Thermal paste reapply on gpu die, this time temp dropped by 20°c

[Adelin]

Hello,

I just cleaned dust, cleaned heat sink and gpu die with acetone first, then 90% vol Alcohol, replaced mx4 thermal paste with another thin line of mx-4 again, placed heatsink and tighten screw but not overtighting them.

And contrary to other time i had to replace thermal paste on hd7870 dualx v2 oc card, temp droped from 81 ° c to 60 °c up to 63°c 99% gpu usage in witcher 3.

I tryed crysis 3 bf1 Watch dogs 2 and many other games, gpu fans are not grinding anymore, and gpu temp is cool ( 23 °c room temp)

Even when i bought the card, i never got so low temp running games at 99% gpu usage like creed serie ( paris London...) and i found dual x fans was very loud.

I had to buy Chinese dual x fan replacement , they was grinding more and more after few month.

But still, it never fixed high temperature at 99% load.

I dunno what happend, for my Gpu.

i always put a very small dot of thermal past for both cpu and gpu , just enough when i remove the heatsink to see metal through thermal past, and it never spread past die.

About GPU, it's a square die, i changed for the half rice grain dot to little line middle of the square, still i don't understand how temp could drop by 20 ° c.

What i did wrong in previous thermal paste apply ? never got this problem with cpu ( i5 4670k)

I don't think it's thermal paste quantity, as i always tryed to not fill the die with nutella method ^^
And i always tighten with force sxrew in square two turn by two turn each tiùe, (not over tighting again.)

Actually i did a custom GPu bios update to get UEFI csm disabled in uefi bios.
And upgraded microcode + other modules with UBU tools, but it neverr changed anything off course to gpu temp.

Maybe it was some dust still there on the gpu die, even if i use dedicated micro fiber to removeb dust once thermal paste is removed with coffee filter paper.

Ok at last i'm really discovering for the first time silence while playing games like witcher 3 that is gpu heavy ( 23 to 36 % cpu usage of a i54670k at 4 Ghz 1.120v (i sayd 1.20 but it's 1.120)

If anyone has an idea of what happend, thanks a lot.

[chiefputsilao✖️ping]

you used a more superior thermal paste -vs- you used adequate thermal paste than the factory installation

[Adelin]

It's possible, but i already have the mx-4 since three years, same tube, it's the fourth time i reapply it to the GPU.

I did a last hope try yesterday, after watching linus video about how to apply thermal paste. And i applyed less thermal pastethan him ( gpu die is small on hd 7870)


I have a theory, My hd7870 fromm sapphire was refurbished, and maybe it was a bended card. To remove dust i used a Hair dryer, but this time forgot to apply cold, and it was on max temp , heatsink was burning my hand doing this, and i did it to gpu die too.

Maybe it fixed something ?

I checked the screw springs, and springs was ok, not compressed when removed, so it's not springs been overtight either...

Anyway thanks for the repply, the thing is it work well today, everything is fine :)

[Revelene]

Could be a whole bunch of reasons. No one knows.

As far as "putting a small dot for cpu and gpu", that may have been your problem. Sounds like you may have been putting too little.

When using thermal paste, the only problem that would cause overheating involving paste would be using too little. Get non-conductive paste and you can not worry about excess as much.

As the saying goes, a pea sized dot of paste, then even tightening of the screws. If you don't tighten it evenly, you'll get uneven spread. Finger tight, no tools. If you use tools, you can easily damage something.

[Adelin]

Thank you very much, about screw, it's why there are Torque tables available to check wich force to apply to each type if screw, same for care parts, Figuring things by hand, now i just try to just get a small resist, when i was younger, i destroyed lots of screw , i'm happy it's not the case anymore ^^^

About thermal paste, i already heard about : Bare metal against bare metal would be ideal if there was no gap, Thermal paste fill the gap, too much is not efficient, and like you sayd, not enough, is not doing it's job.

MX-4 and most paste in the market spread really easy once screwing, easy to check by removing heatsink, I guess we need time to learn what method is best to use, + quantity, it may explain everything, have a good day Revelene :) and Chief

[Malygos]

Dont put a pea size put an x on there i have mx4 and saw a few degrees drop off the stock stuff gpu's need more than cpu's

[Adelin]

Yep another method.
The line along the middle lenght of the gpu die worked yesterday, in witcher 3 temp is still 60 to 63 with peak to 65 ( 60°c 2050 T /min instead of 81 °c 3100 T min , maxed fan couldnb't turn more to lower temp. Yesterday when i removed the heatsink, it was with dot size method, all the die was full of thermal paste, same for a square at the heatsink. I f i judge from the quantity i saw, it was a small layer with metal visible, but for sure, there was thermal paste in enough quantity for a cpu.

Now Jefedemuchanina you say a Pea size may be not enough and X work, I checked few forums, and it depend of heatsinks, some got large gap with gpu die , and it need different type of thermal component, to be thick enough.

At last i'm learning new things every time :)

Oh and by the way, the thermal compound was not dry, i could remove it in three to four pass without having to apply force to the cleaning clothe. (not the same as micro fiber i use to remove dust after cleaning.

Some users need to put less thermal past than on cpu others more, ?

[Malygos]

Originally posted by Adelin:

Yep another method.
The line along the middle lenght of the gpu die worked yesterday, in witcher 3 temp is still 60 to 63 with peak to 65 ( 60°c 2050 T /min instead of 81 °c 3100 T min , maxed fan couldnb't turn more to lower temp. Yesterday when i removed the heatsink, it was with dot size method, all the die was full of thermal paste, same for a square at the heatsink. I f i judge from the quantity i saw, it was a small layer with metal visible, but for sure, there was thermal paste in enough quantity for a cpu.

Now Jefedemuchanina you say a Pea size may be not enough and X work, I checked few forums, and it depend of heatsinks, some got large gap with gpu die , and it need different type of thermal component, to be thick enough.

At last i'm learning new things every time :)

Oh and by the way, the thermal compound was not dry, i could remove it in three to four pass without having to apply force to the cleaning clothe. (not the same as micro fiber i use to remove dust after cleaning.

Some users need to put less thermal past than on cpu others more, ?

The gap size is only important for thermal pads gpu's need more paste because its direct contact theres no other method of tranfering heat to the heatsink like with a cpu you have an ihs between them ive never seen the pea method even used on gpu's because it wont be enough. But depending on the size you may have to use more than on another but its still an x method

[Adelin]

In my mind with an ihs you cover more field with heatsink than with direct contact die to heatsink that has a small surface, like on some athlon xp i got before. If well mounted and i don't care damaging cpu, direct contact, has not to get through thermal past under IHS + another layer of thermal past outside the iHS ?

In theory it has advantage but not by a very high margin.

For me, when i cook something, to a vitroceramic oven, If a pan or pot is not plane, it would be almost impossible to cook something (too much Air between the vitroceramic, and pan and only a small contact surface)

Now apply more thermal paste to gpu is to be sure every areas of the dir are covered, because with IHS you don't need to cover everything, larger contact surface improve everything ?

I htought you was meaning direct metal to metal if there was no gap, would not conduct heat enough . bah anyway cross method has be en used by many people, and there was no bubbles, contrary to sometime when you apply thermal paste with credit card enbtirely to die, it may trap air.

So why not for the next time i try to swap cpu stock thermal paste :)

[Revelene]

Originally posted by jefedemuchanina:

Dont put a pea size put an x on there i have mx4 and saw a few degrees drop off the stock stuff gpu's need more than cpu's

The saying is more of a guide, rather than actual directions.

The point is to not put too little or too much. Too little can cause poor heat transfer, while too much can be a mess.

[Adelin]

Ok,

So i remember a thing with my hd 7870 dual x, when i take it carefully, i see it bend a little, it's like if the back of the card was moving, i think it's not the last pipe, but only plastic where fans are mounted.

if i check again my memory ( i have a bad memory lol) , i had the fearthe gpu and heatsink could dismount one day at the center from bending.

A bit like the heavy chaintech hd 4600 where i saw plastic bending over time.

I think it's possible when i take the card that plastic at oposite side of the heatsink bend a little and there would be some sort of circle form where gpu is, not really visible.

Maybe it's when i put the card inside the tower, where it loose maybe 1/10 mm of contact with the heatsinik .
nah i'm not sure.

But it could be an interesting theory if it was true. not sure of it