thermalpaste + GTX 480 ?

[owned666]

haven't seen some one put different thermalpastes on the 480 (STOCK)

will it make a big difference ?

[Gilhooley]

No, a better paste only changes the time it takes for the heat to reach the HS. On stock you're still limited by the fan.

[pr@$r1g]

if it can do better to 470 & it can with 480 also ......... go ahead man

It will surely improve 2-3c may be

[owned666]

if it can do better to 470 & it can with 480 also ......... go ahead man

It will surely improve 2-3c may be

2-3 C on a 480 is allot

ill go with the tx-3

[570091D]

No, a better paste only changes the time it takes for the heat to reach the HS. On stock you're still limited by the fan.

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.

[saaya]

No, a better paste only changes the time it takes for the heat to reach the HS. On stock you're still limited by the fan.

thats bs :P
by that definition there would be no difference between thermal materials whatsoever except for higher deltas from the average under load and in idle...

if you thermally isolate a heatsource it doesnt just slow down the spread of heat, it results in higher temperatures as well, just think about it...

[Splave]

took mine apart to throw a pot on....TIM was epic fail as usual lol
I like the direct heat pipe contact though. Its just there was about 4x the amount of necessary tim slimmed on there so im sure you could shave the usual 5c or so off with good stuff.

Also be careful taking the cooler off. The screws are locktited in and suppper easy to strip.

[p2501]

Also be careful taking the cooler off. The screws are locktited in and suppper easy to strip.

That's scary, even more so because you're not the first one to talk about stripped screws on these cards. I can imagine quite a percentage of people will get it watercooled, or at least the TIM exchanged after seeing pictures of this chewing gum mess on there.

[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.

[Gilhooley]

That's scary, even more so because you're not the first one to talk about stripped screws on these cards. I can imagine quite a percentage of people will get it watercooled, or at least the TIM exchanged after seeing pictures of this chewing gum mess on there.

Well, they are phillips screws and quite small. So, yes you can easily strip them WITH a phillips screwdriver.

Just use a regular flat screwdriver

[saaya]

the best way to apply thermal paste is to use as little as possible since it doesnt transfair heat as well as metal.
but thats tricky to do and you gotta make sure the install is 100% fine and not angled at all...
what most mfcs do is use thermal pads, which is what this is as well on the 470s and 480s... its a 1mm thick pad which is a lot easier to install...
if youd use more thermal paste it might just run out at one end, a thermal pad cant... why they used such a thick pad idk... i think somebody at nvidia thought they need it to fill all the gaps between the heatsink/heatpipes and the gpu shim... but thats stupid... you sacrifice efficiency where it matters, where the heatsink and gpu shim make contact, for having better but still very bad contact between the gpus shim and a gap between the heatpipes which can be 1mm deep...

[owned666]

the best way to apply thermal paste is to use as little as possible since it doesnt transfair heat as well as metal.
but thats tricky to do and you gotta make sure the install is 100% fine and not angled at all...
what most mfcs do is use thermal pads, which is what this is as well on the 470s and 480s... its a 1mm thick pad which is a lot easier to install...
if youd use more thermal paste it might just run out at one end, a thermal pad cant... why they used such a thick pad idk... i think somebody at nvidia thought they need it to fill all the gaps between the heatsink/heatpipes and the gpu shim... but thats stupid... you sacrifice efficiency where it matters, where the heatsink and gpu shim make contact, for having better but still very bad contact between the gpus shim and a gap between the heatpipes which can be 1mm deep...

from what i read
when applying thermalpaste on a gpu
u have to apply more than what u put in a cpu

[DStealth]

Here's what we are talking about:




I gain almost 10c LOAD, after applying MX2 paste

[owned666]

ls there a thread for this
i think ill go with the tx-2
as u can see its better than the mx2
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/tuniq_tx2/3.htm
how did u apply the thermalpaste any tips u can give me

[eternal_fantasy]

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.

An efficient heatsink assembly works by:

1. Create a large surface area for the heat exchange to take place between the fins and air.
2. Create movement of air surrounding the heatsink. Be it active i.e. fans or passive i.e. convection of air.
3. A way for the heat to be efficiently moved from the source to the fins.
4. Most importantly there must be a delta between the fins of the heatsink and the surrounding air.

Any one of the points listed above are important for an efficient running HSF, and increasing the effectiveness of any one of them increases the efficiency even further.

There are essentially 2 places where there is a temperature delta on something like the graphics card or CPU HSF assembly, one is between the GPU/HSF and the other is the HSF/Air.

By applying a better thermal paste, you are lowering the delta between the GPU and the HSF, therefore increasing the delta between the HSF and the air passing through, therefore the HSF becomes more efficient, ergo either the GPU runs cooler at the same fan speed or the fan speed decreases but the GPU temperature stays the same.

Let's look at it another way; the GPU produces the same amount of heat in either case. By reducing the heat conductivity of the TIM, the GPU/HSF delta have to be increased to shift the same amount of heat between the 2 surfaces, therefore the GPU becomes hotter, and/or the fan spins up to compensate the rise in GPU temp.

Try using a drop of olive oil as your TIM next time. By your logic it will work as well as MX3.

[saaya]

from what i read
when applying thermalpaste on a gpu
u have to apply more than what u put in a cpu

and why would that be?

Here's what we are talking about:




I gain almost 10c LOAD, after applying MX2 paste

hmmm i might have to try that on my msi gts260 twin frozr...
with 100% fanspeed i get 70C load temps with 27C ambient... that cant be right for a 5heatpipe heatsink... and this is stock everything!

Try using a drop of olive oil as your TIM next time. By your logic it will work as well as MX3.

dont laugh! i did that once
on a cpu heatsink tho... didnt have any thermal paste and used olive oil...
couldnt get rid of the smell after that no matter how much i cleaned hahah
everytime i loaded the cpu, there it was again, that olive oil smell

it worked pretty well... good enough...
i think 5-10C worse temps than vanilla white thermal paste...
it corroded the heatsink tho, in a weird way... idk itf it was corrosion or a crust of dried up olive oil tbh... but it was hard to remove from the heatsink base

[H2O]

Any tips for disassembling these cards without stripping the screws?

[owned666]

Any tips for disabling these cards without stripping the screws?

there isnt

just use extremely small screwdrivers

and i heard people that bought cards from evga said that the screws were already stripped !

[cowie]

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.

amen to that....alot of people seem to forget this.
i'v seen similar temp drops with mine after cleaning the stock stuff up,it was twice as bad as usally with the gx2.

the trick to not sripping the screws is...
1 to have two fine "phillips" screwdrivers one normal small and one a tad smaller,for the different size screws

2 have a vice grip or channel locks to turn the screwdriver as leverage.

my 4 core screws were "loose" but the others were tight like a .

[H2O]

Alright, thanks guys.

[saaya]

if anybody has a cam and wants to do it, make a quick video guide and put it on youtube!

[owned666]

if anybody has a cam and wants to do it, make a quick video guide and put it on youtube!

i will but it might be a fail since i never used a card or anything to spread the thermalpaste over a card's chip or cpu
what i did on a cpu was just add TIM and let the heatsink do the rest

[Helloworld_98]

Here's what we are talking about:




I gain almost 10c LOAD, after applying MX2 paste

looks like you've got an amazing chip for 800MHz at 1v, what was the fanspeed when it was at 72C?

[flashnc]

On my EVGA 470... I didnt have the over excessive amount of TIM...I was kinda suprized. It actually looked like it was put on with some concern ( though I know it wasnt ).

But, what I have noticed, on mine anyways, is the main part of the cooler on the die* isnt very flat/smooth at all...even though it is a direct contact** it is very uneven, grooved ** and also, the screws that hold it in contact, will only go down as far as the stop* not allowing a very solid pressure...I can after tightening as far as it will allow, still easily move the cooler by rotating it...

I plan on later today adding ( need to see if the screws can be removed, I havent checked yet , but im sure they can be) some small washers under the screw heads to apply a more positive* solid pressure... after applying AC5 Im still not really seeing anything substantial as far as better cooling ...** maybe 1-2 c on load...about the same at idle...

whoever first comes out with a really good solid** base cooler that is flat and polished** will sell them like cupcakes at a fat kids party**

[saaya]

i will but it might be a fail since i never used a card or anything to spread the thermalpaste over a card's chip or cpu
what i did on a cpu was just add TIM and let the heatsink do the rest

same as most enthusiasts... all this spreading tim with a card etc is bs if you ask me... one blob in the center and thats it... doing funny suff like zig zag lines, a cross or especially circle are retarded ideas cause they make it more likely for air bubbles to form...

flashnc, hmmm did the evga stuff look the same as on other cards?
blue thick soft chewing gum stuff?
several people reported that their evga card looks like the heatsink had been removed already... could be that evga replaced the stock tim cause they found it sucked...