Why does my paste keep failing on my r9 290

[zx128k]

You have to cover the whole GPU die because there is no heat spreader. Not covering the whole GPU die could brick the card. It's better to cover the whole die and use a little too much. So cryonaut or other non conductive pastes would be ideal. AS5 conducts so is not a good idea. Replace the paste once every six months to a year.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

You have to cover the whole GPU die because there is no heat spreader. Not covering the whole GPU die could brick the card. It's better to cover the whole die and use a little too much. So cryonaut or other non conductive pastes would be ideal. AS5 conducts so is not a good idea. Replace the paste once every six months to a year.

What are you talking about? The heat sink compresses against the die just like with a CPU, and a small blob in the middle is all that is required.

Not covering the whole GPU die could brick the card

You've done this in the past??

 

[Armageus]

So cryonaut or other non conductive pastes would be ideal. AS5 conducts so is not a good idea. Replace the paste once every six months to a year.

AS5 isn't conductive anyway - it's slightly capacitive. Regardless it's old and outperformed by most thermal pastes anyway.

For longevity purposes even the very cheap MX2 will outlast almost anything with only a very small decrease in performance compared to other pastes

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Arctic MX-2 2019 Edition Thermal Compound (4g)= £3.95

Total: £12.65 (includes shipping: £8.70)​

​

 

[Phil2008]

What are you talking about? The heat sink compresses against the die just like with a CPU, and a small blob in the middle is all that is required.

It takes a little longer spreeding it, but I like to know that my cpu or gpu is all covered

You are wasting your time as there's nothing wrong with the paste. Why on earth are you using Furmark? If the GPU is sitting 60s to low 70s during gaming then all is fine.

The temps are 10c hotter when gaming aswel,, so when the paste has failed the temps are in the high 70's low 80's when gaming.

 

[Dervious]

What you are experiencing is called the pump-out effect. From a quick Google it seems AS-5 is actually one of the better ones with pastes like mx-4 failing after a couple of weeks,!

It seems that more viscosity the better for this application

Used MX-4 on my GTX1070 just over 12 months ago. Temps are still the same (maxxing at about 70C).

 

[Phil2008]

Well that didnt last long, the temps are back up, so Im going to try some Thermal Grizzly Kryonat and see if that will do any better, I just dont get why it keeps failing.

 

[Aretak]

I've been using Kryonaut on my cards for a while now and have had excellent results (and no sign of creeping temperatures), so it should solve your problem.

 

[3t3P]

As5 was old hat over five years ago, people clinging onto it. I used to use it CPUs and GPUs but didn't have problems but now on Kryonaut which is thick and I found a challenge to apply.

I will warm it up next time I apply. For GPUs ek recommend a union flag pattern on the GPU die i.e a lot of paste compared to a CPU.

 

[Phil2008]

I like using AS5 as it spreads quite easy and I haven't had problems, temp wise.

I will warm it up next time I apply. For GPUs ek recommend a union flag pattern on the GPU die i.e a lot of paste compared to a CPU.

The GPU on the r9 290 is quite small so a pea size is ample amount of paste... I think I will warm the paste up if its a pain to spread, thanks for the tip.

 

[JasonM]

I've mentioned before in this thread, but IC Diamond is a paste that does not go off. I've got computers built many years ago and same application still working fine I must have had over 20 applications of IC Diamond (CPU and graphics cards), and it's never once had to be changed.

I'm a big fan of Arctic Cooling CPU coolers, they always come with MX4. However I rate the IC Diamond that good I will always order in the IC Diamond despite already having MX4 to hand.

 

[FlyingScotsman]

Thermal Grizzly Kryonat is what you want, decent paste and holds up well.

 

[Rroff]

As5 was old hat over five years ago, people clinging onto it. I used to use it CPUs and GPUs but didn't have problems but now on Kryonaut which is thick and I found a challenge to apply.

I will warm it up next time I apply. For GPUs ek recommend a union flag pattern on the GPU die i.e a lot of paste compared to a CPU.

AS5 still works very well if applied properly - in my tests it comes so close to the latest all singing all dancing pastes when applied properly as makes no difference and has a proven track record unlike some. Most of the negative impressions people have of it are from reviewers who persist in applying all pastes the same for testing "consistency" using a method that has poorest performance for AS5 - though they responded to that and made the paste more tolerant of being used in different application methods - the older application guide for instance used to say expressly not to hand spread except for certain applications like some server/laptop scenarios (which I believe are direct die but not 100% on that off the top of my head).

I do not however recommend hand spreading AS5 and I wouldn't choose to use it on a GPU over some other alternatives. If people want to spread it then they'd be better off following the tinting process.

Well that didnt last long, the temps are back up, so Im going to try some Thermal Grizzly Kryonat and see if that will do any better, I just dont get why it keeps failing.

You persist in incorrectly applying it and wonder why it keeps failing I'd take Armageus's advice TBH and stick a reasonable size dollop of MX-2 on it and forget about it.

 

[tyler_jrb]

I always just put a + pattern across the entire length and width of the die about 3mm thick. I wouldn’t recommend a pea method as the paste needs to cover the entire die. In most cases with a gpu more is better. Just ensure you don’t use any paste that is electrically conductive with this method.

Used to use grizzly but gone back to my old stuff, due to dodgy batches. which is gelid gc extreme. It’s just as good from my testing and it’s cheap.

 

[Rroff]

I always just put a + pattern across the entire length and width of the die about 3mm thick. I wouldn’t recommend a pea method as the paste needs to cover the entire die. In most cases with a gpu more is better. Just ensure you don’t use any paste that is electrically conductive with this method.

Used to use grizzly but gone back to my old stuff, due to dodgy batches. which is gelid gc extreme. It’s just as good from my testing and a whole lot cheaper.

Depending on paste a single line across the longest side of the die (if the package isn't square) keeping a reasonable distance from the edges of the spreader usually works as optimally as anything. Blob in the middle will rarely be far behind in performance though.

 

[gpuerrilla]

Its supposed to fill in any micro pores or lines so that the metal contact to heatsink is optimum. Its not supposed to be applied like a cream layer on a sponge cake.

 

[arc@css]

I recently used some Kryonaut on my 980Ti and was pleasantly surprised by how much the temps dropped (they weren't that high to start with but I wanted to use it on this old beast before tinkering with my CPU). I applied a thin layer over the surface.

 

[Rroff]

Its supposed to fill in any micro pores or lines so that the metal contact to heatsink is optimum. Its not supposed to be applied like a cream layer on a sponge cake.

Might need a little more than is optimal for performance to get the best long term life out of it though. This is why tinting can be a useful practise with some pastes though.

 

[b00merang69]

Funny how on the same forum you can have very different opinions in threads on near same topic in a short space of time

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/which-thermal-paste.18863315/

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...onaut-not-recommended.18868896/#post-33123495


I will never buy/use Grizzly again as IMO its overrated/overpriced and did not get any better results than others I tried but was harder to use even heated.

It also suffer from pump out and the German guy tells you this in his videos, they had a video on the topic of Pump Out on another big YT channel.

I ended up going Liquid Metal on both CPU and GPU, may try his new Liquid Metal he hinted will be realised soon at in a recent video.

 

[tyler_jrb]

Its supposed to fill in any micro pores or lines so that the metal contact to heatsink is optimum. Its not supposed to be applied like a cream layer on a sponge cake.

On a gpu it doesn’t matter. Pretty sure GN did a test where he put an entire 5g tube of kryonaut onto a gpu die and it made no difference at all to temperatures. CPU is another story though.

 

[b00merang69]

^^ JayTwoCents did the same and makes no difference.

All sites do however say to cover every bit of the GPU die as it could kill it if part bare (seen someone getting mocked for saying this above), the GPU has no IHS unlike a CPU where the die is in the middle of the IHS mostly hence why a small pea dot that squashes to a circle works.

The die is already covered under the IHS at factory with hard crap that will not pump out same as Mobos chispets use the hard crap (Asus used pink bubble gum stuff in past), it got to last years without changing.