Changing thermal paste

Hello
I am planning to change the GPU's thermal paste of the my gx640 (Arctic silver 5), but this is the first time I am doing such a thing ,so I have a few questions.


- Does the memory also need thermal paste ?
- Is the copper shim necessary ?
- Do you think it's a good idea to also change the CPU's ?
- Are 3,5g enough for all these operations ?

Thank You for your answers

 

No. Just keep the stock themal pads, or use other thermal pads.

No. Use a copper shim if your heatsink isn't contacting the GPU optimally.

Hey, if you're already in there, why not?

It's enough for a like a dozen.

 

The thermal pads can be used again ??

I've just got an idea do you think it would be useful to put some copper between the two heat pipes ? The CPU don't heat too much (max 70c°) so there is a huge temperature difference and the GPU's heat could go to the CPU heat pipe. Do you think this would be profitable ?

Thank you for your answers.

 

A lot of us(and me) with the GX640 have removed the bad(stock) thermal pads for thermal paste.(one has used AS5 but most us used MX-3)
I say its the best mod I did for my GX640!

If you didnt already buy AS5. Get MX-3(same company and tested to be more effective).
-MX-3 is also non conductive and AS5 is!

That should give you the best temps! That and a laptop cooler with the bottom panel removed.

Copper shim:
- bought that, but its not needed. Maybe for some, but the people that didnt replace the pads for paste used it.

Connecting the heat pips:
not needed...

My temps are very good. I about maxed the amount of overclocking for my GX640s GPU/memory! (860/1080 @ 1.15v)

I did some other small things(laptop cooler, bottom panel off...etc) and can play BF:BC2 maxed for over 3hrs and not get past 81c!!

Look at my upgrade log here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/526116-msi-gx640-098us-upgrade-log.html

Video when I could get 86c after 3hrs of BF:BC2: (details in my upgrade log. link above this)
YouTube - BF:BC2 MAXED-OUT all the settings - MSI GX640

 

Hmm? Aren't Arctic Silver and Arctic Cooling different companies?

 

I think there the same. (Arctic)
You could look it up to be sure if you want

Test show that MX-3 gives better temps than AS5 and its also not conductive!
Im really happy with my MX-3 and new temps!!

 

AS5 is not made by the same company as MX-3 . It is a better thermal compound though.

 

Guys, I would not put thermal paste on the memory chips. First off, you'll need lots of paste to make contact between the chips and the heat-sink. Second, once the paste heats up it will permanently stain your memory chips. Wanna see what I mean? For those that have done this, take off your heatsink and wipe off the excess paste with rubbing alcohol, and voila, enjoy your permanently grey-stained RAM chips. Take it from someone who tried lots of different heatsink mods. The best method is the simplest, and that is to remove the thick thermal pads and replace them with thinner ones. BTW, MSI has replaced the original thick pads with thinner ones on recent models.

 

I'm inclined to agree with Kosti. When ever I have done a swap out on my thermal paste I have simply changed my thermal pads on the RAM. Depending on how old the machine is there is always the risk of the original thermal pads pulling up, splitting, or just completely falling apart. This way not only are you addressing the issues of the stock cooling but you ensure that any damage that was caused to the pads is corrected.

 

^^ That's true, unless the manufacturer applies paste on MEM chips by default. In some cases (i.e. many business and some gaming notebooks) it's done deliberately for optimal cooling.
Generally, I'd go with pads for pads and paste for paste for most scenarios with a few exceptions - i.e. GDDR5 memory chips would greatly benefit from paste as they tend to run quite hot if regular pads used.