There are a number of hardness tests and each have their own scale. Hardness measurements are purely experimental and depend on the specifics of each test.

In regards to thermal pads, it’s important for small surface mount components that press on the pads in small local regions much like those hardness tests. More global parameters like the modulus of elasticity would be better suited for compressing the whole pad evenly.

Don’t confuse marketing material for proper engineering data.

 

well from my experience both Gelid's are pretty hard to compress. The softest I found for my GTX1070 which has 1.75mm stock pad, and neither Gelid or Thermal Grizzly would compress enough.
PCB bents when screws were tightened.
Found these to be the softest: EC360® BRONZE Thermal Pad, 8 W/mk. Hardness Shore C 20
Also EC360® PLATINUM Thermal Pad has 16.6 W/mk, but Hardness Shore OO 65.

 

So, did you end up using EC360 Bronze Thermal Pads 2mm? I have Palit GTX1070 Jetstream with 1.75mm thermal pad thickness and also wonder what to use instead of just stacking 1.25mm with .5mm pads. Thanks in advance!

 

I stick with thick clay just for this reason. Everyone harps on how expensive Fujiploy Extreme's are. However, I've used it on over several video cards. And never had to calculate hardness, thickness (that much) nor worry about reliability. I use 1.5mm thickness for all the things really, for example. It's really plug in play. And, for a bonus, get lower temps on vregs/mosfets/vram then any other thermal pad.

 

I'm not able to get/order them.


so, lower value of Shore 00 means it is more soft?

 

Yep, have to compare the same scales.

Good catch.

 

Hi,

I damaged the scews on the metal bracket holding the die to the cooler on my MSI Gaming trio X 3070.

MSI will not help. I read you changed your screws for better ones. I could take the screws out with a screw extractor but then I would need to replace them. The screws are clamped in the bracket.

Can you give me any pointers?

Thank you

 

I don't know what you exactly mean by metal bracket holding. sorry, my english is not perfect. if needed, show me (you can also private message) picture, or picture of example, in case that is specific part which use different screws

anyway, most of screws on GPUs I worked on are M2 (2mm thread). so I simply order on ebay M2 screws with various lenghts, I suggest 8mm, 6mm, 4mm, but you can get even 3mm, 5, 10, etc, if needed in specific case.
they are same as stock ones and fits, but material is stronger, and I use slotted head screw type (if I translate well).

stock ones screws are so bad in material plus use cross head - in most cases it will get damaged when encounter any resistance, hence you will not be able to even tighten it properly (and more you work with it, more damaged they get).

just example from ebay of type I prefer :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363141108657?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=632295380108&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

with slotted head and solid material, you can tighten them just fine how much is needed. but do not over-tighten them! (which is certanly possible with such screw type).
no matter if screw itself is not going to break from over-tightening, you can break or damage other things. patient and careful

if you need some specific screws which are not M2, try to check which properties and dimensions your are/was, and search for such, but better ones.

if simply metalic look bothers you, try searching for black ones, maybe they are out in market (I never bothered).

 

yes, I know how some of stock screws are.

to answer you is there any problem with using screws from ebay, like I do, I have no final answer. there may be something I'm not aware of. I don't want to give wrong answer and cause someone damage (so someone else here, more educated on this matter, can step in and share his/her expirience and opinion).
but I had zero problem using screws from ebay (actually, much better expirience, but careful not to over-tighten)

 

all my knoweledge about it is based on expirience with using them, but I would like to know and understand real specs about that

Find a web link of an ODM thermal pads factory in Taiwan and then I will help.

 

when I google ODM thermal pads Taiwan, I get mostly some website from China, like this one :

Made-in-China.com - Manufacturers, Suppliers & Products in China

Source quality products Made in China. Find reliable China Suppliers, Manufacturers, Factories, Wholesalers & Exporters on the leading B2B e-commerce website Made-in-China.com.

m.made-in-china.com

 

lets continue discussion, and share our findings and expirience so far


@Falkentyne already posted link about this, and I will also post some more I found.

his link (I will link it to be more visible in recent posts) :

What is 'Shore' hardness?

The Guide to Shore Hardness Anybody that has used a seal or o-ring for any type of use knows that selecting the right fit, the right size and the right material are crucial in keeping your equipment functioning perfectly. While finding the right size and material for any seal is relatively...

www.totallyseals.com

some of other links I found :

https://www.mechanicalrubber.com/elastomericsolutions/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Durometer-Conversion-Table.pdf

https://www.apstpe.com/media/pdf/Shore-Hardness-Scales.pdf

I was also interested to get and try Alphacool 11 w/mk2

take a look into their specs :

https://www.alphacool.com/download/AC-Eisschicht-XR-e.pdf

Hardness Highest Value (I will copy that part from link) :
Shore OO - 72 , test method : ASTM D2240
(ASKER C) - 42 , test metdod : (ISO 7619)


I get already confused. Shore 00 with 72 would fit somewhere into soft region.

not all links I provided are same. according to some, Shore C with 42 would already be about hard.


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now take a look at for various EC360 thermal pads :

High Performance Thermal Management – EC360

www.ec360.com

you can select each of these, and than go SPECS..

for example EC360 Silver, which is rated 12 w/mk (Igorslab tests however claiming from test, they are not 12 w/mk actually, but maybe around 8 w/mk). There we have :
Hardness : Shore C - 20 (ASTM D 2240). And from what I found from other users claims, they should indeed be soft. And Score C - 20 should be soft.

Take a look for example at EC360 Platinum. 16.6 w/mk. Hardness : Shore 00 - 65

now from links I posted, if I read and understand them properly, Shore 00 - 65 should actually be less hard than even Shore C 20 maybe. Correct me if I'm wrong. But I'm confused about this.
And it have no logic, because usually higher w/mk is tend to be more hard.


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and last thing, to return to Gelid Ultimate, which claims Shore 00 - 60-70, and Thermalright Odyssey which claims some different kind of measure.

from my expirience Thermalright Odyssey 12.8 w/mk are hardest. And I don't like to work with them around core.
Gelid Ultimate is maybe little less hard, but still pretty hard. If Shore 00 - 60-70, by looking at links I provided, would indicate it is soft, that it is misleading.. They are not soft at all.

They cools good indeed, but I would like to compare them to Alphacool 11 w/mk. Sadly at moment I'm not able to get Alphacool due to shortages, all is out of stock.

 

well from my experience, the higher the thermal conductivity the higher hardness

 

What is Hardness anyway? - T-Global Technology