thermal paste question for gpu

[Byegge]

i just bought a sapphire r9 290 and wanted to replace the stock thermal paste on it. ive read on here that it will decrease the temps of this thing quite a bit. ive watched a couple videos on installing aftermarket coolers, which i may do down the road, just to see how to take it apart. one thing i see in the videos is that there is thermal tape on all off the chips. My question is, do i need to replace that once i remove the reference cooler or will the existing tape be fine.
thanks in advance.

 

[mirag3]

if i were you i would be very cautious replacing the cooler on a gpu, but if you feel confident, go ahead
make sure that the cooler includes disipation for the current regulators, as it is important
have in mind that modifing your gpu in such a way will almost surely result in a void warranty, althought i dont know Sapphire policy
about replacing the thermal tape and paste only do it if the guide that you are using says so
and if you have more especific questions about temperature, disipators and such, go to the overcloking section of the forums, they know a lot about that stuff

 

[Byegge]

thanks for your reply. i wont even think about replacing the cooler until i see how hot/loud this card is. people tend to over exaggerate fan noise i think. i will be putting the stock cooler back in place, just wanted to swap out the thermal paste on the gpu.

 

[Karadjgne]

Noctua nt-1, arctic mx-4 are very good replacements.

 

[Byegge]

What i am asking though is the tape on the memory chips. do i need to replace with new tape, or use the tape thats on it, or can i use thermal paste on those as well. thanks

 

[Karadjgne]

Tape. And since you'll most likely ruin the existing tape when you remove the heatsink, you be best off replacing them all.