How should I attach VRam sinks

[cj3waker]

Ive got a 6950 on the way in for my new eyefinity setup and Im going to be using it in conjuction with an accelero xtreme plus.

I dont want to use the provided thermal adhesive and permanently attach the heatsinks.

It seems you can dilute the adhesive with TIM to weaken the bond, has anyone done this?

Or should I just use thermal tape? I would just go for that but im a bit skeptical about its heat transfer properties

 

[Gorilla]

I would probably just use thermal tape.
If you don't have any, see this thread: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1581427&highlight=thermal+tape

Of course, I have never really compared performance between pads and tape.

 

[XacTactX]

GDDR5 tends to be so cool running that some video cards (the 6850 I had, GDDR5 @ 4000MHz QDR) did not have any form of cooling on the RAM chips. My point is, that though differences in heat conductivity may exist between thermal tape and a pure thermal epoxy or a mix of epoxy and thermal compound, it will not be a deciding factor in anything.

It won't make a difference, if you're comfortable mixing epoxy and compound, go for it, if you want to pick up some thermal tape, you can do that too. IIRC Alumina calls for a 1:1 ratio of Alumina to either AS5 or Ceramique, but the ratio will depend on your epoxy and thermal compound, so check out the manufacturer's site.

 

[limitedaccess]

Try epoxy or tape on 2 corners only and using normal thermal paste for the rest. This used to be a commonly accepted method "back in the days" so to speak. You could always do a test run on something else to see the bond is strong enough yet easily removable.

 

[cj3waker]

jsut pulled the trigger on the Sekisui. its hard to go wrong for $3.50 shipped