How-to put thermal paste on GPU

[Akhilcool]

Hey guys this thread is in conjunction with an earlier thread I created because I had overheating of my Sapphire 6870 1GB GPU w/ Dual Fans (DiRT 3 version). The card was reaching temps of 82*C using OCCT stability tester. This was at clock speeds of 945mhz core clock and 1155mhz memory clock. The weird thing is that my card had to be bumped to 1.195V just to get a stable OC with those settings. I also had to make my own amped up fan profile otherwise my card would reach temps of 85*C to 90*C. The helpful people I discussed with earlier suggested that I take apart my GPU heatsink and reapply the thermal compound. The question is, in what way should I reapply the thermal compound? Peasize in the middle? The thermal contact is a big rectangular copper plate, although only a tiny square imprint was made on it from the stock thermal compound indicating that only a small part of the copper plate even made contact with the chip. I know this is normal but I'd like to know in what way and how much thermal compound I need to apply. THANKS! 😀


Don't...
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http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/283384-33-read-first

 

[Vettedude]

Dot in the middle, just large enough to cover most of the copper plate when latched down but not enough to be spilling out the size. Peasize works for most things but it depends on the size of the actual GPU die you want to put the paste on.

 

[Akhilcool]

Dot in the middle, just large enough to cover most of the copper plate when latched down but not enough to be spilling out the size. Peasize works for most things but it depends on the size of the actual GPU die you want to put the paste on.

Should I also unscrew every critical part of the GPU and rescrew it to make sure everything was fastened properly?

 

[amuffin]

You need to unscrew the heatsink and fan and apply thermal paste on the gpu itself, then put it back on.

 

[Akhilcool]

You need to unscrew the heatsink and fan and apply thermal paste on the gpu itself, then put it back on.

I understand but do I also need to check if other components were correctly screwed, by unscrewing them and rescrewing them back in?

 

[17seconds]

I understand but do I also need to check if other components were correctly screwed, by unscrewing them and rescrewing them back in?

Don't touch any of the other parts, just the heatsink, GPU, and screws.

For me, I never got the thing about putting a pea sized dot in the middle and letting the pressure of the heatsink spread it out. That was never accurate enough for me. Like I mentioned to you before, spread a very thin layer out across the entire GPU surface, you can use a credit card or any thin piece of plastic with a straight edge. I actually use a small brush that came with some Zalman thermal paste I had. It's similar to a nail polish brush. Then replace the heatsink by screwing down the opposing sides of the back bracket to ensure even pressure.

I kind of like how this guy does it.

[flash=420,315]http://www.youtube.com/v/hXDi8U6F4yg?version=3&hl=en_US[/flash]

 

[Akhilcool]

Best answer selected by Akhilcool.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey