[SOLVED] Replaced thermal pad on northbridge heatsink with thermal paste

Feb 5, 2019
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I was having troubles with my northbridge heatsink being loose on my gigabyte ga78mlt usb3 motherboard so I decided to replace the paste on it. I was ignorant to the fact that this heatsink uses thermal pads instead of paste. Not knowing what it was I scraped it off and replaced it with thermal grease. I'm now worried that I could be causing damage to the board but everything is functioning properly and touching the heatsink it seems to be transfering the heat better to it.

In short my question is could I be causing overheating to the board by having replaced the northbridge hatsink's peeling thermal pad with thermal grease?
 
Solution
First, "I was ignorant to the fact that this heatsink uses thermal pads instead of paste.” doesn't make sense to me. I've never heard of any motherboard using paste ever.

But you should check the north bridge temps with HW Monitor.

If you feel uncomfortable about the paste then you can buy thermal pads on Amazon.

QwerkyPengwen

Splendid
Ambassador
First, "I was ignorant to the fact that this heatsink uses thermal pads instead of paste.” doesn't make sense to me. I've never heard of any motherboard using paste ever.

But you should check the north bridge temps with HW Monitor.

If you feel uncomfortable about the paste then you can buy thermal pads on Amazon.
 
Solution
usually pad is used when there is a noticeable gap usually greater than 1 mm gap between the chip and heat sink. If you use paste directly it might not have good contact or you are going to apply an abnormal amount of force in mount the heatsink.
 

R_1

Expert
Ambassador
the main reason for pads versus paste is the heatsink clearance.
pads have differing thicknesses, paste is for narrow gaps, pads for thicker gaps.
my concern is the paste may be to thin (vertically) for the cooler to mount properly, due to missing thickness being designed for pads.