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Cleaning a graphics card, Quick question.

Luke
By Luke
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Example picture:

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff309/rico2001/Items/HD%205850/IMG_2068.jpg

 

I was just cleaning and applying new thermal paste on a reference 5850 i have and i notice the pink thermal pastes or whatever they are and the VRAM are slimy? If you wipe your figure on them it's like a wet oily substance. Should i wipe it off with a cotton swab while i'm cleaning the card or is it supposed to be like that?

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nah. Leave it. 

 

 Are you guessing? Is it supposed to be like that? Or is it just not harmful? Any more context would be helpful.

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I recently took apart a HD 7950 and the memory chips were dry and normal on that.

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Are you guessing? Is it supposed to be like that? Or is it just not harmful? Any more context would be helpful.

Well if what you are talking about is what I'm thinkin of (cause I can't see the residue in the pic) it's kinda of a thing that happens with those thermal pads over time, they sort of leak. It's not  a big deal unless it's a big mess. I said leave it to avoid possibility of damage, It ain't broke don't fix it sort of thing. If you want to clean it, sure. I recommend a material like that of a t-shirt to clean it, and a dab of alcohol if you wish. 

Make sure it doesn't contain lanolin (if it's classified as rubbing alcohol, you're probably fine.)

Make sure it's about 70% Isopropyl alcohol or higher.

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I would say once you have took off the cooler, it's probably best to clean it completly and apply new thermal paste to appropriate placese before putting the cooler back on.

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 Are you guessing? Is it supposed to be like that? Or is it just not harmful? Any more context would be helpful.

those thermal pad are paraffin based material

 

its normal for them to be slimy or oily

 

i open a Quadro FX4800 and they use the same thing as you mentioned 

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The Thermal interface material is a bit slimy feeling when touched. It´s normal.

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Yeah, they are still there. Had they like peeled off when you opened the card it'd be a different story.

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I would say once you have took off the cooler, it's probably best to clean it completly and apply new thermal paste to appropriate placese before putting the cooler back on.

I sort of disagree with putting that on areas with thermal pads.

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Well if what you are talking about is what I'm thinkin of (cause I can't see the residue in the pic) it's kinda of a thing that happens with those thermal pads over time, they sort of leak. It's not  a big deal unless it's a big mess. I said leave it to avoid possibility of damage, It ain't broke don't fix it sort of thing. If you want to clean it, sure. I recommend a material like that of a t-shirt to clean it, and a dab of alcohol if you wish. 

Make sure it doesn't contain lanolin (if it's classified as rubbing alcohol, you're probably fine.)

Make sure it's about 70% Isopropyl alcohol or higher.

 

The picture i used was just a random one i found from google. I was trying to point out the thermal pad/memory. Here is a close of pic of the actual card i just took - http://i.imgur.com/8sVsRLW.jpg

 

 

 

The Thermal interface material is a bit slimy feeling when touched. It´s normal.

 

A bit slimy maybe, But in this case it just seems excessive.... I'm going to wipe it off. I was just concerned that wiping it off might be bad (if it was meant to be like that in the first place). http://i.imgur.com/8sVsRLW.jpg

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The picture i used was just a random one i found from google. I was trying to point out the thermal pad/memory. Here is a close of pic of the actual card i just took - http://i.imgur.com/8sVsRLW.jpg

 

 

 

 

A bit slimy maybe, But in this case it just seems excessive.... I'm going to wipe it off. I was just concerned that wiping it off might be bad (if it was meant to be like that in the first place). http://i.imgur.com/8sVsRLW.jpg

You can wipe it if you want. Looks a bit odd. Normally the oils form in a circle pattern.

Nope nevermind that's just for single piece of pad per chip. With a long strip like that that makes sense.

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I sort of disagree with putting that on areas with thermal pads.

i have tested it and it gives better cooling because it will get a better contact to the component.

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Make sure to wipe it with something that doesn´t leave fibres. would be fucking annoying to have toiletpaper on TIM. (I totally have no experience of this kind of situations) :P

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