Programming4life
I'm fine doing it my self but where do I get more pads and the putty from? Does this not void warranty?
From ebay, I keep it on stock anyway since I do a lot of electronic repaires so have a wide range of pads and tubes of putty and paste.
Just some tips if your pulling it apart.
Unplug the 3 fan headers first, Youll need to use a small flat head screw driver to lift up on them while you press the latches with your fingers. Dont pull on the wires or they will rip out.
Undo all the back plate screws next. You can just use your fingers on the nuts to hold them in place by the IO bracket.
Slowly and gently twist and lift to remove the backplate and you should be able to remove it with out damaging the rear vram pads.
Also while your there you could replace those pads anyway with some better ones since every card iv seen has had a bad placement job on those.
Now on to the X-clamp. You want to keep pressure on it with your finger when your undoing it. Since if you dont then it will rip the last few threads off the screw with the pressure it has.
It helps to undo them a little bit at a time in a cross pattern.
Just take your time seperating the cooler from the PCB. The thermal pads and putty will have it stuck together quite well so a long constant pressure is needed to break the seal.
Once the cooler seperate you have enough free wire to access the single fan header by the 2X 8pin power plugs
Take some pictures once its apart and show us what the thermal compound job was like on it.
You dont have to worry about mixing the screws up since the X-clamp ones are stuck in the x-clamp with circlips.
And the only 2 longer screws go into the nuts that connect to the IO bracket.
Cleaning up for me I just use a wooden tooth pick to scrap all the dusty old thermal putty off it. then IPA and cotton swabs to clean the chip.
Probably do a light test fit with replacement pads to make sure everything still has contact, And dont forget to plug all the fans back in since they are a pain to reach if you screw everything together first. Do the same as removal of the X-Clamp when doing it back up. Youll need a decent ammount of pressure to get it started other wise it just rips the threads out.
Dont over tighten it since the screws can snap easily and its game over.
Start all the back plate screws before you tighten them down since some wont line up easily and becareful not to cross thread them
Then when testing the card make sure to check GPU-Z if you get a perf-cap of THERM then it means the VRM or VRAM is getting to hot and you missed a thermal pad.