If you dont remove the shim you need to be careful. What your need to do is put a glob on the clean core and put the hsf on(not clipped in) and see if the hsf made contact with the thermal paste. If not you need mroe compound
You can also use Arctic Ceramique....which is not conductive. I told it because my 9800pro died after someday after applying AS5. I didn't miss the touching stuff & checked that it properly done. But...........
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