how much thermalpaste on the GPU?

[aNoN_]

Hello, i never seem to get this right. My 8800gtx is ideling at about 75 degreeds celcius. I open the card remove the cooler and look if the thermalpaste is covering the whole gpu together with the cooler and it does, looks like i have full contact between them. And the fan and heatsink seem OK, no dust or anything there, clean and looks right. Now i dont know if i should add more paste or remove to make a super thin layer? How thin or thick is the layer supposed to be? Or is it something else i am doing wrong?

Many thanks!


Ps, i use Arctic silver 5

[theToX]

the layer should be as thin as possible.

is it the stock cooler? have you tried adjusting the fan speed inside of the nvidia control panel? considered moving to a aftermarket cooler like the Thermalright HR-03?

[aNoN_]

the layer should be as thin as possible.

is it the stock cooler? have you tried adjusting the fan speed inside of the nvidia control panel? considered moving to a aftermarket cooler like the Thermalright HR-03?

Thanks for the reply, so a superthin covering layer is the way to go? I know how to adjust the fan speed, but even if i could the temps are wrong. I have two GTX's in SLI, and my other card idles at around 60 and that's what i am strugeling to get for my warm card. And i want to add, that even if i have the fan at 100% the computer fails when i play crysis. However my other card handles it fine, so right now i can't use SLI for most of the games due to overheating.

I know there are good aftermarket VGA coolers out there. But i only found one that is good enough and fits for an SLI system. The Zalman VF1000. But the only problem with this one is that its expensive, i have to buy additional heatsink for for the VF1000 to work on the 8800gtx. And with both the VF1000 and the additional sink it gets pretty expensive. Now ive also looked at other coolers like the HR-03 youre talking about, but it's too big and wont fit for an SLI setup. Also the Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme is too big. Any ideas?


Thanks for the help.

[[XC] gomeler]

Are you getting enough mounting pressure? I haven't owned an 8800GTX, but make sure the thermal paste covers the complete IHS and is pressed thin. Make sure when pulling it apart to examine for any air pockets or thick layers of TIM. If one half of the IHS has TIM that's slightly thicker that means you're getting an uneven mount.

[aNoN_]

No, the pressure is fine. Read the first post for crying out loud! The problem is the paste, too much not not enuf or some other problem. I have full contact and the headsink is tight to the GPU. Must be something else.

[Ar3s]

how did you clean off the paste when you changed it to AS5 ? I have read some people mention about removing the plastic shoud of the stock cooler and have a 12cm fan blow on it. Cheapest solution i feel.

[theToX]

Thanks for the reply, so a superthin covering layer is the way to go? I know how to adjust the fan speed, but even if i could the temps are wrong. I have two GTX's in SLI, and my other card idles at around 60 and that's what i am strugeling to get for my warm card. And i want to add, that even if i have the fan at 100% the computer fails when i play crysis. However my other card handles it fine, so right now i can't use SLI for most of the games due to overheating.

I know there are good aftermarket VGA coolers out there. But i only found one that is good enough and fits for an SLI system. The Zalman VF1000. But the only problem with this one is that its expensive, i have to buy additional heatsink for for the VF1000 to work on the 8800gtx. And with both the VF1000 and the additional sink it gets pretty expensive. Now ive also looked at other coolers like the HR-03 youre talking about, but it's too big and wont fit for an SLI setup. Also the Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme is too big. Any ideas?


Thanks for the help.


if im not mistaken the HR-03 can be mount with the heat pipes facing down(over the front of the card) or facing up(over the back of the card). this could possibly resolve the SLI issue but as you said this is not a cheap solution. i would check to make sure your getting good contact with the stock cooler before searching for another solution like gomeler said.

[jas420221]

Super thin layer of AS5... you could read that at the AS5 website...

As far as the temps, is it the top card that is warmer than the bottom? If so, heat rises and its usually at least a few C warmer than the bottom card.

How is your system airflow..proper? (front/sides= intake, top/rear= exhaust, always more CFM exhuast!)

[zanzabar]

remember AS5 is bad for everything else since AS5 can kill bare dies (gtx is safe on gpu)


also force 100% fan in riva tuner

[aNoN_]

Thanks for the replys Y'all!

Ar3s@, I just removed the stock cooler and cleaned off the old paste and applied the AS5 and put it together again and that's all. I know what method you're talking about, i tried it but it gives about the same result as forcing the fanspeed to 100%.

jas420221@, It has no matter if the card is on top or bottom. Its still very warm and idles at around 75 degreeds (with fan at stockspeed 60%) And heat doesn't rise up from the bottom card, it goes straight out through the PSU witch is located just below the card with its sucking fan faced upwards towards the exhaust of the card. I also have great airflow in the case. As all my other components have good temps. My second GTX idles at 58 - 60 so i am happy.

zanzabar@ i know i can force the fan to 100%, but even then it idles at around 60 witch is the average normal temp for my other card with its fan at 60%. So even with 100% fan i get lockups and crashes, bsod ETC... in Crysis and stalker.

I am not 100% sure if i have full contact between the heatsink and GPU, i'll check that later. But its kinda hard to tell as soon as you have put on the cooler again. I heard some guy using nylon bricks/washers before the screws that fasten the cooler to the card. In that way, he was able to make the heatsink more tighten to the GPU and memories. He did this easy mod when he replaced the white stock-thermalpadding with some non-cunductive quality thermalpaste. Now, the HR-03 or the VF1000 looks like the only way to go for this card. I wont bother changing the cooler for my other card since the temps are fine. I am not gonna bother in overclocking any much either as you only earn little, about 4 fps in crysis after measuring.


Any other thoughts of suggestions?

[jas420221]

Heat sill rises upwards... but that isnt the main reason for such high temps...

Reseat everything and see how that goes.

[YMAA]

When you removed the stock cooler for the first time, did you notice how thick the thermal pads on the core and memory were? That's because the stock mounting system for the 8800 cards is pretty lackluster, so to make proper contact it needs to be that thick. A paper-thin layer reduces the amount of stuff between the heatsink and what it's cooling, so keeping the mounting the same, you're not making as good a contact.

To get that good contact back, you'll either need to mod the mounting structure for the card somehow, like finding a way to get more pressure from the screws, or get an aftermarket cooler made to deal with that thin a layer of TIM.

FYI, I have the same problem...but not quite as bad. I idle at 74C, not 75 :rofl:

[loonym]

When you removed the stock cooler for the first time, did you notice how thick the thermal pads on the core and memory were? That's because the stock mounting system for the 8800 cards is pretty lackluster, so to make proper contact it needs to be that thick. A paper-thin layer reduces the amount of stuff between the heatsink and what it's cooling, so keeping the mounting the same, you're not making as good a contact.

To get that good contact back, you'll either need to mod the mounting structure for the card somehow, like finding a way to get more pressure from the screws, or get an aftermarket cooler made to deal with that thin a layer of TIM.

FYI, I have the same problem...but not quite as bad. I idle at 74C, not 75 :rofl:When I redid the tim on my 8800gts I had to use plastic washers when I put it back on so it would make contact with all the ram chips.

[Monstru]

You could use Zerotherm HC92 CU 8800, it fits perfectly and it has very good performance. You just have to take the grey plastic shroud off the Zerotherm.

http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=28119&d=1203983653

[YMAA]

When I redid the tim on my 8800gts I had to use plastic washers when I put it back on so it would make contact with all the ram chips.

Didn't know the screws were long enough to do that. I may be making a trip to the hardware store today after I go to Staples to get a 2B pencil for voltmodding my motherboard!

Busy weekend...

[aNoN_]

Hey thanks for the support. Havn't done anything more today on the card, too lazy in the summer heat ;)

Now washers looks like a good plan. The zeroterm coolers you suggested looks good. But how thick are they? They can't be much thicker than the stock cooler. U don't look to have the original SLI bridge, u use a long bridge. How far is it between your cards?

Here's a pic that shows my setup:
http://img1.hugeup.com/f/05292008/ece0e3262a.jpg


As you can see everything is pretty tight. Am not sure a Zerotherm HC92 will fit. BTW Monstru you dont seem to have any pads or anything on the memories, how do you manage that?

[aNoN_]

*Bump*

[Monstru]

Hmm....The Zerotherm would fit without problems between your 2 cards, but it would not fit on the card on the bottom because of the PSU. They are not much thicker that the stock cooler, but they have a much better performance (you can check them out here (http://forum.crazypc.ro/showpost.php?p=115269&postcount=1)). The memory runs just fine because the fan is blowing air directly on them, so no need for other cooling. Of course, the Zerotherm comes with radiators for the memory in the package, we just didn't needed them then. You have to understand that that was a benching system we used for 8800GT SLI on air, and the heatsinks managed to cool down the GPU at 895Mhz with vmods, like below:

http://forum.crazypc.ro/attachment.php?attachmentid=28091&d=1203905407

[Calmatory]

remember AS5 is bad for everything else since AS5 can kill bare dies (gtx is safe on gpu)


also force 100% fan in riva tuner

Kill dies how? What are you talking about? :confused:


I call that BS.

[YMAA]

This is why the stock cooler sucks, I took it apart today to do the washer mod. Seems to help a little, though I had to use thicker rubber washers because the hardware store I went to didn't have nylon ones *tear*

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x139/yourmothersanastronaut/IMG_01791-1.jpg

(note, in this shot I had cleaned the card's IHS before taking the picture, so that's why the IHS is clean)

I used AS5 on the core, and Ceramique on the RAM and shader processor. You can see that the RAM and VRMs got next to no pressure from the cooler, while the core got decent contact. You can't see it in the picture, but the nVIO chip (the green chip with the exposed die on the left part of the card in the first picture) got decent contact as well.

If the part of the heatsink cooling the RAM was making decent contact the TIM would have been flattened like it was on the core and shader, but as you can see it wasn't. Could explain the high temperatures.

This shows how crappy the design of the stock cooler really is...I'm getting an HR-03 Plus as soon as I can.

Also...AS5 won't kill bare dies without an IHS, but I guess not having the IHS could theoretically increase the risk of conductive material going where no conductive material should go.

[jas420221]

Could explain the high temperatures.


Also...AS5 won't kill bare dies without an IHS, but I guess not having the IHS could theoretically increase the risk of conductive material going where no conductive material should go.How could that explain the high temps when memory isnt even measured? Are you talking like heat soak into the gpu?

And yes, AS5 hasnt killed any bare die of mine, though I wouldnt slather it through the resitor things around the die.

[YMAA]

How could that explain the high temps when memory isnt even measured? Are you talking like heat soak into the gpu?

And yes, AS5 hasnt killed any bare die of mine, though I wouldnt slather it through the resitor things around the die.

I'm guessing it's a temperature issue, because I can't OC the memory on the card past 985-990MHz without getting artifacting. That should be an easily attainable speed.

[aNoN_]

Thanks for keeping this thread up, and thanks for the helps. YMAA, can you post more pictures of your mod? Or is those the only one you took? Did you get better Core temp after the washers mod?

[loonym]

lol, I hate you YMAA :D Now you're going to make me take the coolers back off my gts cards so I can look at contact patterns :yepp: If it looks like yours I'll have to come up with plan B... dunno for sure yet but I have nightmares so it'll be something ghetto. :up:

[YMAA]

I'll take some pics of the washer mod tomorrow...don't feel like opening the case again tonight :) Not really any change in temps...still idling at 74C and loading around 90C on the core. I'm guessing the washers aren't putting enough force on the card, the "ramsinks" on the stock cooler just aren't tall enough to make contact without a thermal pad. Did a similar mod a couple weeks ago on my Ultima-90 and it worked great, doesn't move for anything now :up:

Oh, and my attempt at voltmodding my motherboard was unsuccessful. The two points I had to connect are too close to a fan header to accurately mark enough of a line between the two points I need. May need to get a new motherboard after all, was kinda hoping I wouldn't have to. Meh, that's uATX for you I guess.

[aNoN_]

Hey man, am glad youre talking pictures of your mod. That helps us others who got this problem. So your first attemp with the washers didn't work out quite well you say? Man use thicker layer of washers, maybe use two ontop of eachother this time. Heh, I never got into voldmodding but i would like to know how to voltmod my 8800gtx with a pencil. I dont know if it works but i heard some ppl did it only using a pencil. I'll be opening my card one again today (lol this'll be the 4 or 5th time), man i hope my old white thermalpads on the mem's wont break, they have lasted everytime. Dont know how much they can take. Anyway as soon as i get on my washer mod i'll be replacing the pads with non-conductive paste.

Cheers y'all!

[YMAA]

Hmm, no drop in temps from yesterday. I was hoping the new TIM would settle in at least a little. Meh, I'll probably order an HR-03 Plus from Performance PCs soon, they're the only place I've found that has them in stock. Newegg doesn't seem to be stocking any Thermalright stuff anymore, haven't now for the past few months. Wonder why?

And I used pretty thick washers already, these rubber ones are probably at least 1mm thick, though they do have some give to them. And to be honest the springs on the screws are pretty cheap, they have a lot of give to them...for the mod to work right they'd have to be pretty stiff, that's where all the force comes from. One thing I could try is taking the springs off the screws and just using the rubber pads, but that may do more harm than good.

[StormsFury]

If you got a flexible SLI bridge could you use a larger aftermarket cooler or is the space between the cards to large for that? might be you best option.