I think this is what is happening. I checked this myself, and there is really no way I could take a picture of it, I stuck my face close and tried to look at it with my eyes, and it is difficult to see, but you definitely have to press a little for them to make good contact, but the four screws seem to be pressing them together, but probably not as tight as it could be. If I want them to press together tightly I have to press in them together in the center. I figured it is probably just within very tight tolerances. Do you think the board warped a little through age or something? I really think this is what is happening, and it could explain why the temps started rising one day to begin with. Is there a special tape or something that could work that I could place on the heat sink?
GPU hotter after applying new thermal paste.
- Thread starter EthanJM
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The psu is at least four years old, so it could use replacing anyway. It might still be a part of it, but the reason I am leaning towards there not being good contact is like Shlouski said, I am getting my best temps by deliberately adding too much paste.
Shlouski
VIP Member
I meant remove the heatsink and take a picture of the surface that makes contact with the die, to see if the thin coat of paste you applied has been completely transferred to the heatsink.
That really thin coat I made in the video did not appear to be making good contact, if you looked at the heat sink after I took it off, there wasn't a square, it was more like a triangle, and the parts of the square that were not there, there were a few random dots. When applied thicker you do get a full square, right now I know there will be a big messy square there because I added so much, and I have applied and reapplied the paste at least eight times now, both times I did it super thin you did not get left with a nice even square of paste on the heat sink. The copper shims are so cheap, it is worth a try, if it doesn't work the next logical step should be the psu correct? After that I would guess gpu or not enough air flow because I would be grasping at straws.
I don't want to take pictures now because I actually have temps that are actually within the safe range, but still hot, it is the first time I got it to work well enough I am not worried about the thing burning up for good, and I am nearly out of paste. But I can tell you, it will look like it does in the beginning of my video (except messier this time). My fiancee did not understand and kept the camera pointing at the heat sink for too long, but you can see a square of paste on the heat sink, and the chip was also covered.
Shlouski
VIP Member
Right, the die is not fully making contact with the heatsink and is the reason for your problems. From watching you install the heatsink I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be making a complete contact, unless there has been a fault in the manufacturing process. Manufacturers usually use a large think square coat of paste applied to the heatsink and this seems to have been able to fill the gap keeping it cool enough. I don't know if there is a problem with the die or the heatsink, hopefully the heatsink as it can be replaced by an aftermarket cooler. I'm going to take another look at your card, can you take some close up of the die and the heatsinks please.
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I had this issue trying to replace the paste on my Radeon 6950, after removing the pads the paste did not provide enough clearance for the heatsink to make sufficient contact even at full mounting pressure.
Unfortunately I just gave up and bought an Accelero Xtreme III
Unfortunately I just gave up and bought an Accelero Xtreme III
Sorry I am getting back with you late, been really busy and now only getting a chance to get back to this. I took it back apart and got some pictures of the inside, things are quite messy now since I used so much paste. But here they are.
That last picture is cringe worthy I know, but using that ridiculous amount of paste has given me the best results so far. Idles at a stable 32c and maxes at 83c in furmark. I measured the chip, it is 17mm in length, so a 20mmx20mm shim should do, not so sure how thick it should be though, I might just get a few different sizes.
Shlouski
VIP Member
Its very hard to tell from a picture but I suspect that the square plate on the bottom of heatsink which makes contact with the die is the problem, it maybe not be level with the rest of the heatsink or has not be made completely flat, leaving you with a gap. If I were you I would buy an aftermarket cooler.
Good eyes, I see what you are talking about, one corner is raised higher than the other. That would explain that triangular paste left behind on the cooler. Not sure if an old gtx 660 is worth dumping money into, I think I should either try the copper shim or use it as it is. I haven't gamed much the last few years with it, it might last quite a while even as it is.
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Shlouski
VIP Member
Your right, I can understand you not want to put money into it. I guess I would only consider buying a really cheap cooler, maybe you could find a used cooler on somewhere like ebay or maybe if you were very lucky you could find someone selling the stock cooler for your card because they replaced it with an aftermarket cooler. Otherwise if its working ok just keep on using it, I guess it will be replaced one day anyway.
Thermal paste can be pretty much a glue, particularly if it's old. I was pulling a heatsink off once and the CPU was pulled out of it's latched socket because the thermal paste was pretty much dry. Thankfully my hardware survived that.
When you removed the heatsink last time you probably pulled it up slightly. Might be worthless, but maybe finding a way to cinch the heatsink down would help keep the contact solid. As expensive as coolers can be, a whole new GPU might not be a terrible idea instead.
When you removed the heatsink last time you probably pulled it up slightly. Might be worthless, but maybe finding a way to cinch the heatsink down would help keep the contact solid. As expensive as coolers can be, a whole new GPU might not be a terrible idea instead.
Yes, I had the same thing happen with my cpu some years back, there was no damage, but that was the reason I bought ceramique 2, it is known for not acting like a strong glue like many other pastes. That said, whatever stock paste EVGA used, it was not badly glued at all, it pulled straight off with no effort. I think it was just a bad heat sink, and they use a lot of paste to compensate for that, and it seems that is what you need to do to make the thing work.
Well everyone, as usual, I appreciate your time in helping me solve another issue yet again, I'm sure I'll be back in the future with something else.
Shlouski
VIP Member
I've have had similar problems removing heatsinks which were stuck on hard like glue. I figured that paste gets softer the hotter it gets and so it would be easier to remove the heatsink if the paste was hot, the problem is how do you get the paste hot and be in a position to pull the heatsink off, of course you don't want to pull a heatsink off a hot chip which is still powered on. The trick is using a hairdryer, works for me every time, remove the hardware so it can be worked on easily in a safe environment, dismantle it to the point of removing the heatsink and blow hot air through the heatsink, that in turn will heat up the paste making it softer and easier to pull the heatsink off whatever its stuck too. Seriously it works really well 
Okedokey
Well-Known Member
Did you replace thermal pads with thermal paste? If so the gap between the memory modules and the heatsink will be too large meaning the heatsink will not work for VRAM. Go back and re-apply thermal pads for the memory chips if they were there originally. Also make sure you replunged the fan into the pcb.
I know I am bumping an oldish thread, but I wanted to give an update. I ordered some copper shims. On furmark I normally leveled at 84c/86c, now I am leveling at 72c, that is a significant difference. I went into it without there being that much information on the effectiveness of these things, so I'm letting anyone who reads this thread know that if your gpu is running hot for the same reason mine was, the copper shims work wonders. The way I installed the shim was by putting a dot of paste on the heat sink, then pressing the shim onto the paste and applying a decent amount of pressure to try to spread it out evenly, then put another small dot on the chip and pressed it onto the heat sink and moved it around a little bit, put the screws back, and that was it. Below is a link to the shims I bought, I used the smallest .6mm shim.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/280884145589?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/280884145589?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT