Shin-etsu x23-7783d vs G751 : Do the application methods differ?

[jdb2]

I have two overheating EVGA GTX 580 Superclocked graphics cards : One card gets up to about 99C in OCCT and the other one at least that high or over and when both are in SLI the primary card gets to around 105C. After talking with EVGA tech support they informed me that the probable cause is that the thermal interface material has degraded. So I've decided to re-apply thermal paste to the GPU cores/dies with the choice of paste being Shin-etsu x23-7783d . I know this is a high viscosity paste and I found a guide for applying the older G751 paste here but I was wondering if that guide still applies to the newer x23-7783d paste as its viscosity is only 200 Pa?s while the G751's viscosity can be as high as 450 Pa?s .

Any advice would be appreciated. Time is critical since my RMA expires in 44 days and I have that much time to re-apply the paste and determine if it helps.

Thanks,

jdb2

[AMDforME]

The thinest layer of TIM that you can apply the better as TIM is only intended to fill the minute imperfections in the surfaces. Unless the existing TIM is dried up however new TIM isn't going to make a big difference regardless of which TIM you use as the top 25+ TIMs are all within a couple degrees performance. Good airflow may be more beneficial than new TIM if it's not dried up.

[jdb2]

The thinest layer of TIM that you can apply the better as TIM is only intended to fill the minute imperfections in the surfaces. Unless the existing TIM is dried up however new TIM isn't going to make a big difference regardless of which TIM you use as the top 25+ TIMs are all within a couple degrees performance. Good airflow may be more beneficial than new TIM if it's not dried up.

EVGA tech support thinks, since the cards are 2+ years old, and there's very little likelihood of both cards being defective that the TIM on each GPU core has dried up -- I've been running these cards for practically 24x7 for 2+ years. The TIM is what I need to replace. What I'm asking is if the new Shin-Etsu compound requires a complicated application procedure involving tape etc. or something simple like a line of paste instead -- it is a high viscosity paste.

Regards,

jdb2