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Switched from thermal paste to thermal pads for my GPU repair jobs
Used to swear by Arctic MX-4 paste for every GPU repair I did at my shop in Cleveland. Then I had three RX 580 cards come back with pump-out issues within 6 months. Watched a video from a repair shop in Japan that convinced me to try thermal pads for direct die cooling. Now I use 1.5mm pads on everything and haven't seen a single temp spike since. Has anyone else had better luck with pads over paste on older cards?
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kim_sanchez194mo ago
Three years back I picked up a used GTX 1080 that had been repasted with that cheap white grease, and it hit 85C under load within a week. I pulled it apart and threw on a 1.5mm thermal pad instead, and it settled at 72C for the next two years until I sold it. Your mileage may vary, but pads have been way more forgiving for me on cards with uneven core surfaces.
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holly634mo ago
That reminds me of something I read on a forum a while back where a guy tested pads on a bunch of old R9 290s and said they handled the rough die edges way better than paste ever did. It makes sense because the pad just fills those gaps without pumping out like the thinner pastes do. I've been leaning toward pads for anything older than a few years now since they seem to give more consistent temps over time.
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