Thermal pads for full cover blocks

R.C.Anderson · 11 Jul 2014 at 01:43

I'm planning to redo the thermal paste on my graphics cards (7970s, with aquacomputer full cover blocks) when I get the chance. I found out that the blocks need 0.5mm thermal pads, so I bought some from elsewhere (ocuk didn't have stock at the time), but it turned out it was 1mm stuff.

Would it be ok to use it anyway? As thermal pads are quite flexible, would it just compress and be fine?

pastymuncher · 11 Jul 2014 at 08:58

There's a good chance that you wouldn't get contact in all the important bits. You can get 0.5mm pads and the first place i checked had several makes in stock.

jimhaumman · 11 Jul 2014 at 15:06

You might be fine,I used 1mm instead of 0,7mm,no problems.

breadturbo · 11 Jul 2014 at 16:57

Not sure if the AQ blocks are the same but, EK blocks use .5mm on the memory, and 1mm i think on the vrm's.

R.C.Anderson · 13 Jul 2014 at 17:13

hmm, different opinions, not sure what to do.

@breadturbo, I asked the customer services directly, and they said 0.5mm, the memory chips on these blocks just use thermal paste.

tribz · 13 Jul 2014 at 18:35

I've used thicker in the past. By the time you've screwed the block on, they'll have gone thinner.

DJ_Bucho · 14 Jul 2014 at 20:41

I honestly don't think .5 of a mm is going to make any difference at all. Just make sure when you screw your cooler down that you apply even pressure to the whole card and if your a little concerned squeeze the card against the cooler to squash the thermal pads a little more.