DIY Quick Guide: TIM replacement in 15 minutes. (excellent results)

[wand3r3r]

DIY Quick Guide:
Thermal paste / Thermal Inteface Material (TIM) Replacement in 15 minutes.

Check out Intel's guide for basic info on replacing TIM.
Here is Intel's guide to applying TIM on CPUs.
http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-030329.htm

Disclaimer: Some manufacturers will void your warranty, while some will allow you to change the TIM. Verify that if you care. This guide is merely the way I have chosen to do things, there are varying opinions.

1. Pull of the (four) screws that actually hold the cooler on.
* Check out the cooler cables, some may need to be removed as you take the cooler off.

* Check for possible screws from the cooler to the endplate where the display connectors are.

2. Separate the Cooler from the PCB slowly, ensuring everything is disconnected.
* In this case I was able to keep the cooler wire connected the whole time since there was so much slack. Usually you need to disconnect it since there will only be an inch or so of slack. Be careful for this.

* Note the very poor TIM placement. It was completely dried and crusty as well as uneven.

3. Clean off the old TIM Thermal paste.
I simply used paper towels and scraped at it with my fingernails a bit until it broke loose. The mating surfaces have to be extremely clean so if you use paper products ensure you have cleaned off any remains.

Rubbing alcohol is commonly used, be careful if you go that route.

4. Apply new TIM.
The GPU doesn't have room to tighten and once the screws bottom out you can't go tighter. The pictures make it look like there's a lot of

TIM, however when spread out it's not very thick.
GPU vs. CPU
* There is debate about it does require more than a normal CPU. It is more then I would put on a CPU since a CPU needs a thin layer which is basically just barely adequate to "cover" the cpu.

5. Spread out the TIM (or put it in a dot / line / etc. in the center)
* I chose to use a plastic bag and smear it around and dab it gently until it was pretty uniform. The dots are not nearly the size they appear to be. There are many opinions on the proper way to put TIM on, read up and find your own way to do it (whether it's the dot / line / spread pattern).

6. Put it back together
Gently line up the coolers screw holes with the PCB while holding it upside down and gently start the screws on opposite corners.
Screw in each screw about 1/2 turn until they all bottom out. Don't twist hard or they will strip very easily and most manufacturers will

call it "physical" damage and won't RMA the video card.

7. Results.
Pretty dramatic, almost unbelievable with such a minor change. (I did de-dust it as well simultaneously, however it wasn't very dirty)

I didn't take any other screenshots but I was seeing the lower 90's which prompted a change.

Before: 87C
After: 78.5C

Note the Paste hasn't cured yet and could change a bit. Also with long running times the temperatures will go up (as would the before temps though too).

* Footnote
Do note that I wouldn't count on such dramatic results. Usually a couple degrees would be considered pretty decent.

 

[BrightCandle]

That is a lot paste you replaced it with. On a CPU core you want about a grain of rice worth and this didn't call for much more than that. What you have done is put a lot of paste between the metals, whereas your purpose with thermal paste is to fill in the air gaps and let the metals touch where they actually touch.

You literally should have used 1/10th the paste you did.

 

[crashtech]

Too much is better than not enough, the excess will squeeze out rapidly, especially when heated. Filling the gaps between the heatpipes with something heat conductive can't be bad. Even so, it probably was a bit much.

 

[wand3r3r]

That is a lot paste you replaced it with. On a CPU core you want about a grain of rice worth and this didn't call for much more than that. What you have done is put a lot of paste between the metals, whereas your purpose with thermal paste is to fill in the air gaps and let the metals touch where they actually touch.

You literally should have used 1/10th the paste you did.

I disagree, and so do my temps. I've done it before with the bare minimum and it wasn't good. The picture is taken from like inches away, those are NOT rice grain size drops. I can see the pictures are deceiving. In the end the layer was a noticeable thicker than I would put on a cpu. The GPU can only be set so tight and it bottoms out. If there is excess it certainly gets pushed out but leaving an air gap (not enough paste) would also be detrimental.

That image does skew it really badly. They were tiny little dabs of the tip of the TIM tube. None of them were near rice size yet they look like half the tube is on there.

Thanks for the opinion though and it will be useful for others since it's hard to judge from pictures.

Too much is better than not enough, the excess will squeeze out rapidly, especially when heated. Filling the gaps between the heatpipes with something heat conductive can't be bad. Even so, it probably was a bit much.

Yeah, as the old TIM demonstrated there are significant gaps!

I've used too little before so I'd rather use a touch extra or rather just enough.

 

[Tweak155]

Not to mention it rubs off on the material you choose to spread it with. It doesn't look terrible IMO.

 

[lavaheadache]

awesome results... everyone has an opinion about how much and how to apply TIM. IMO the subject is made out to be way more complicated than it is.

 

[f1sherman]

can't.
XFX... stickers on screws...EU
/cares-about-warranty

 

[wand3r3r]

awesome results... everyone has an opinion about how much and how to apply TIM. IMO the subject is made out to be way more complicated than it is.

Thanks.

That's true. I've seen too little, and what the manufacturer usually puts seems like too much. In the end a picture can hardly do justice anyway.

--

I forgot I should add a disclaimer to check your GPU warranty policy.

EVGA, MSI, ASUS = GO ahead
XFX = send them an email first iirc

Gigabyte was a maybe

Everyone else will void your warranty.

Email them and tell them to change if you care.

 

[KingFatty]

True, the initial amount was seemingly much, but he did spread it out with the plastic nicely and removed some that way.

Also, you could just slightly loosen the screws a little (keeping the spring force maintained on the heatsink) and wiggle the heatsink a little, which will push any excess off to the sides and ensure the heatsink isn't floating away from the GPU surface on a sea of thermal compound.

 

[SiliconWars]

Replacing the TIM on my 6850 dropped the temps by around 20C, from low-mid 80's to mid 60's. Anyone using mid-range cards and noticing temps in the 80's would probably see similar results. Obviously you can clean out the fan while doing it for better results.

 

[superrockie]

Thanks.

That's true. I've seen too little, and what the manufacturer usually puts seems like too much. In the end a picture can hardly do justice anyway.

--

I forgot I should add a disclaimer to check your GPU warranty policy.

EVGA, MSI, ASUS = GO ahead
XFX = send them an email first iirc

Gigabyte was a maybe

Everyone else will void your warranty.

Email them and tell them to change if you care.

You sure about msi? On mine gtx660ti there is a warrenty sticker on the screws for the heatsinks.

 

[wand3r3r]

Yes, I'm sure about MSI (USA anyway). You have to get it back to stock condition when returning it (without damage).

The MSI product MUST be free of any physical damage due to improper installation or modification of ANY kind (this includes installing aftermarket parts) or the warranty WILL be VOID.

The product MUST be returned to MSI in the original factory configuration and condition. All aftermarket modifications must be reversed prior to sending in the product for repair or replacement.

http://us.msi.com/service/warranty/

Then on their official forums the mods are telling people it's ok.

User

I got a question, if I want to clean/upgrade the stock cooler by removing the void sticker on one of the screws will that void my warranty?

Mod

as long as you keep it and do not damage the card while removing it the warranty is fine!

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=174490.0

 

[blastingcap]

I forgot I should add a disclaimer to check your GPU warranty policy.

XFX (north america only), MSI, EVGA let you replace TIM without voiding warranty. The rest no. You put ASUS on there but I have not seen anything saying they won't void warranty, ditto on all the others. We had a thread related to this several weeks ago when I last researched this topic, and I doubt things have changed since then.

As for TIM application, it is suboptimal to even spread the TIM on the GPU's heatspreader and then attach the cooler.

Some coolers (like this one apparently) have heatpipes that have crevices between them. It's proper to fill these with TIM (yes, apply the TIM to the crevices between the heatpipes!), then do the usual dot method on the GPU heatspreader (spread out with plastic bag and finger if you want). This is a trick that Cooler Master Hyper 212+ users have done for a long time.

 

[mindbomb]

i think you're a little too harsh on how asus does it. It would be too tedious for them to apply paste by hand for each individual gpu, and their application is consistent with what is possible with pre-applied thermal paste. The fact that this heatsink has direct contact heatpipes makes optimal paste spreading even harder.

 

[nwo]

can't.
XFX... stickers on screws...EU
/cares-about-warranty

Yep, this is true....

XFX... North Americans are only allowed to disregard the stickers on the screws according to the e-mail I received from them.

 

[bononos]

That is a lot paste you replaced it with. On a CPU core you want about a grain of rice worth and this didn't call for much more than that. What you have done is put a lot of paste between the metals, whereas your purpose with thermal paste is to fill in the air gaps and let the metals touch where they actually touch.

You literally should have used 1/10th the paste you did.

His heatsink has gaps btwn the heatpipes and the aluminium surface (better heatsinks have a totally flush base) so the excess will probably channel into the grooves and it might not be a bad thing.

 

[beginner99]

Plus didn't IDontcare in one of his epic threads use like way,way,way too much TIM and the effect was very little like + 2°C.

 

[Silverforce11]

It is better to have too much than too little, in my own experience... it's a sad tale..

When i was trying my ghetto mod on the R290, I went with least as possible TIM approach. I killed it, the TIM was too small and only formed a circle in the center of the die, nothing on the edges. Interestingly, the center of the die is most likely where the thermal sensor is, because it was reading ~60C core temps, then bam, dead! Took it apart and saw charred/faded (no longer reflective) die edges.

When you have too much, the pressure of the mount squeezes it out. When you have too little for it to spread, you risk a dead GPU.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I've noticed that my launch 7970 is starting to seem like temps are getting much higher. May be time to replace the aging TIM.

How long does this stuff generally last? It's usually like 2-3 years of actual effectiveness right?

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Thanks for the heads-up. I had noticed my year old ASUS HD7870 was starting to get a little warmer then usual. So poorly applied thermal paste may be the reason why. Good to know...

 

[coffeejunkee]

I think you should actually get extended warranty if you do this.

Your paste seems old though, or applied badly from the start. I changed tim on my card and it made maybe 1C difference.

Also, tim is nasty stuff, be careful when handling and don't just dump it in the trashcan. It's toxic waste.

 

[tolis626]

I think you should actually get extended warranty if you do this.

Your paste seems old though, or applied badly from the start. I changed tim on my card and it made maybe 1C difference.

Also, tim is nasty stuff, be careful when handling and don't just dump it in the trashcan. It's toxic waste.

Toxic?Why toxic?Didn't know that...

 

[coffeejunkee]

It contains heavy metals. Bad for your health and bad for the environment.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Plus didn't IDontcare in one of his epic threads use like way,way,way too much TIM and the effect was very little like + 2°C.

yeah, the excess gets squished out

the main reasons to be conservative with TIM are

1. to avoid mess via the displaced paste after it gets the "squish". Most pastes these days are non conducive, but there was a time when we had to worry about causing a short on older chips with older pastes. The added bonus is that the cleanup when reapplying new TIM and/or new cooler will be easier (or for just to disassemble for sale/storage).

2. to not waste money (good TIM isn't cheap)

concern over temps would be a distant 3rd for me

 

[Leyawiin]

Too much is better than not enough, the excess will squeeze out rapidly, especially when heated. Filling the gaps between the heatpipes with something heat conductive can't be bad. Even so, it probably was a bit much.

Yeah, there's not too much reason to be concerned if the TIM isn't electrically conductive. As you said, the excess gets squeezed out by the mounting pressure and heat. I don't use as much as the OP did, but I do use about two "grains" full on something like that.