Reusing old thermal paste on GPU

[sevnate]

I recently received HIS X800 XL card where the heatsink was not mounted properly (idle temperature was ~70C). It was slightly tilted so there was a small gap betweeen the heatsink and the gpu. Since then I have removed the heatsink completely and reattached it properly.

I didn't put on any new thermal paste, just distributed the old paste on the hs a little more evenly. Should I clean the old paste away and apply new paste before I use the card? Or can I try using the card, and just make sure the temperatures are okay?

What temperature should I expect when idle?

The card is "HIS X800XL IceQ II Turbo VIVO 256MB AGP (http://www.hisdigital.com/html/product_ov.php?id=169&view=yes)". I do not plan on overclocking it.


BTW the card may have been damaged from excessive heat (>128C). Is there any way to test for any permanent damage? Will the ATITool Artifact Scan reveal any such problems?

[W1zzard]

if you just distributed it ie. you didn't completely remove it and then put it on again it should be fine.

atitool _may_ detect such damage. but this does not mean that it's 100% accurate for damage assessment.

[sevnate]

Alright, thanks.

I've put the card back in now, and so far it seems to be fine. 41-42C when idle and 57-58C after a few minutes with the atitool 3d-view :). I wonder though, does the 3d view in atitool put 100% load on the gpu, so that even in a game the temperature would only reach 58C?

[wazzledoozle]

Just dont mix it up again with your finger, put your finger in a plastic bag like a zip lock and then rub it around.

[sevnate]

That's what I did ;)

[W1zzard]

atitool 3d view usually reaches even higher temperature than most games

[sevnate]

ok, thanks

[D_o_S]

To reach the highest temps, I would reccomend rthdribl. Download here: http://www.daionet.gr.jp/%7Emasa/rthdribl/index.html