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Stock TIM sucks!

C

cyclone3d

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So my 6870's were running way too hot when playing Crysis 2 (v-sync off)
and overclocked to 940/1150

Thought that they may be getting dusty so I took them out to clean them, but they barely had any dust on them at all... just a tiny bit that wouldn't make any difference.

Decided to replaced the stock TIM with some Diamond IC7.

With stock TIM:
Top card 88c
Bottom card 77c
Plus it locked up when the top card hit 88c, so I am sure it would have went higher.

With IC7:
Top Card 79c (was only at 77c at the same point where it had hit 88c before)
Bottom card 65c

9c and 12c temp difference is not bad for just changing the TIM.

I also noticed that they had different revisions of heatsinks on them.
The one has a copper base, and the other one has an aluminum base.

The bottom card had been the card with the copper base, so I moved it to the top.
 
That's true. I replaced both my card with IC Diamond myself. I got much better results at load with IC Diamond than MX 3. Also that white paste they used was all over the GPU and dripped down all the way to the capacitors. I had to use 99% isopropyl alcohol and a tooth pick to break that stuff off.
 
I opened my saphire 7970 and it had like 10x the amount of TIM required
 
GPU-Z reports 3 temps, my 3rd temp could reach up to 105-110 under 100% load which is crazy high and I have twin frozr III heatsink! After a lot of headache I was finally able to drop the temps about 30 degrees with Antec formula 7 paste (it's also diamond based), I warmed it up since it's supposed to be very thick then used a nice line application method. Temps maxes out in the 70s range only now (1st temp actually only reaches high 50s/low 60s), Idle temps are great in the 30s range across all 3 temps.

Spread method gave me very bad results using Noctua NT-H1 paste, I'll use line method and Antec F7 paste from now on until it gives me a problem in the temps.
 
It is normal and basically a must to replace thermal paste with your own on every piece of hardware you get -- GPU, CPU, motherboard chipset heatsinks, GPU/CPU/chipset in laptop (though some expensive and high quality laptops have TIM applied correctly with good paste).

*NEVER* trust a manufacturer to do it right for you. Use Arctic MX-4 or something more effective (I haven't been keeping up on these), and you will more than likely see temps drop.
 
Cerulean said:
It is normal and basically a must to replace thermal paste with your own on every piece of hardware you get -- GPU, CPU, motherboard chipset heatsinks, GPU/CPU/chipset in laptop (though some expensive and high quality laptops have TIM applied correctly with good paste).

*NEVER* trust a manufacturer to do it right for you. Use Arctic MX-4 or something more effective (I haven't been keeping up on these), and you will more than likely see temps drop.
Click to expand...

Yep. I hadn't bothered to do so when I first got the cards because they weren't giving me any trouble at the time. Most likely because it was winter and the house was plenty cool.

One of the cards had the white junk on it and it had run down everywhere. The other had the grey stuff, but too much of it.

Replacing crappy TIM on a laptop can make it a whole lot cooler. I have seen up to 20c cooler load temps on a laptop CPU with just using cheapy TIM.
 
I'd like to do this on video cards, but doesn't it void the warranty?
 
Cerulean said:
It is normal and basically a must to replace thermal paste with your own on every piece of hardware you get -- GPU, CPU, motherboard chipset heatsinks, GPU/CPU/chipset in laptop (though some expensive and high quality laptops have TIM applied correctly with good paste).

*NEVER* trust a manufacturer to do it right for you. Use Arctic MX-4 or something more effective (I haven't been keeping up on these), and you will more than likely see temps drop.
Click to expand...

I've yet to replace any on my desktop or laptop. I wouldn't say its a must by any stretch. But for some people, i'd agree its a good idea.
 
to damn scared i'd stuff up my card doing it :) Just live with whatever cooling it got :p Some ppl have got worse results after replacing stock tim, but nice results man.
 
grambo said:
I'd like to do this on video cards, but doesn't it void the warranty?
Click to expand...

allen5055 said:
How does this affect warranty? I'd do this if it didn't lose warranty.
Click to expand...

I think it depends on the manufacturer. I would contact whoever made your card to find out for sure. My cards only had a 1 year warranty on them cause they were refurbs so I wasn't too worried about it.

Actually, I have never really worried about it. It is not like they are going to do a chemical test on the TIM on your card if you send it in for warranty.

KaptainKhaos said:
to damn scared i'd stuff up my card doing it :) Just live with whatever cooling it got :p Some ppl have got worse results after replacing stock tim, but nice results man.
Click to expand...

If they got worse results, then they did it wrong or used horrible TIM.
 
Hmm...I should do this, especially with 2 cards in my case.

Would like to know about the warranty thing as well.
 
Is arctic silver 5 effective in replacing stock TIM on a video card? That is all I have in my stock of PC supplies.
 
I would say so. Just make sure not to get it all over other components since I believe AS5 is capacitive.
 
biggles said:
Is arctic silver 5 effective in replacing stock TIM on a video card? That is all I have in my stock of PC supplies.
Click to expand...

Don't use AS5. if it gets off whatever chip you intended, bad things happen. Use Shin or other non conductive/capacitive Tim.
 
Skripka said:
Don't use AS5. if it gets off whatever chip you intended, bad things happen. Use Shin or other non conductive/capacitive Tim.
Click to expand...

Is that a graphics card specific recommendation, or do you mean it is unwise to use as5 on cpu/heatsink as well?

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-January-2012/1468/5

Do folks here agree with the results of this analysis? I just remembered that I have some Prolimatech thermal paste leftover from when I bought the Prolimatech Armageddon heatsink. Would that be a good choice for redoing the video card?
 
biggles said:
Is that a graphics card specific recommendation, or do you mean it is unwise to use as5 on cpu/heatsink as well?

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-January-2012/1468/5

Do folks here agree with the results of this analysis? I just remembered that I have some Prolimatech thermal paste leftover from when I bought the Prolimatech Armageddon heatsink. Would that be a good choice for redoing the video card?
Click to expand...

I was being GPU specific. Especially for AMD cards with exposed cores. CPUs are much more forgiving.
 
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