Thermal Paste disappears

[Rukjor]

Hello folks,
 

please excuse my English. It's not my first language.
 

I have the strange problem: No matter how carefully I apply the thermal paste to the GPU, it seems to disappear.
Despite new Noctua NT-H1 thermal compound, the graphics card gets 87 degrees and super loud.

If I then take the graphics card apart again, I have blank spots on the surface of the chip, as if there had never been any thermal paste there.

This is the second time this has happened to me. First with a RTX2060 and now with a RX580.

 

Both graphics cards were previously owned by Vapern (you could feel it).

Does this have anything to do with it? Has anyone had this problem before?

 

I have of course cleaned the chip and cooler with alcohol.

Even after changing the thermal paste for the 4th time already, I still can't get the temperatures of the RX580 under control.

 

I am despairing here and am now doubting my sanity.

 

Does anyone have any tips?

 

Thank you in advance!

Andy

 

 

[GuiltySpark_]

My suspicion is you're simply not using enough or you're not familiar with how it spreads out thinly. A picture says a thousand words, as it where. What I can say is it doesn't disappear. 

 

Look something like this? 

 

[Rukjor]

I tried different amounts. And I Distributed it evenly in the surface. 

 

Refurbishing Computers is a Side Business of Mine.

I reapplied the thermal paste of more than 100 GPUs already for Sure. And I never had such an issue....

 

Any other Idea?

[ki8aras]

27 minutes ago, Rukjor said:

I tried different amounts. And I Distributed it evenly in the surface. 

 

Refurbishing Computers is a Side Business of Mine.

I reapplied the thermal paste of more than 100 GPUs already for Sure. And I never had such an issue....

 

Any other Idea?

I mean the only other option is that its evaporating, which im pretty sure isnt a thing since its not water based

[GuiltySpark_]

Someone is coming in and cleaning it off when you’re not looking? There is no other explanation. If it’s a normal thermal paste and you apply enough of it, it doesn’t just disappear. 

[ItTakes2ToMango]

Can we get some before/after photos or something?

[freeagent]

Honestly, I did not like NT-H1 at all. I used what came with my D14 and thought it was pretty terrible. I too tried different amounts, and it just seemed to pump out.

[Rukjor]

Sorry for my late Response.

I will provide some Pictures today After Work.

[Rukjor]

Here they are.

 

EDIT: I have the exact same PC two times. Even the GPU model is the same. I redid the thermal paste on both graphics card. One is perfectly fine. The other is causing those problems, as already mentioned. I am getting crazy.

Edited December 22, 2023 by Rukjor
Additional Info.

[alyen]

Is that suposed to be the graphics card with the blank spots? The only thing I see wrong is the excessive amount of paste used. It looks like some spots are not covered, but that is likely just stuck on the heat sink or got pulled to another area when you removed the heat sink. You could always just try another thermal paste.

 

I'm not sure what that paste is like, but I usually prefer one thats easier to spread. Not the kind that sticks to itself like gum, and stretchs and springs back making it difficult to spread evenly. 

[GuiltySpark_]

2 hours ago, Rukjor said:

Here they are.

 

EDIT: I have the exact same PC two times. Even the GPU model is the same. I redid the thermal paste on both graphics card. One is perfectly fine. The other is causing those problems, as already mentioned. I am getting crazy.

 

All i'm seeing is way too much thermal paste and a normal looking situation that happens when you pull off the heatsink. The suction action of doing so leaves voids and some of it is left on the heatsink itself. 

 

Apart from WAY too much paste being used, i'm not seeing a problem.

[Rukjor]

In other words: Everything is in order. The blank spots are caused by removing the heatsink.
In this case, the fault must lie elsewhere.

 

Does anyone have any idea why one card threatens to overheat but the other doesn't?
Both MSI RX580.

[alyen]

Do you have any screen shots of thermals or a log from HWInfo? I'm guessing it could be poor contact somewhere, but no clue if it's the memory, GPU or something else.

[NorKris]

On 12/22/2023 at 4:08 PM, Rukjor said:

Here they are.

 

 

is that cake frosting?!?

[RevGAM]

On 12/21/2023 at 2:50 PM, ki8aras said:

I mean the only other option is that its evaporating, which im pretty sure isnt a thing since its not water based

It can still dry out, but it'd never look like the paste disappeared. Even if it pumps out there should still be something. 

 

Although... if the OP was super frugal with it, it might have dried out and not be readily visible. Maybe. Clearly, though, the OP applies TIM like it's cake frosting and incorrectly used "disappearing". Understandable given the language barrier. 

 

On 12/21/2023 at 6:20 PM, freeagent said:

Honestly, I did not like NT-H1 at all. I used what came with my D14 and thought it was pretty terrible. I too tried different amounts, and it just seemed to pump out.

That's interesting. NT-H1 worked flawlessly for my U12A. A year later I opened it and the method I used gave me 100% coverage.  Maybe you over-tightened the cooler?

 

It's probably not the best choice, though, where pump out is an issue. Thermalright has thicker TIM.

On 12/23/2023 at 3:13 AM, Rukjor said:

In other words: Everything is in order. The blank spots are caused by removing the heatsink.
In this case, the fault must lie elsewhere.

Correct. I guess you had never seen what an application of wet TIM looks like when you take the cooler off.

 

 Try using less. 

[freeagent]

19 minutes ago, RevGAM said:

That's interesting. NT-H1 worked flawlessly for my U12A. A year later I opened it and the method I used gave me 100% coverage.  Maybe you over-tightened the cooler?

 

It's probably not the best choice, though, where pump out is an issue. Thermalright has thicker TIM.

Who knows, the stuff reminded me of mashed potatoes at a time when AS5 was the shit. I think I recall a reformulation sometime, maybe I am just crackers

 

I am reaching waay back now, back to when D14 was a new cooler. The fans on it were also shit btw.. a blade shot off the center fan, and the front fan was did not have the quiet Noctua signature that people rave about. At that time I did prefer my Ultra 120 Extreme with dual 120x38 Panaflo in push/pull. I was running a Xeon X5690 at the time, it was a new CPU, and by new I mean Engineering Sample new lol

[Godlygamer23]

You're using too much paste, and it's squeezing out. When you remove the cooler, you get the effect shown in your second GPU die photo, where the paste separates, with some of it being stuck to the heatsink base, and the rest being stuck to the GPU - assuming newish paste. 

 

For thermal paste, you want a thin layer. All you're doing with paste is covering up any irregularities in the surface of both the heatsink base, and the respective component(in this case, the GPU).