Video Card Thermal Compound Upgrade - Secret to Better GPU Performance?
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,792 words · ~8 min read
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Thermal compound or thermal interface material is the stuff that goes between
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a heat generating component and the cooler whose job it is
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to remove the aforementioned heat from the aforementioned component. Now,
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today's video will cover how to replace the factory applied thermal compound on
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your graphics card with an aftermarket one to reduce the operating temperature
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of this sensitive electronic component, potentially improving its lifespan and
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in some cases even its performance thanks to GPU boost technology. Or
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another way to leverage it would be to have it actually run quieter, making the
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fans not spin as fast, but then have it run at the same temperature if that's
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your thing. Which if it is, by the way, stay tuned because our review of the CM
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Seleencio 652S is coming very
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soon. Cooler Master's Case Mod World Series is your opportunity to show off
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your modding skills and win great prizes. Entries closed February 7th,
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2015. Click now to learn more. Now, our
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test today focuses on a particular model of graphics card, a GeForce GTX 960
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Super Clock that was graciously provided by EVGA. But this principle applies to
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lots of different types of electronic dudatter. In a desktop computer, the
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CPU, motherboard, or really any type of expansion card might have a cooler with
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a with lame duck thermal goop on it. And on a laptop, the same can also be true.
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One thing to be really careful of though is warranty coverage. Some manufacturers
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don't want you poking and proddding at their product or they will invalidate
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your warranty. Fortunately, EVGA is cool with that as long as you return the card
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to, at least as far as outward appearances go, the factory
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configuration before sending it in for an RMA. They'll even let you replace the
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cooler outright with something else if you want to. But we won't be doing that
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because a EVGA's ACX 2.0 Plus cooler
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with its dual double ball bearing, 92mm fan design, quad heat pipes, and fanless
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operating mode is already pretty darn good. And B, because that would
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introduce an additional variable that would make it impossible for us to know if our goop replacement made a
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difference. So, we're just going to take it off and put it right back on again
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when we're done after we overclock it. After all, if you're not going to push
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your hardware to the limits, mods like this are certainly a fun thing to do on
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a Saturday afternoon, but not exactly necessary. So, the settings I dialed in
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were 110% power target, plus.25 molts on
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the GPU, and plus 144 MHz to boost with
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the fan speed locked at 17% or around
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580 RPM. And all of this was in a room with an ambient temperature of about 21°
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C. This yielded temperatures of 67°
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using EVGA's OC scanning utility 1 million particle plasma stress test
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running at 2560x440 resolution in windowed mode. The boost clock I
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observed with these settings was 1586 MHz. Although it should be noted these
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settings were not verified in actual games, and these stress test programs
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often allow higher clock speeds than you can achieve in the real world. Anyway,
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let's get to business. First, gather all the materials you'll need. The card
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itself, isopropyl alcohol, and a lint-free wipe, a screwdriver, and
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replacement thermal compound. I'll be using IC Diamond because it's among the
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best on the market. Start with the four screws positioned around the processor
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itself, usually near the middle of the card and tensioned by springs. Loosen
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them in a cross pattern. Then remove them fully. For our card, this was
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actually enough to completely free the cooler. But on some other cards, you may
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need to remove the rest of the screws on the back and even others on the top,
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bottom, sides, or even rear IO. You can test if you've got everything by giving
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the cooler a wiggle. Then once you're sure all the screws are removed, you can
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gently pull it free. Never force it and
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be mindful of your fan power plug. You don't want to accidentally yank on it
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since those connectors are often very fragile. Now, you can see from this
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footage I took when I did my initial swap that EVGA is using like a a
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pre-done exactly square thermal paste
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patch rather than relying on manual application and that it seems to be
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working for them. The base plate of the cooler is making very even contact with
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the GPU core through only a thin layer of material. This is very desirable. You
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need thermal compound on your GPU or it'll overheat, but a thick layer here
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can actually insulate the GPU causing it to run hotter. Speaking of which, some
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graphics cards will have what are called thermal pads. They're a little bit
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thicker on components like voltage regulator modules or memory chips. Leave
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these on and reuse those pads unless you have replacement pads of the exact same
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thickness. Replacing pads with a thick
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application of paste can cause poor contact between your cooler and your
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graphics card. With the cooler off, it's time to clean both the GPU itself and
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the base of the cooler with 99% isopropyl alcohol. 70% is fine, too, by
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the way. I recommend starting with a couple slow, high pressure passes on the
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cooler base with your cleaning cloth to remove the bulk of the goop from the
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surface. Then fold that away and find a
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fresh part of your cloth and use a buffing motion to take off the rest. Do
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the same for the GPU itself. Just as an FYI, the compound on there won't damage
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your card if it gets on the chip package or even on the board PCB, but that's not
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a license to be sloppy. Try to remove as much as you can. With the compound
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removed, I usually do a final pass with a fresh cloth to remove any lint or
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residue. Applying thermal compound isn't rocket science, and remember, less is
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more. You want enough for it to spread out and cover the whole GPU, but not so
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much that it gets mushed out on the sides and gets all over the place. I use
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the line method, but a dot in the center also works. Just don't waste your time
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spreading it out. It's messy, unnecessary, and can actually trap air
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bubbles in the compound in some cases. Although, normally those would be
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squeezed out by the same pressure that spreads the thermal compound with the
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other techniques once you tighten the mounting screws. On that note, now it's
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time to tighten the mounting screws. Again, in a cross pattern, throw this
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baby on the test bench and find out if it worked. Boom. low temperatures using
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the exact same testing parameters of
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64° about a 3° improvement. Woo! Yeah.
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All right. So, it's not exactly earth shaking. So, if you're sitting there
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wondering what exactly was the point of doing all this to a brand new piece of
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hardware that's obviously working just fine, I don't blame you. But, I was
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ready for that question. So, here are some other situations where it might
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make more sense. While EVGA didn't do this, some manufacturers use really low
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performance thermal material, either to save a buck or for reasons that are
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unlikely to ever even occur to most consumers. Things like stability over
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time or at extreme temperatures during storage. So, there's that. And even the
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most well-intentioned manufacturer who chooses the highest quality thermal
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compound can have a sloppy application once in a while. So, if your component
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is running hotter than you're expecting or not turboing as high as you'd like,
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you can follow this guide to try a thermal compound replacement since it
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doesn't cost very much. And finally, this might actually come in handy if
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you're trying to breathe new life into an older piece of hardware, too. Thermal
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pastes, particularly the lower quality ones, don't stay potent forever and may
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opportunity to do my outro. Now is my opportunity to say don't forget to
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subscribe if you haven't already. Peace.