Reapplying GPU thermal paste?

[k-x3]

I am getting pretty decent temps on my 6850s but i always believe that there is room for improvement so i decided to reapply my thermal compound on my GPU.

I generally use the pea method to apply thermal compound onto my cpu(one small dot right in the middle of the CPU) However, i have no idea what the idea way is to apply thermal compound on a GPU.. will the same small dot in the middle method work just as well for GPUs? or is there another way to apply it? I believe i watched a video of someone spreading it out with a card.

Any help from anyone with experience would be much appreciated

Note: Using arctic cooling MX-4

[TechFan@ic]

Applying thermal paste on a GPU is trickier because the GPU size is smaller while the active die size is larger, so you have to make sure you are spreading a very thin layer evenly across the entire GPU .

[Wats]

Make sure you spread it out! Don't rely on the heatsink to do it. It's a diode, not an IHS. Very thin layer, remember. I bet you wont see an improvement though... The best thing you can do is to use a small paint brush and dust the under side of the fans while its all taken apart. I did that and it brought my temps down far more than reapplying the thermal gunk with MX4

[Fordox]

Make sure you spread it out! Don't rely on the heatsink to do it. It's a diode, not an IHS. Very thin layer, remember. I bet you wont see an improvement though... The best thing you can do is to use a small paint brush and dust the under side of the fans while its all taken apart. I did that and it brought my temps down far more than reapplying the thermal gunk with MX4

google diode and gpu, those are completely diffrent :P but your point is right.

[Fordox]

On amd it does work the same as on a cpu. but be sure your thermal paste is non cuncustive ;)

de excessive thermal compound will be flowed out to the lower area on the gpu, which is good. as long as you wont put a whole tube on it :P

be ware: Nvidia uses heatspreaders (quite large) so you need more thermal compund than a cpu. AMD has small die's.

[k-x3]

On amd it does work the same as on a cpu. but be sure your thermal paste is non cuncustive ;)

de excessive thermal compound will be flowed out to the lower area on the gpu, which is good. as long as you wont put a whole tube on it :P

be ware: Nvidia uses heatspreaders (quite large) so you need more thermal compund than a cpu. AMD has small die's.

You mean non-conductive right? I believe that the MX-4 issnt? I do also have a tube of AS5 but i heard that even though it is supposedly non-conductive, they do carry a certain electrical conductivity so i think i better stay on the safe side(:

[k-x3]

From what i gather so far, the best way is to apply thermal compound sparingly and spread it out evenly to form a thin layer over the GPU. Won't spreading thermal compound with a card or something similar cause air bubbles?

[Fordox]

On amd it does work the same as on a cpu. but be sure your thermal paste is non cuncustive ;)

de excessive thermal compound will be flowed out to the lower area on the gpu, which is good. as long as you wont put a whole tube on it :P

be ware: Nvidia uses heatspreaders (quite large) so you need more thermal compund than a cpu. AMD has small die's.

Yes you are right on all notes :)

except for one, it is widly regarded that AS5 is conductive ;) so you are safe to go with mx-4 (which i also use)

[Whaler_99]

FYI - AS5 IS non conductive... Spreading, I put a ziplock over my finger and gently spread it out....

[BenHTBDT]

I just wouldn't do it. The thermal solutions on GPU's are the limiting factor, not the transfer between the solution and the GPU itself. In other words, it'd be like having a really crappy heatsink on your CPU, and replacing the thermal paste on it (which the stuff that's on it, is probably better, and at the very least, properly applied, compared to what you're going to put on it.), and expecting an improvement. There won't be much of an impact if any. Your bottleneck is the cooler itself, not the paste. Nothing you can do but watercool, or add one of the custom air coolers. Which thats $$$$$$.

Is it running HOT? Keep in mind, GPU's run much hotter than CPU's by design. They're built to run at 70-85C while that would be nearly fatal to a CPU.

[mgsstar]

If you want to reapply gpu thermal paste, then apply a thin layer and spread it using a bag to cover your finger and make sure you don't have any air bubbles in the compound when you are spreading.