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Need help on how to apply thermal paste on a GPU.

Sylver123

Sylver123

Sylver123

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Joined
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Hi

I am am planning on upgrading my laptop to a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480M GPU but i`m not sure how to apply thermal paste onto the GPU core the correct way and how much thermal paste is needed.

Can someone please give me some information on the best way to apply the thermal paste on a GPU and how much thermal paste I should put on?

Thanks for responding.

Sylver123.
 
I have never done anything like this before but are you sure a pea sized blob isn`t going to be too much for a GPU?

The reason why I ask the above is because a GPU core is a lot smaller than a CPU core.
 
I use a piece of clingfilm on the end of my finger to spread a tiny amount of paste very thinly on the gpu until its covered,job done !!

Been doing it this way for years;)

Rob
 
Half the size of a grain of rice. In the middle, don't spread it other wise you could introduce air.
 
go to the thermal paste makers website and look at their recommended method of applying.
 
why do people allways think they know better than the manufactuers, these companies spend an awefull lot of money researching and creating these pastes, so im sure they konw the best way to apply them.
or do people think these thermal pastes are knocked up in someones shed withot any research or testing.
 
Pea size blob. Check about, the cling film and spreading method may work acceptably but every test shows that it leaves air pockets. Let the pressure do the spreading.
 
Dont use a pea sized blob on a GPU or you will end up covering the whole PCB as well.

Half a rice grain is usually enough, up to a single line no longer than 5 mm.
 
Havent read this thread so apols if htis has already been said....

I only own nvidia so cannot comment on ATI

I use the EK" method

Make like a start with the paste, seems to work a treat...

X X
X X
XX XXX
X
X X
X X

Hope that gives you the idea..

Argh its igonoring my spaces... Ill do a pic...
 
bru said:
why do people allways think they know better than the manufactuers, these companies spend an awefull lot of money researching and creating these pastes, so im sure they konw the best way to apply them.
or do people think these thermal pastes are knocked up in someones shed withot any research or testing.
Click to expand...

Its a bit like the people on forum posting when they have no clue what their talking about :rolleyes:

Do you think Asus or msi as an example would employee someone to spread the TIM as a nice thin layer making sure we get 100% contact before we get them or is more likely that they produce a very cost effective average TIM and a automated process just puts a moosive blob on the gpu thus mass producing them. It's all about £££££ for them not putting TIM correctly.
 
I've never had a GPU with Tim applied as best as it could be. Every card I've had has benefited by around a 5-10 degree temperature reduction when I reapplied the tim myself. The stock paste is usually of the lowest / cheapest quality, and they always use an overly excessive amount of this crap which only serves to insulate the GPU and make it run hotter.

My current MSI Cyclone cards are the only ones that I havnt taken the stock cooler off on to replace the tim, as surprisingly the temperatures are already by far the lowest I've ever seen for an overclocked dual card setup, so theres no need to change the Tim on them.

littlepuppy said:
Do it like this
Click to expand...

That seems a good method for Nvidia GPUs, I tend to forget about the much larger heatspreader they already place over the GPU. On Ati cards, you only have a tiny exposed GPU core where you only need a tiny amount of thermal paste, whereas on the bigger Nvidia heatspreaders, you would need to put on a bit more.
 
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Thanks guys for responding.

The GPU will be coming with some thermal paste but i`m not sure what kind or what make the paste will be.

I have some Arctic Cooling MX-4 thermal paste i`ll probably use instead of the paste that comes with it.
 
Bhavv

Y deffo works well, best drop ive seen was around 20 degrees...

I have 0 experience of ATI cards but from what you are saying that is much more similar to a CPU application.
 
littlepuppy said:
I have 0 experience of ATI cards but from what you are saying that is much more similar to a CPU application.
Click to expand...

Much less than a CPU too, I dug up a picture from my Imageshack of my previous 5770s:

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/7180/p1520021109.jpg

The silver part in the middle is all you want the paste on, if you apply just a little too much, it spills oner onto the green part and then you have to spend ages swabbing it off.

Nvidia cards would need a lot more paste to get the GPU heatspreader fully covered.
 
Hi guys.

Here is a screenshot of what the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480M GPU looks like.
2mzl9wk.jpg


I take it the same methods of apply the thermal paste to a CPU and how much thermal paste would also apply to the NVIDIA GTX 480M GPU?
 
Last edited:
oooo shiny :D very small amount, grain of rice max (an actual pea-sized blob would flow over the edges when heatsink is pushed down). If ur concerned put some paste on, push the heatsink into place, remove heatsink, see if u got good spread of paste, clean and redo applying more or less than before.
 
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