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Is GPU thermal paste electrically conductive?

K

Kofoed

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Hi Tech folks!
As the title states I have a question regarding the thermal paste used on GPU's.

Reason being is I removed my GPU in order to reapply some silver arctic thermal paste as the temps were getting high on my Gigabyte 1080, when removing the cooler it came off with a snap and as such some of the paste got outside the edge of the chip.

Is this a big deal that I have to cleanup before plugging it back into my PC?
- If so, is there any preferred method of doing so?

Thanks in advance!
 
rtwjunkie

rtwjunkie

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Yes, silver-based paste is mildly conductive. A small amount which can be cleaned up is not the end of the card.

Yes, you should carefully clean off the paste that went outside the chip. Use a little 94% or higher isopropyl alcohol dabbed onto a soft cloth or tissue.

No, it's not a huge deal to worry about.

In the future, get something like MX4, which is a better thermal interface, IMHO,, and is not conductive.
 
Last edited:
dorsetknob

dorsetknob

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Dorset where else eh? >>> Thats ENGLAND<<<
Always Clean up old Paste before applying New
Some brands of paste can be conductive others not
clean lint free cloth and 94% or higher isopropyl alcohol or purposely marketed Cleaning kits
 
K

Kofoed

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rtwjunkie said:
Yes, silver-based paste is mildly conductive. A small amount which can be cleaned up is not the end of the card.

Yes, you should carefully clean off the paste that went outside the chip. Use a little 94% or higher isopropyl alcohol dabbed onto a soft cloth or tissue.

No, it's not a huge deal to worry about.

In the future, get something like MX5, which is a better thermal interface, IMHO,, and is not conductive.
Click to expand...

It is the stock paste that got around there, not my own. It happened when it came off.

I got most of it off, still some left though. Gonna try with some other cloth and see if I can get it off.

Thanks for the help so far :) it
 
K

Kofoed

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Memory 16gb 1600mhz (2000mhz OC)
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Storage 750gb + 256gb ssd, 2TB HDD
Display(s) Samsung C24fg70 144hz
Case Fractal Design Define C
Audio Device(s) Motherboard, Realtek
Power Supply CM Silent Pro M1000
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard HyperX Alloy FPS Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Software Windows 10 x64
Kofoed said:
Gonna try with some other cloth and see if I can get it off.

Thanks for the help so far :) it
Click to expand...

Worked perfectly fine after 10min of trying to remove the paste. Probably a bit left, but works fine as mentioned!

Thank folks
 
rtwjunkie

rtwjunkie

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Cooling All air: 2x140mm Fractal exhaust; 3x 140mm Cougar Intake; Enermax T40F Black CPU cooler
Memory 2x 16GB Mushkin Redline DDR-4 3200
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX 2080 Ti Xc
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Mouse Coolermaster Sentinel III (large palm grip!)
Keyboard Logitech G610 Orion mechanical (Cherry Brown switches)
Software Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (Start10 & Fences 3.0 installed)
Kofoed said:
Worked perfectly fine after 10min of trying to remove the paste. Probably a bit left, but works fine as mentioned!

Thank folks
Click to expand...
Glad to hear it!! :)
 
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