Reapplying Thermal paste 8800GT Help

4609 Views 20 Replies 7 Participants Last post by HighOC, Dec 3, 2009

MeRcChRiS

Discussion Starter · Nov 29, 2009

Im about to sell my PNY8800GT and it gets really hot. it sits at about 68-70c Idle at about 35% fan speed and reaches 100c easily if not at 100% fan speed during a few minutes of any gaming.
Im wondering if I should reapply thermal paste to my 8800. Would that help out with heat problems or is it just the card thats bad at cooling?!

BTW its a stock cooler and everything. I set my overclock to default over the past month also and still super hot.

1 - 20 of 21 Posts

Shane1244

· #2 · Nov 29, 2009

Take the cooler off, apply thermal paste, and clean out all the dust inside of it. I guarantee that's your problem.

Sethy666

· #3 · Nov 29, 2009

I concur with Shane1244.

The thermal tape used is sucky... a reapplication of TIM will see way better temps. Just make sure the HSA and GPU are in contact and is secure.

MeRcChRiS

Discussion Starter · #4 · Nov 30, 2009

Alright thanks for the heads up guys. I'm not sure why I didnt think about doing this the second i noticed my heat problems. I'll try it right now. But I've never taken apart a gfx card so not quite sure what to do. Would it just be the same like applying some as5 to a cpu?

Sethy666

· #5 · Nov 30, 2009

Essentially, yes it will be the same.

GPUs usually use thermal tape to make the contact between the heat sink and the processor and ram.

I would not suggest using liquid TIM on the ram.

Just be careful removing the shield from the card proper, the tape can be stubborn.

Give it a good clean and get the dust out. Make sure all the screws go back in

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MeRcChRiS

Discussion Starter · #6 · Nov 30, 2009

Alright thanks alot man =D

Can I just reapply paste to the gpu itself or do i have to do the ram heatsinks once i take the cover off and everything?

Sethy666

· #7 · Nov 30, 2009

Just the GPU at this point.

Do NOT apply A5 to the ram... if it leaks between the legs, their toast.

There is some controversy around whether the ram should or should not have their own heat sinks.

Most 3rd party cooling kits contain the sinks but if your just going to slap the same shield back on, see if you can salvage some of the thermal tape, reappy that to the ram and check your temps.

If needs be, you can always go for a T-Rad2 kit.

MeRcChRiS

Discussion Starter · #8 · Nov 30, 2009

alright yeahh im gonna be selling it this week to make room for my 5770 i already ordered.
Just making sure the rams wont fall off once i take the cover off and then im screwed cause i have no thermal tape around. So hopefully I can just leave them be and apply paste to the gpu only.

Sethy666

· #9 · Nov 30, 2009

Just make sure the GPU is in contact with the main heatsink. Using thermal tape on the rams may increase the distance between the GPU die and the heatsink and therefore may not make good contact with it.

The only way to be sure is it check you temps at idle and especally under load. Obviously if it starts to go north rapidly... shut down.

If that happens, may have to rethink the whole use of thermal tape on the rams

MeRcChRiS

Discussion Starter · #10 · Nov 30, 2009

Ok quick question. I took the cover off and the thermal tape is everywhere poorly. But do I need to apply paste to this silver ring around the outside of the center of the gpu also?!

Sethy666

· #11 · Nov 30, 2009

Its been a while since I played with my old 8800 Gt... Just the centre of the GPU. The die is bigger than a normal CPU die, so add a 'largish" pea size so the whole GPU is covered.

Yeah, the quality of tape application is pretty poor. I guess thats why stock temps are so bad.

xHassassin

· #12 · Nov 30, 2009

The silver ring is just overflow since the 'tards at manufacture have no idea how to apply TIM. That high of temps for a 8800GT is not normal, maybe it's the OC. I'm thinking that the most likely problem is dust buildup. Also, you can't replace thermal tape with TIM, so don't take off the RAM heatsinks unless you have thermal tape on hand.

MeRcChRiS

Discussion Starter · #13 · Nov 30, 2009

Ok well it's like a gpu in the center and then around that is some black hardware stuff sorrounding it and then around that black stuff is a silver metal they put stuff on also. So I'm not sure if I put it on the gpu and the silver thing sorrounding it or if it's not nescessary.

xHassassin

· #14 · Nov 30, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by MeRcChRiS

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Ok well it's like a gpu in the center and then around that is some black hardware stuff sorrounding it and then around that black stuff is a silver metal they put stuff on also. So I'm not sure if I put it on the gpu and the silver thing sorrounding it or if it's not nescessary.

No that's just excess TIM... Check your cooler, you should be able to see it reflected there.

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Lord Xeb

· #15 · Nov 30, 2009

remove cooler

Clean old TIM off both heat sink and CPU with Alcohol.

Put new TIM on

Reseat heat sink

???

Profit

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MeRcChRiS

Discussion Starter · #16 · Nov 30, 2009

alright well i think its working. just played some games for about 10 mins and its gottent to 80c so far.

xHassassin

· #17 · Nov 30, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by MeRcChRiS

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alright well i think its working. just played some games for about 10 mins and its gottent to 80c so far.

That's not good....
Turn up fans to 100%.
I'm not comfortable with anything in my computer being over 65C, never mind 80.

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MeRcChRiS

Discussion Starter · #18 · Nov 30, 2009

Fan is at 65. sounds like a jet engine at 100%

Sethy666

· #19 · Nov 30, 2009

Considering the temps you started with, thats a good improvement. Most people will recommend ramping the fan to 100% with a 8800 GT.

Personally, Id go as xHassassin suggests - 100% fan.

Rebel4055

· #20 · Nov 30, 2009

YouTube- Cleaning and removing top cover 8800GT

Both my videos

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