RX 480 Thermal Replacement

[MlnmFlcn]

I have a pair of reference RX 480 8gb cards. Over the time I've had them, I've noticed that the temperatures while doing the same stuff (even down to the same version of furmark and unigine heaven) have risen by almost 10 degrees. And yes, I accounted for ambient temperature. Anyway, I'm going to replace the thermal paste and thermal pads on my cards. (Warranty is up, so not an issue).

 

I have 2.1 questions about this plan: 

1. What is a good thermal paste to use for this (on Amazon)?

2: What is the thickness of the thermal pads? (Or what thickness of the thermal pads would work?)

2.1: Does it matter what thermal pads I use? If so, recommendations?

 

Thanks all

[W-L]

9 minutes ago, MlnmFlcn said:

I have a pair of reference RX 480 8gb cards. Over the time I've had them, I've noticed that the temperatures while doing the same stuff (even down to the same version of furmark and unigine heaven) have risen by almost 10 degrees. And yes, I accounted for ambient temperature. Anyway, I'm going to replace the thermal paste and thermal pads on my cards. (Warranty is up, so not an issue).

I have 2.1 questions about this plan: 

1. What is a good thermal paste to use for this (on Amazon)?

2: What is the thickness of the thermal pads? (Or what thickness of the thermal pads would work?)

2.1: Does it matter what thermal pads I use? If so, recommendations?

Thanks all

For thermal paste MX4, Gelid Extreme, Kryonaut are all good options, for thermal pads you can reuse the ones on the card as long as they aren't torn, just note if you are replacing them you need to get ones that are of the same thickness.  

[MlnmFlcn]

16 minutes ago, W-L said:

For thermal paste MX4, Gelid Extreme, Kryonaut are all good options, for thermal pads you can reuse the ones on the card as long as they aren't torn, just note if you are replacing them you need to get ones that are of the same thickness.  

Thanks. Do you happen to know the thickness of the thermal pads on a reference RX 480, or what a normal thickness might be? 

[W-L]

2 minutes ago, MlnmFlcn said:

Thanks. Do you happen to know the thickness of the thermal pads on a reference RX 480, or what a normal thickness might be? 

Your best option would be to check the original thickness of the thermal pads using a pair of calipers. There is no set thickness every card is different and may use multiple thicknesses for different areas of the card. 

[MlnmFlcn]

Update: I elected to take apart one of my cards, to see how the thermal paste is and try to figure out the thermal pad thickness. 

 

The thermal paste definitely needs some replacing. Some people call thermal paste "thermal grease", but this paste is not exactly greasy. It's REALLY dry and crumbly- I got some on my shirt while taking it off because it crumbled while I was taking the cooler off. And I was able to scrape the bit that I got on my shirt off.

 

 

 

As far as the thermal pads, they aren't too bad, but 3 of them are ripped. They appear to be 1.0mm, right? Is it possible for a 1.5mm thermal pad to shrink that much or something?

[Tz000]

Not sure if you have looked into it but I have seen a few videos of people putting liquid metal thermal paste on gpus and getting very good results... not sure how long it lasts or any potential dangers but it may be something to look at.. especially with the reference style coolers you have + your already taking the cards apart might as well put the best thing you can in there.  Iv heard of people knocking 10degrees off temps

 

https://www.amazon.com/Thermal-Grizzly-Conductonaut-Grease-Paste/dp/B01A9KIGSI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1511916961&sr=8-2&keywords=liquid+metal+thermal+paste

 

 

[W-L]

18 minutes ago, MlnmFlcn said:

Update: I elected to take apart one of my cards, to see how the thermal paste is and try to figure out the thermal pad thickness. 

 

The thermal paste definitely needs some replacing. Some people call thermal paste "thermal grease", but this paste is not exactly greasy. It's REALLY dry and crumbly- I got some on my shirt while taking it off because it crumbled while I was taking the cooler off. And I was able to scrape the bit that I got on my shirt off.

As far as the thermal pads, they aren't too bad, but 3 of them are ripped. They appear to be 1.0mm, right? Is it possible for a 1.5mm thermal pad to shrink that much or something?

 

From what it looks like ti seems to be 1mm thick, check the other, 1.5mm might work but if it's too thick it will squish too much and potentially bow the card.