than normal pads depending on the quality of the work and the materials used.

 

[shampoo911]

not a chance... i opened it... check/replace the paste and DID NOT touch the pads... i was asking for alternatives...

say... if i replace it with like 2 grams of Artic Silver 5... how's that??

 

[nforce4max]

That won't work no matter how good the compound is as there will be thermal delay and is likely to find it's way underneath the vram.

 

[Cygnus x-1]

The metal alternative would work but I wouldn't want electrically conductive materials on top of a ram chip or VRM.

 

[shampoo911]

That won't work no matter how good the compound is as there will be thermal delay and is likely to find it's way underneath the vram.

my gpu is a sapphire radeon HD6950 2gb... the standard model... the one with the blower fan... it has like 8 thermal pads... i think the gap is not that big... as all pads are quite thick...

the metal solution... it is like placing a coin in a microwave oven... im not sure if that can work...

im not quite understanding the thermalpads function... please explain it to me carefully... sorry if im kinda slow... being a systems engineer and not understanding this i kinda lame haha sorry

 

[Cygnus x-1]

LOL np... If you look at the underside of the heatsink, you'll see lots of different heights that are made to make contact with various warm or hot running chips on the gpu board. The distance between the heatsink and the chips is where the thermal pads come in. The entire heatsink would have to be almost perfect in order to get close enough tolerances to use paste. Thermal pads work because they can be applied then effectively crush down to make contact between the two surfaces. If you use paste in between, It would either be way too thick and or not maintain contact for a long period of time.

 

[shampoo911]

LOL np... If you look at the underside of the heatsink, you'll see lots of different heights that are made to make contact with various warm or hot running chips on the gpu board. The distance between the heatsink and the chips is where the thermal pads come in. The entire heatsink would have to be almost perfect in order to get close enough tolerances to use paste. Thermal pads work because they can be applied then effectively crush down to make contact between the two surfaces. If you use paste in between, It would either be way too thick and or not maintain contact for a long period of time.

thx for the answer... i am enlightened now... where i live (venezuela) it is hard to find these friggin pads... still i found one package...

being my gpu the standard sapphire 6950 2gb, do you exactly know, how thick these pads have to be in order to replace them??

 

[Cygnus x-1]

Honestly I have no idea. Your best bet would be to dry fit it and see if the pads crush down enough to make good solid contact. Then you can add the pads to the other areas and thermal paste for the gpu. You can buy small sheets of Thermal pads from places like frozencpu online.

 

[nforce4max]

my gpu is a sapphire radeon HD6950 2gb... the standard model... the one with the blower fan... it has like 8 thermal pads... i think the gap is not that big... as all pads are quite thick...

the metal solution... it is like placing a coin in a microwave oven... im not sure if that can work...

im not quite understanding the thermalpads function... please explain it to me carefully... sorry if im kinda slow... being a systems engineer and not understanding this i kinda lame haha sorry

The method that I talked about does work and have been using it for a couple of years now. The surface of the vram modules is non conductive and the metal is for better thermal performance. You only need to match the size of the module or less for it to work and it only needs to bridge the gap between the module and the cooler for it to work. I have also used them with thermal pads when they were not thick enough for a firm fit.

 

[xerb]

If you upgrade the entire cooler on your GPU then you might be able to place heatsinks on your memory modules. However, that would cost you around $50 USD.

 

[shampoo911]

im looking for an exact answer... please help me


i'll buy some thermal pads... but i need to know the ideal thickness... 2mm, 2.5mm o thicker...

please help...

oh by the way...

i read a pretty interesting article about the best thermal paste...

i narrowed my selection into these 3 little guys:

Artic 5

Thermaltake TG2

Ceramique

thx thx

 

[nforce4max]

You needs pads that are thicker than the gap so that there is some pressure for better thermals and that the pads stay in place.

 

[panos1]

modding brothers... i am seeking advice...

i already posted here on Tom's Hardware seeking for an answer... still no exact answer... howevera new riddle is invading my brain...

due to lack of tech support from sapphire where i live (venezuela), i opened my GPU for a quick checkout, paste replace and stuff... i noticed the thermal pads...

what are they made of?

is there any other material that i can use to replace them???

I posted this solution to another post but I believe that it can answer your questions also so I posting it again

You can replace thermal pads with apropriate thermal paste which is designed to replace thermal pads. Normal thermal pastes should be of high viscocity in order to cover only the very small gaps between the CPU (or other hot component) and the heat sink so there should be in no way used as thermal pad replacement. A thermal paste that is designed to replace thermal pads should be very gummy in order to cover big gaps and of very high thermal conductivity. There is one called K5-PRO which is designed for iMac computers but should be fine for any other computer. You can find videos of it on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9v5MDivZfc

and it is avaliable on ebay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261419411897
Just search for

k5-pro thermal paste

 

[Asson]

Use an eraser block