Foam heatspreaders on 3870?

almichev · 23 Jul 2008 at 18:41

Hi, I'm replacing the stock cooler on my 3870 with a Gfxchilla. Supplied with it are some foam heatspreaders to placed around the gpu. Is this safe? As some of the elements surrounding the gpu will be covered if I put them on.

Thanks all.

Cob · 23 Jul 2008 at 18:47

Foam?

almichev · 23 Jul 2008 at 18:50

Instructions call them spacer strips and they feel like thick foam or rubber. Am not sure if i need them on the 3870. Are heatspreaders a big issue?

Tetras · 23 Jul 2008 at 18:58

I could be wrong but I think the pads you are talking about are for raising the heatsink up so that it doesn't crush the GPU core. You'd use them if the core is higher than the PCB surround.

Cob · 23 Jul 2008 at 19:01

Aaaaah spacers. They'll be there to stop you tightening down the heatsink too tightly and crushing the chip.

Which elements will they be covering? SMP capacitors and resistors?

almichev · 23 Jul 2008 at 19:01

Tetras said:
I could be wrong but I think the pads you are talking about are for raising the heatsink up so that it doesn't crush the GPU core. You'd use them if the core is higher than the PCB surround.

You're right. I've just found an article showing how they are applied and that looks like the case.

Thanks for the replies guys. Always appreciated.

almichev · 23 Jul 2008 at 19:06

Cob said:
Aaaaah spacers. They'll be there to stop you tightening down the heatsink too tightly and crushing the chip.

Which elements will they be covering? SMP capacitors and resistors?

It would cover the smaller elements on the pcb, as the strips are attached to that and not surrounding it like thought.