Use thermal Paste on new Video card?

TBONEU

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 5, 2003
Messages
500
Just wondering if any one recommends applying aftermarket thermal paste to a newly bought video graphics card? I would think that it won't be a huge difference, but is there?

TIA
 
Personally I always apply aftermarket TM to practically everything, but that's really only because I'm a perfectionist, and I hate not doing everything :p The difference can vary quite a bit, but it's rarely anything major. If you're graphics card is a high end card, then it's most likely got a pretty good TM applied from the factory. The biggest problem most cards come with is too much TM, but again, not too major an issue.
 
I don't think it's worth it. Not enough of a different for it to be worth your time. Plus GPUs are meant to be hot, they can take up to 90C I think. So, if it's nowhere near that high, don't bother.
 
No point. The stock cooling on most video cards is plenty sufficient and there's no need to apply your own thermal compound.
 
I'll buck the trend here and say that it really depends on the card. Low to mid end cards (my 7600GT comes to mind) usually have a glop of TIM, which I consider too much. Usually I have to clean up around the chip too since the glob usually spreads beyond just the chip surface. Newer cards, like my 8800GT, were fine however. I always do it out of habit though (just like how I reapply paste on northbridge and southbridge).

Nothin you can lose from applying your own TIM though, unless you mount the heatsink improperly after you're done applying it. You might gain about 2 degrees C from it.
 
Thanks for the help guys.

I have a new GTX 260 so I'm not going to worry about it. Heck, I'm not sure how to even get the cover off it if I did.
 
with my 8800 i dropped almost 10c by applying as5. the stuff that was on there was all dried up and hard. i would say do it.
 
Make sure you aren't risking your warranty if you do it though - if you replace the stock stuff with AS5 or something, it's going to be really obvious if you return it.
 
with my 8800 i dropped almost 10c by applying as5. the stuff that was on there was all dried up and hard. i would say do it.

Make sure you aren't risking your warranty if you do it though - if you replace the stock stuff with AS5 or something, it's going to be really obvious if you return it.

I also got pretty decent drops in temps when I replaced my 8800GT's thermal paste - nothing extraordinary, but aournd 4-5C. But remember the waranty, as above. If you don't know what you're doing, rather don't, as you can damage the card should you frolic around whilly-nilly trying to pry off the stock cooler. :D
 
Theirs tons of non-conductive and cheap thermal compound out there now that it wouldn't be a big deal. However if its a brand new card and your not gonna overclock on it theirs no real reason to apply your own as manufacturers do a decent job nowadays.
 
Typically there is almost no benefit to using different thermal pastes. If your card is in the normal operating range changing thermal paste won't generally get you too much. Really short of going to water cooling or a vastly superior aftermarket heat sink and fan you won't get significantly better cooling without cranking the fan up to annoying levels.

There are exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking you won't drop your temperatures by changing thermal paste.
 
i did see a decent drop when i cleaned my 7600gt, 8800gts 640 and my 8800gts 512. my main purpose of cleaning and replacing the thermal pads is so i can push the card as far as i can without worrying about how high them temp was.
 
well some manufactures are allowing 3rd party coolers and not voiding the warranty...If yours does that I say go for it. IF NOT just applying the paste will void it.
 
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