Best replacement thermal pads?

bobbybluz · Mar 5, 2021

I bought a pair of Sapphire R9 390 Nitro 8GB GPU's a few months ago and was advised by the seller to repaste them. I took one apart a few nights ago and discovered a few of the thermal pads should likely be replaced. What would be the best choice for them? No doubt the second one will probably need them too for the job to be done correctly.

TheLostSwede · Mar 5, 2021

Just for the RAM? Shouldn't matter too much, just get something with the right thickness.

ThrashZone · Mar 5, 2021

Hi,
Arctic is good inexpensive pads large sheets 0.5mm/ 1.0/ 1.5 should cover all thicknesses on the cards.

Falkentyne · Mar 5, 2021

For that old card, just use Arctic blue 6 w/mk pads, or one of the many Arctic clone 6 w/mk pads all over Amazon now. There's even a bunch on Digikey.

Newer hot cards need better pads like Gelid 12 w/mk or Thermalright Odyssey 12.8 w/mk pads of the correct thickness. Large 120mm x 120mm samples are on Aliexpress. Digikey has some third party 12 w/mk gap filler pads also but I never used those.

Here is a huge 160mm * 160mm 12.5 w/mk pad of 1mm thickness. Expensive unless you need a lot of pad work with that thickness. Far more expensive than the Thermalright 120mm * 120mm packs that are like $20 each but at least you don't have to wait a month for slow boat from China shipping.....

bobbybluz · Mar 5, 2021

I was surprised when I pulled that GPU apart. There was barely a trace of TIM on the die and the pads were squished, a few torn after pulling it apart and others not properly positioned. I'm likely going to put these two up on Ebay and use what I get from them to offset the purchase of a used Vega 64. I got them cheap complete with the boxes and now appears to be the time to sell.

jboydgolfer · Mar 5, 2021

fujipoly, grizzly, arctic, they are all for sale on Amazon.

delshay · Mar 5, 2021

jboydgolfer said:
fujipoly, grizzly, arctic, they are all for sale on Amazon.

Fujipoly is what i use on other GFX cards, other than the OP card, because i'm greedy & want the ultimate bleeding edge of thermal conductivity. If you accidentally buy the wrong thickness, ie, too thin, some thermal pads can be stacked (tested here). ..Always read the PDF Docs on any thermal pad to get the best out of them, ie mounting pressure requirement.

mclaren85 · Oct 9, 2022

I know it is an old thread, but if anyone come up here and looks for the best I would say I'm happy with Thermal grizzly minus. Not sure if it is the best though.

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Best replacement thermal pads?

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