thermalpaste + GTX 480 ?

[Gilhooley]

funny, when i changed the TIM on my 9800gx2 load temps were reduced by 10c. i believe faster heat transfer is only half of the story, true the HSF assembly can only dispurse so much heat, but increasing the rate at which that heat is removed from the gpu makes the HSF more efficient thus reducing load temps.

It doesn't work like that - you must have had faulty paste from the beginning, like an air pockets. In order to see such a big change.

If it makes it easier, see the paste as a thin layer of copper film. There is no heat stored in the paste as such, its just a pass through and with the Copper Heat Spreader standard today on chips you already have a big surface to work with.

But, as you said. There might be sloppy applications on the stock cards you get, and the paste you have on only works to 70-80%. Then checking and changing can be a big boost - and any paste you use will give good results.