Can I replace Thermal pads with AS5?

[shamus8888]

Hi,

I recently bought an aftermarket cooler according to a PC magazines recommendation only to find out it doesn't fit! I have removed the original cooler from my 8800GTS w/o checking first

It seems that all the vrams use thermal pads and only the GPU uses thermal compound. I don't have any thermal pads at all around. I am wondering if it is safe just to use Arctic Silver 5 to replace them? The screws seem to be able to hold the cooler in place just find.

Thanks for any advice.

edit: Hmm, just did some googling and apparently thermal pads were used because of their thickness. If I use paste it may not even make contact... :< what if I apply a thicker layer? Any thoughts?

 

[shamus8888]

ok, I applied AS5 to where the pads used to be. Fingers crossed :<

Is there a way of telling if the GPU rams are overheating?

 

[MyLeftNut]

You could actually use thermal paste on the rams, but then there's the problem of thickness that must be filled. The thermal pads that were on previously were of a specific thickness, like 1mm or more. That means you gotta fill in 1mm of thermal paste for the heatsink to come in contact, which won't even be snug so conductivity will be compromised. Furthermore, AS5 is conductive and can potentially spill over to other parts of the card, especially since you probably need to put a lot on the rams to fill the void.

 

[BigMoosey74]

When you see wisps of smoke and smell that odor of when you put an aluminum pan in the microwave you will know when you have fried something....seriously. Thermal paste is not meant to be caked on like frosting. It is supposed to be applied in a very thin layer so that it fills the surface imperfections and allows the two components to make a uniform air tight seal. The best thing to do is wait until you can get some thermal pads to stick back on there. Some GDDR ram modules don't cooling but they were on there for a reason.

Which cooler did you get BTW? What did you do with the old pads?

 

[BassBomb]

I am pretty sure AS5 is conductive, so...... you probably are gonna ruin it

 

[Hauk]

Arcitc Ceramique not AS5! Ceramique is thick enough to stay put and a nice bead will bridge the gap.