ATI Thermal Pad Thickness

[ethos]

I'm going to replace the thermal pads on my ATI 5970, but was wondering if anyone knows what thickness I should be using (keeping the stock heatsink).

I can get 3mm, 1.5mm, 1mm or 0.5mm...

On a side note I'm right in saying there are no aftermarket coolers available for the 5970?

 

[gamerdude1989]

the thermal pads that come on graphics cards are junk. they are awesome for absorbing the heat, but no good at disipating it to the heatsink. Ive tested this in the past.
Manufactures only use thermal pads because of the poor designing of the cards heatsinks, so they dont actually touch the chips.
Personally what i do is get rid of the crappy pads, buy some arctic thermal compound and stick some alloy heatsinks on them.
BEWARE, thermal compound cannot be removed after it has dried, its on forever.

 

[ethos]

I'm not sure that would work with the 5970 heatsink design, I'd rather stick to the stock design and use thermal pads... but thanks for the reply.

Link to where the thermal pads are places currently:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/11/28/taking-apart-the-ati-radeon-hd-5970/2

 

[ethos]

Well I've opted for 3mm, should come next week.

 

[chaotic_uk]

the thickness varies i have notice on my 6970's and i have also been told this

 

[ethos]

the thickness varies i have notice on my 6970's and i have also been told this

Yeah, the pads I got are 3mm but compress to around 1.5mm so I'm hoping that should even out any differences.

I'm replacing them because I get screen corruption which I believe are a result of poor thermal pads.

 

[cancausecancer]

Yeah, the pads I got are 3mm but compress to around 1.5mm so I'm hoping that should even out any differences.

I'm replacing them because I get screen corruption which I believe are a result of poor thermal pads.

My 5970 is corrupting quite a bit so I'm on the hunt for cooling solutions. I can't buy any new games because it locks up fast when the card is stressed.

I'm getting the multi coloured checker blocks all over the screen and occasionally solid blinking black/white blocks in the Win GUI.

Did the pads change your situation?