Arctic Thermal Pads

[frozensun]

Hi guys.

In case I would need to change thermal pads on my Aorus Xtreme RTX 3080, how good are these Arctic Thermal pads ( 1 mm and 0.5 mm thickness).

Those are the only ones I could find in my city.

I can order better but it would cost me a lot with shippment (Thermal grizzly).

[KLiKzg]

I used to put them on refurbished GPUs & found those are OK. Usually you need to put 0,5mm ones on your GPU RAMs. 

[frozensun]

12 minutes ago, KLiKzg said:

I used to put them on refurbished GPUs & found those are OK. Usually you need to put 0,5mm ones on your GPU RAMs. 

Which GPUs?RTX models?

I don't see ThermalGrizzly specs for their thermal pads.

Like manufacturer is hiding those infos.

[leclod]

I'd trust Arctic pads blindly.

But the Arctic pads state 6W/mk while the Gembird state 2W/mk. So the second one transfers only a third of the heat ? 

Here https://thermalpad.eu/thermal-pad-sizes/gigabyte-aorus-geforce-rtx-3080-xtreme-10g/

they recommend 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm and 3mm pads for your card (you probably won't need the 3mm ones)

3 hours ago, KLiKzg said:

Usually you need to put 0,5mm ones on your GPU RAMs. 

That's not true, for example my 3070 VRam chips officially take 2.25mm and 2.75mm thick pads

Edited June 16 by leclod

[KLiKzg]

3 hours ago, frozensun said:

Which GPUs?RTX models?

I don't see ThermalGrizzly specs for their thermal pads.

Like manufacturer is hiding those infos.

On older ones, professional Quadro, GTX & first RTX models.

I would, on your side, either get all the variations you can find or make a re-pasting only this time with taking measurements about pads thickness.

 

Also, do note that the thicker the pads / paste is, the less heat is transfered. You can check thermodynamics formulas to confirm these. 

 

That issue with Thermal Grizzly is partly my fault...as I wrote to EC about TG & their practices, as their products did not live up to their specs. 

[frozensun]

1 hour ago, leclod said:

I'd trust Arctic pads blindly.

But the Arctic pads state 6W/mk while the Gembird state 2W/mk. So the second one transfers only a third of the heat ? 

Here https://thermalpad.eu/thermal-pad-sizes/gigabyte-aorus-geforce-rtx-3080-xtreme-10g/

they recommend 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm and 3mm pads for your card (you probably won't need the 3mm ones)

That's not true, for example my 3070 VRam chips officially take 2.25mm and 2.75mm thick pads

Those are not accurate info ob thermalpad.eu.

I know that cuz guy from Serbia replaced pads by that info and got worse possible temps.

So I think he used 1 mm, 1.5 mm and 2 mm

[leclod]

2 hours ago, frozensun said:

Those are not accurate info ob thermalpad.eu.

Ok, but then, at least measure the pads on the gpu when you open it.

1 mm, 1.5 mm and 2 mm sounds very safe, you can stack them if necessary

Edited June 16 by leclod

[leclod]

3 hours ago, KLiKzg said:

the thicker the pads, the less heat is transfered.

There's a little margin but not a lot (I'd say less than +-0.5mm).

Pads too thick means poor contact on the die, it won't work.

Edited June 16 by leclod

[KLiKzg]

14 hours ago, leclod said:

Ok, but then, at least measure the pads on the gpu when you open it.

1 mm, 1.5 mm and 2 mm sounds very safe, you can stack them if necessary

I would suggest against "stacking" of pads one on top of the other. As air gaps & inter transfer from pad to pad is even worse for heat transfer.

But that is just a thermodynamics speaking out of me, just a proven science.

14 hours ago, leclod said:

There's a little margin but not a lot (I'd say less than +-0.5mm).

Pads too thick means poor contact on the die, it won't work.

Like I said, check the formulas for heat transfer in thermodynamics. The thicker the medium, the less effective is the heat transfer.

 

Just like it is suggested for "thermal paste" to be as narrow as possible. & if people are generous with paste(s), they get opposite (worse) results from application only.

[leclod]

5 hours ago, KLiKzg said:

I would suggest against "stacking" of pads one on top of the other. As air gaps & inter transfer from pad to pad is even worse for heat transfer.

Probably half the pad replacers in the world do stack pads. Because they don't have all the right pad sizes. I prefer not to do it but It works.

5 hours ago, KLiKzg said:

The thicker the medium, the less effective is the heat transfer. Just like it is suggested for "thermal paste" to be as narrow as possible.

To me, nearly every word you write isn't adequate (remember : "Usually you need to put 0,5mm ones on your GPU RAMs")

For any gpu, there's an optimal thickness for each pad. The "engineered" thickness + some surplus to provide pressure/forming/adaptation.

(I'm not a native speaker, please excuse if I'm not writing "clear as day")

"The thicker the medium, the less effective is the heat transfer." doesn't make sense in this regard. The pad thickness is not a choice.

5 hours ago, KLiKzg said:

Just like it is suggested for "thermal paste" to be as narrow as possible.

For all the pastes I know (Arctic MX for example) there's no paste thickness issue.

All excess paste will spread out and the resulting distance between cpu/die and cooler will end up being the same. (there's a not enough paste issue though)

 

Edited June 17 by leclod

[frozensun]

I might be lucky.

1.5 mm are out of store.May I stack 1mm and 0.5 mm?

2.5 mm are original ones on memory chips, source (at 3:27)

 

[leclod]

30 minutes ago, frozensun said:

1.5 mm are out of store.May I stack 1mm and 0.5 mm?

Yes, you may

[frozensun]

15 hours ago, leclod said:

Yes, you may

Luckly in other store, I did not know, they had 2 pieces of 1.5 mm in store, so I got them both.

I hope now I have all the sizes I need, in case I wanna replace thermal pads.

 

[KLiKzg]

On 6/17/2025 at 9:59 AM, leclod said:

Probably half the pad replacers in the world do stack pads. Because they don't have all the right pad sizes. I prefer not to do it but It works.

Maybe it works, but it also gives higher temperatures. As the heat transfers is less then with single pad.

It is worth to mention it here, as many people do get it wrong.

On 6/17/2025 at 9:59 AM, leclod said:

To me, nearly every word you write isn't adequate (remember : "Usually you need to put 0,5mm ones on your GPU RAMs")

For any gpu, there's an optimal thickness for each pad. The "engineered" thickness + some surplus to provide pressure/forming/adaptation.

(I'm not a native speaker, please excuse if I'm not writing "clear as day")

"The thicker the medium, the less effective is the heat transfer." doesn't make sense in this regard. The pad thickness is not a choice.

Well, lets start with "engineered thickness". Do you know what it is? Can you give me a data, a copied document. We can talk about facts & numbers?

 

If not, then we can only talk in formulas, phisycal formulas that are the same for all the materials. As only coefficent change from one material to the other.

For now, read this 1st & understand it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_transfer_coefficient .
& you will see that "more thinkness in paste / pad, the less heat transfer there will be". 

On 6/17/2025 at 9:59 AM, leclod said:

For all the pastes I know (Arctic MX for example) there's no paste thickness issue.

All excess paste will spread out and the resulting distance between cpu/die and cooler will end up being the same. (there's a not enough paste issue though)

& then again, physics says otherwise. Unless we talk about some "fantasy world"?!

& no, there will not be the same distance...as there is no way that whole paste can flow that easily in order to do that. & if it were like that, then most of the paste would simple drop off the CPU (as it is too viscous).

 

Maybe the Linus Tech guys prove it one day in the video. 

[leclod]

2 hours ago, KLiKzg said:

Well, lets start with "engineered thickness".Do you know what it is? Can you give me a data,

Ok, (this is the last time I reply to you here)

For example on a gpu, the critical factor is the gpu die location. The thermal paste will end up a layer not more than 0.1mm, probably less. After that all pads thicknesses are known because the gpu heatsink is a solid piece that gets positioned on that gpu die, everything is solid, the distances are set. 

2 hours ago, KLiKzg said:

no, there will not be the same distance...as there is no way that whole paste can flow that easily

Yes there's way. Did you ever disassemble a cpu cooler or a gpu heatsink and witness the paste pattern ?

Thermal paste isn't made to form a layer but to fill small imperfections in the cpu/die and heatsink surfaces. The less paste remains the better (up to a point) because metal is a much better heat conductor than paste.

 

Everything you write about physics is not relevant here, there's no choice.

 

Edited June 18 by leclod

[frozensun]

I am a chemical/industrial engineer, may I help?

[KLiKzg]

On 6/18/2025 at 2:51 PM, leclod said:

Ok, (this is the last time I reply to you here)

For example on a gpu, the critical factor is the gpu die location. The thermal paste will end up a layer not more than 0.1mm, probably less. After that all pads thicknesses are known because the gpu heatsink is a solid piece that gets positioned on that gpu die, everything is solid, the distances are set. 

Solids are solid, but they bend when force is applied. So you have small bending which is always present in both: CPU IHS & in the Cooler. That is why paste is used, to fill the gap.

 

Problem is, some paste is thick, some are liquid - in engineering terms: some are more viscous then others. So they do not flow so easily, when pressed in - contributing to more bending & more pressure from Cooler to CPU IHS.

On 6/18/2025 at 2:51 PM, leclod said:

Yes there's way. Did you ever disassemble a cpu cooler or a gpu heatsink and witness the paste pattern ?

Thermal paste isn't made to form a layer but to fill small imperfections in the cpu/die and heatsink surfaces. The less paste remains the better (up to a point) because metal is a much better heat conductor than paste.

 

Everything you write about physics is not relevant here, there's no choice.

You write up correct thing in bold, confirming my word in underline.

 

Only to write such a rubbish thing in italic?! 

 

Do you think computers work on magic or on physical's principles (including cooling) ?

 

On 6/18/2025 at 3:19 PM, frozensun said:

I am a chemical/industrial engineer, may I help?

Please do, join in.