How To: GPU - Reapply Thermal Paste - Overclock.net

ArchCorsair · 10-02-08

Last night I reapplied thermal paste on my EVGA 8800 GTS 512, so I thought I would teach you guys how to do it as well. I would recommend using rubber gloves for this project.

Click the images to enlarge

Step 1:
Remove the card from your case! (duh)

Step 2:
Start unscrewing all screws on the back.

Caution: GPU cores are not protected like CPUs are, they are very fragile. Use extreme caution when handling them!! (I'm not responsible for any damage YOU cause to YOUR gpu using this tutorial)

Step 3:
Remove the upper casing, revealing the internal memory chips and GPU core. As you can see, the GPU core is coated with thermal paste while the memory chips are covered with thermal pads.

Step 4:
Peel away the thermal pads carefully and just throw them away. Preferably, you should use ArctiClean step 1 and 2 to remove the thermal paste on the GPU. (If you don't have any, you can just use rubbing alcohol.)

Take a Q-Tip and gently wipe away the dissolved thermal paste. To clean the memory chips, soak a Q-tip in the ArtiClean (step1) or rubbing alcohol and gently wipe the surface removing the residue left behind by the thermal pads.

After polishing the GPU with ArctiClean/rubbing alcohol, it should look something like this:

oooh shiney!

Step 5:
Apply small globs of the thermal paste to the memory chips' centers (do not spread)

Apply a generous amount of thermal paste to the GPU core and spread it to distribute it nicely along the surface (sorry about the blurry photo)

Step 6:
Gently place the casing back on and begin to reattach the screws

Thats it! You're done! If you did it right, you should see a significant drop in your GPU core temp (5c-7c drop is common)

COMING SOON: ATI VERSION OF THIS TUTORIAL

sLowEnd · 10-02-08

Speaking of thermal paste, you'll want to use something non-conductive like MX-2 or OCZ Freeze for stuff like this

ArchCorsair · 10-02-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by sLowEnd

Speaking of thermal paste, you'll want to use something non-conductive like MX-2 or OCZ Freeze for stuff like this

I'm assuming the person will use Artic Silver 5. It is 100% non-conductive.

sLowEnd · 10-02-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArchCorsair

I'm assuming the person will use Artic Silver 5. It is 100% non-conductive.

But it's slightly capacitive

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arctic silver website

(While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.)

Blameless · 10-02-08

You can short things with AS5. I've done it, many times, so I do not belive the claims of it being 100% non-conductive. It may not be a good conductor, but it's capacitance is just as much of a problem on many components. However, if you are neat, it should not be a problem.

Anyway, I prefer to spread a very thin layer of paste and then leave a small dab in the middle to ensure that all air is displaced when clamping it down.

technodanvan · 10-02-08

Arctic Silver Ceramique is still my choice for most applications. Note that some newer cards have heatspreaders, of course you still need to be careful though.