AquagraFX GTX480 thermal pad thickness?

[Moonshiner]

Hi all,

I just bought a second hand AquagraFX water block for GTX480 but I received no thermal pads.
Now I wonder what's the thickness of the original delivered thermal pads? And what brand should I buy to acheive a good performance?

I will also need some thermal paste. I still have some 3 years old Noctua NT-H1 (already opened). Is this still ok to use?

[GliderHR]

Hi,
I have the GTX 480 and the AquagraFX too.
I used insulting (white) thermal paste for the RAM's. After mounting the block you can check from the side, if the paste covers the RAM well.
I just checked the GTX 480 - I used thermal pads.
If you use thermal pads, look for Phobya (1 mm & 7W/mK). Cooper water-cooling blocks have a higher precision than the standard air cooled blocks.
If the NT-H1 is not dried out, you can use it for the GPU. (test it, it should be greasy... hope this is the correct expression)
Hermann

[GliderHR]

I made a picture.
I also used the 0.5mm thermal pads for voltage converter (there I used the Aquacomuter pads)

[Moonshiner]

Thanks GliderHR for your reply!

According the aquagrafx manual, the red zone should be thermal paste (GPU and RAM). The original delivered pads should be used in the blue zone (voltage regulators). The thickness is not described in the manual but you said it should be 0,5mm, right?
The manual talks also about thermal pads in the green zone (optional, 1mm). Have you done this as well?

[GliderHR]

Yes, all zones were covered with thermal pads. Maybe I have to remove one block to have a look below.
The GTX is out of use for more than one year.

[GliderHR]

Holy sh###, I Need new pair of glasses.
But my brain works well. The RAM was covered with white thermal paste.
"I used insulting (white) thermal paste for the RAM's. After mounting the block you can check from the side, if the paste covers the RAM well. "

[Shoggy]

Just as confirmation: the GTX 480 and all blocks above use 0.5mm pads.

[GliderHR]

Der Meister hat gesprochen...

[GliderHR]

Here is a pic of my former GPU couple....both nickel plated.

[GliderHR]

PN does not work

[Moonshiner]

PN does not work

Indeed, I receive a database error.
You can mail me at firstname.lastname@telenet.be

[GliderHR]

roger

[GliderHR]

Hi Moonshiner,
here is one pic from my former i7 980X GTX 480 SLI system

[GliderHR]

The SLI bridge stabilizes the construction.

[GliderHR]

and here

[GliderHR]

I hope this helps a little bit.

[Moonshiner]

Thanks for the pics!
I can see how you stabilize your 2 cards by using a solid connector attached from the twinconnector to your mobo's cooling block. I won't use a mobo waterblock so I guess I have to rely on the screws used to fix the grafic cards on the case. Or maybe I can find another way to stabilize the twinconnector.

[GliderHR]

This is only a PVC hose. if you connect this to the CPU cooler or a radiator in the upper part, this will have the same (none) effect.
The two screws which attach the GPU's to the case and the Twinconnect together with the backplate(s) stabilize enough.
Since my GTX 680 SLI is in the same case - there is no difference.