Thermal Paste on CPU and GPU

[peterdogga]

Hello guys i was seeing this video on you tube that says you will need to apply thermal paste on cpu and gpu.Well the first i know its required but for the gpu must i apply thermal paste on it,on the gpu i mean.

 

[The_Tester]

Hello guys i was seeing this video on you tube that says you will need to apply thermal paste on cpu and gpu.Well the first i know its required but for the gpu must i apply thermal paste on it,on the gpu i mean.

Generally no. The only time you would want to mess with GPU cooling solutions is:

#1 The card for some reason or another did not have a cooling solution (heatsink) already installed (which is almost never the case if new)

#2 The card gets excessively hot under normal/non-overclocked situations with no obvious signs that something is wrong (dirty heatsink, fans don't work, high case temps etc...)

#3 The card has been operated for years without new paste being applied

#4 The temps are higher on average after some sort of mechanical interaction (removing card, case got knocked/bumped around, card got knocked/bumped around etc...).

If the card has a pre installed cooling solution, there is nothing obviously wrong with it, it works like it's supposed too and the temps are within say 25C~35C at idle / 60C~80C under heavy load then I personally would not have a good reason to mess with it. I don't like sustained temps on a GPU to venture too far north of 60C~65C but that's just me. Most GPU's can take temps well above that without risking damage long term.