Question Too much thermal paste?

[Jblaze24]

So GPU's been crashing nonstop in games and I cleaned and repasted and it actually worked for 5 days in a row then started crashing again.

Took it back apart to take picture of thermal pads to see if they looked normal but I noticed none of thermal paste was even on die. It was pushed out the edge and looks like I used half the tube. I thought I put light coat on but guess alot goes a long ways. Also I spread it across die and evened it out but seems to have backfired.

I just cleaned it off and repasted again and am gonna test it in games to see if it is still crashing. It never got over 62 degrees though in games. This time I put a small- medium blob in middle without spreading so hopefully it stops crashing. Will post pics below.

 

[coolraveen]

Generally a adequate amount will spread evenly.

 

[Rdslw]

Adding too is much better than to little, as long as its non-conductive, it only means you have more cleanup to do next time. If in doubt, add more, until you make a sense for yourself to see if it's close.
I say it again, make sure its non-conductive.
on gpu's they do overkill it just to make sure when gpu sag under weight and move, outside the paste that dried out is far from the center, where its important. As much as on pics is way overkilled, but as I said everyone thinks its better to waste a gram, than having RMA.

 

[Jblaze24]

Generally a adequate amount will spread evenly.

I found out what I think the problem is. I just re-applied the paste and it crashed after 30 minutes so I took it apart to look and the new paste I just put on is completely gone!

I put medium amount in a ball shape in middle of die but it's gone. Nothing on die, all on the sides. I am tightening the screws down way to tight and it instantly smashes the paste out the side and off of the die.

Check the pic above. There is plenty of paste and none stayed on die. You can see where it was tightened to much and pushed all the paste off to the sides. The thermal pads are kind of thin to so it is easy to go down to much because you cant really see.

It makes sense now because it was crashing non-stop till I repasted it. Then it worked for 5 days straight then started crashing again and now I see there is no more paste on die so makes sense for it to be crashing. I ran out of paste so had to order some more. I only had small amount left so I put in on and just put screws on finger tight so we'll see what happens.

Once it starts crashing for the 1st time in a day it doesn't stop. The last 2 days I played around 3 or 4 hours before it crashed ,then it wouldn't stop. Noting the paste issue it has to be overheating and causing the black screen and fans to rev up to full speed because that is a GPU specific crash but the temps don't go over 62 and max is 84 so still a little odd

 

[SkyNetRising]

I put medium amount in a ball shape in middle of die but its was gone. Nothing on die, all on the side. I am tightening the screws down way to tight and it instantly smashes the paste out the side and off of the die.

Do you even understand, how thermal paste works?
Function of paste is to fill microscopic unevenness between die and cooling solution.
For best cooling - amount of paste has to be as little as possible but to cover all the surface of die.

If huge amounts of paste gets pushed out over the edge of die, this means you're using too much.

You're complaining about paste "being gone". This is good.
It means you have a good contact between die and cooling solution. Very little paste is actually required.

 

[Jblaze24]

You're complaining about paste "being gone". This is good.
It means you have a good contact between die and cooling solution. Very little paste is actually required.

What? The guy that commented above you just said the exact opposite.

All I know is that when I put alot of paste on it didn't crash for 5 day's and when I put a little it crashed in 30 minutes. I'm still tightening it down to hard.

At this point I don't have much to lose. If it crashes again I'm going all in. Half the tube, and not tightening down to tight. I'll find out for sure.

If it crashes after that I'll just go to microcenter and get new one. I do play alot so I feel like 2 1/2 years is descent run.

 

[_ThunderClap_]

What? The guy that commented above you just said the exact opposite.

All I know is that when I put alot of paste on it didn't crash for 5 day's and when I put a little it crashed in 30 minutes. I'm still tightening it down to hard.

At this point I don't have much to lose. If it crashes again I'm going all in. Half the tube, and not tightening down to tight. I'll find out for sure.

If it crashes after that I'll just go to microcenter and get new one. I do play alot so I feel like 2 1/2 years is descent run.

I would recommend not tightening the screws too much. Are the screws spring loaded?

 

[Jblaze24]

I would recommend not tightening the screws too much. Are the screws spring loaded?

Ya most of them are spring loaded accept for the backplate. I was tightening them down extra tight. I put them on finger tight this time and just played 3 games with no crashes but will test it more later.

 

[kathypellerin]

There shouldn't be any thermal paste spilling over the edges of the CPU, or anywhere on the motherboard. If there is, it means you used too much paste, and should clean it off with alcohol and start the process again. If everything looks clean and the cooler doesn't move when you touch it, then congratulations!

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Are you changing out the pads every time you remove the heatsink? Just like the paste they are only single use. And make sure you use the correct thickness pad or you risk either cracking the circuit board (too thick) or not making good (or any) contact. And as @SkyNetRising posted, you're using FAR too much paste.

 

[Jblaze24]

Are you changing out the pads every time you remove the heatsink? Just like the paste they are only single use. And make sure you use the correct thickness pad

No. Haven't changed pads. They look pretty rough. The actual GPU board was covered in oil from the thermal pads and had dust sticking all over it when I first took it apart to clean and re-paste it.

I did order pads but wasn't really sure what to get. They don't seem to come in sets for GPU's so I just ordered something that looked half descent.

From what I saw online the 2080 super pads are from 0.75 to 1.25 in thickness depending on what part of GPU they are located but they don't sell them in sets.

I just ordered big pad in between sizes and will cut them to the specs I need.

https://www.newegg.com/gelid-solutions/p/2MB-004H-00016

 

[Karadjgne]

Gpu overpaste isn't an issue. Never has been. You could use half a tub and not have an issue. There's no pins, no connections, nothing is open to being seperated or isolated electrically. Too much paste is a waste, but better than too little.

Gpus are direct die. There's no metal IHS, no rough surface, just smooth glassine silicon. That means it's direct core to heat soak contact and every single square mm of the die must be covered, or you burn cores. That's the only important factor regarding paste on a gpu, perfect coverage.

Your entire issue had exactly nothing to do with paste application. The amount was immaterial, the coverage was perfect, no gaps or air bubbles.

The issue was you and the screwdriver applying too much pressure to the die itself. Cranking down and over tightening the screws always causes issues. Every time. Period.

 

[Jblaze24]

The issue was you and the screwdriver applying too much pressure to the die itself. Cranking down and over tightening the screws always causes issues. Every time. Period.

Noted. I was tightening them as much as I could. Was trying rule out connection issues.

I've seen videos on yt of the GPU thermal pads becoming disconnected from card sag after awhile and causing the same black screen and GPU fans revving up issue as me. Guessing if thermal pads have poor connection it overheats?

I'm interested to see what happens when I put new pads on. The ones on there now are like marshmallows. Barely touch them and they sink all the way down and the edges are starting to fall off on some. I think their fight is over.

 

[coolraveen]

Noted. I was tightening them as much as I could. Was trying rule out connection issues.

I've seen videos on yt of the GPU thermal pads becoming disconnected from card sag after awhile and causing the same black screen and GPU fans revving up issue as me. Guessing if thermal pads have poor connection it overheats?

I'm interested to see what happens when I put new pads on. The ones on there now are like marshmallows. Barely touch them and they sink all the way down and the edges are starting to fall off on some. I think their fight is over.

As people said here, thermal paste holding up depends upon factors like how you put in and how it holds and how much you tight it too.

For me i use a tower cooler on my Ryzen 5 3600, when i used more paste the, the paste used to spill over as the tower was a clip on and not a screw type, So in my case on the second or third installation for equal spread nominal amount plus 4 small dots at the corner and one medium dot at the middle made the trick.

 

[Jblaze24]

As people said here, thermal paste holding up depends upon factors like how you put in and how it holds and how much you tight it too.

For me i use a tower cooler on my Ryzen 5 3600, when i used more paste the, the paste used to spill over as the tower was a clip on and not a screw type, So in my case on the second or third installation for equal spread nominal amount plus 4 small dots at the corner and one medium dot at the middle made the trick.

I was referring to Graphics card chip. My cpu is clip on under the AIO but I havent had to mess with it

 

[coolraveen]

I was referring to Graphics card chip. My cpu is clip on under the AIO but I havent had to mess with it

Yes agreed, am saying its all about the paste amount and how much you screw it etc

 

[JeffreyP55]

So GPU's been crashing nonstop in games and I cleaned and repasted and it actually worked for 5 days in a row then started crashing again.

Took it back apart to take picture of thermal pads to see if they looked normal but I noticed none of thermal paste was even on die. It was pushed out the edge and looks like I used half the tube. I thought I put light coat on but guess alot goes a long ways. Also I spread it across die and evened it out but seems to have backfired.

I just cleaned it off and repasted again and am gonna test it in games to see if it is still crashing. It never got over 62 degrees though in games. This time I put a small- medium blob in middle without spreading so hopefully it stops crashing. Will post pics below.

It is hard to use too little thermal paste. The paste makes a very thin coating that transfers heat heat efficiently between the GPU and cooler. You overdosed thermal paste with that huge glob . A little drop in the middle of the GPU is more than sufficient.