Adhesive Pad vs. Thermal Glue
This is a matter of conscience, because who would trust an adhesive pad to securely fix the heavy copper trestles? To make matters worse, the 0.1-mm adhesive pads from Ziitek that I (and many manufacturers) use only have a thermal conductivity of 0.85 W/mK. This can work well, but it doesn’t have to. By the way, I tested both – pad vs. glue, which is nothing more than an extremely sticky thermal paste that cures quickly in return during operation. The thermal resistance is much lower, just do not take too much of it. But you can easily push the temperatures in the final build (I’ll get to that later) by up to 5K, which can already make the difference between going and not going (because throttling)! i, for one, will continue to use oldschool glue and remain free of fear that something might fall off.
The reason why manufacturers like Raijintek, Deepcool & Co. rely on such strips is due to user behavior. Unfortunately, the saying “after firm comes off” has a very strong connection to reality here, because RAM components in particular are either completely torn off or at least the contacts of the solder beads suffer when the cooler is later disassembled and removed, because there is no underfill there (and the modules are hollow). And how do you get it all off again without any loss? The secret is called isopropanol! You can use a cannula to soften the sides of the adhesive joint, the dried adhesive is there like a thirsty sponge. Repeated several times, after a while you can easily remove the heat sinks almost without any effort. But here, too, the following applies: Do not pull away upwards, but first shift or rotate slightly, if you like back and forth a little.
Apply thermal paste correctly!
This is another point around which true myths and legends entwine. But much more important than how, is the selection of the right paste. In principle, the best is just good enough, only this time the focus is really on the consistency of the paste. It must not be too viscous, so that it still spreads well when the cooler is tightened, but it must also not be too liquid, so that it does not simply run out. Things like an ARCTIC MX-4 or even MX-5 have no place on graphics cards. Too fluffy and also not heat conductive enough.
Since I have the opportunity to test a wide variety of industrial thermal conductive pastes, one or the other insight is gained in the course of the many tests, especially since the samples all have to prove themselves in prolonged use. Without playing the advertising uncle now: What I use and also recommended to the German supplier is now in the “Apex” tube from Alphacool inside. Let’s call it preparatory prototype testing without financial involvement, so that would also be clarified. I just always go with what I think is most appropriate, and if companies are happy to follow that, I’m not really dissatisfied. The Alphacool Apex offers everything that is so urgently needed (not only for) graphics cards: a reasonably high viscosity without being too solid, a very good thermal conductivity and a useful long-term consistency, which was also convincing here in the test lab during long runs.
And that’s exactly why the GA102 and later the AD102 are simply all about the “sausage”! The paste is applied as shown in the picture and the cooler is then placed as horizontally as possible. With a cloth in between, you then press lightly and carefully (!) from the back onto the center of the GPU in order to press the paste a bit evenly to the sides even before screwing. Then you first carefully screw in the two screws of one of the long sides (i.e. vertically viewed on the PCB) until they grip really well and then stop that.
This is then repeated on the opposite side. Then, alternating between the sides, tighten the respective screws of this side step by step until everything is really final and tight. Screwing diagonally brings nothing but a much too high hotspot temperature! With this method, you can safely achieve the 10 to 11 degree difference between GPU edge and hotspot. More is not possible anyway, not even with brute force when screwing.
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