Ktulu

Hello!

I am getting a MSI N9500GT MD512 D3 for folding and I want to apply thermal paste to the heat sink to cool it off. I heard some where that some thermal pastes that work for processors will short out certain graphics cards. Can someone explain this? I want to use OC freeze, will this damage the card?

Could someone give me some tips on putting the paste on this card, I have never done this before.

THANKS!

losttsol

I've used Arctic Silver 5 on GPU's in the past with great results. Instead of the usual CPU application, for GPU's I paint it on really thin over the entire surface of the chip. Never had a problem and it always lowered my temps.

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Zero4549

I'd be a bit cautious with AS5 on a gpu - very easy to short something.

anyway AS5's been long ago beaten by cheaper, more effective, non conductive alternatives.

Other than that I agree, spread it thin over the chip (to be honest I still do this with my CPUs. Companies may claim the dot method is better but I think that's a load of crap to protect their asses against people who just plain suck at spreading.)

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losttsol

If you use a mini-paintbrush, your chances of getting it everywhere are minimal at best. I've painted my GPU along with every RAM chip on a card and never had a problem.

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Ktulu

So the shorting occurs when the electrically conductive paste comes in contact with a circuit, but if it just touches the heat sink its fine?

And the heatsink it will just pop right off? How easy is it to install aftermarket heatsinks?

losttsol

Ya, you can have troubles if you get the paste on other parts of the PCB.

The aftermarket sinks aren't hard to install at all. They just go into the same holes that the stock heatsink is attached. I would just monitor your temps after applying the thermal grease and see how it does before you worry about getting an aftermarket cooler, especially for something like a 9500GT. 24/7 folding is taxing, but paying a lot on a cooler for that card seems like a waste of money for me though.

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Ktulu

Yes it would be a waste of money for sure, I was just curious in general. That is actually kinda cool, I had an old card where the fan was making tons of noise, I guess I could have just upgraded the heatsink instead of throwing down on a new card.