# Thermal Pad - Does Thickness Really Matter????



## kzim9

Ok, so I picked up some 1mm thermal pad for when In redo my blocks. Does the thickness really matter? Koolance padding was I think .7mm (0.7T) and its not too much thinner than the new stuff I got.

My question is, will it interfere with the seating on the actual chip? Or will it just squish down? I only want to do this once, but I can't find .7mm pad anywhere, and koolance's shipping charge is crazy. I may have them throw it in on my RMA for my 680 block that has no cooling fins....lol, if they will.....


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## NFSxperts

Well, it depends, but usually it'll squash down depending on the softness.
On the other hand, if the gap is 1mm but the pads are 0.5mm, then it'll matter since the pads aren't making contact with the heatsink.
Just make sure the thickness isn't too far off from the original pads or else the heatsink will be uneven and prevent proper contact with the gpu heatspreader/core.


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## Bal3Wolf

Its very important i remmber when i bought my 5970 with a block the card ran hot and i redid the block a few times then i decided to mess with the thermal pads i changed them and droped temps 20c on vrms and 10c on the gpu2. Guy had the card befor me used pads that were to thick and waset transfering heat very well at all.


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## Awsan

I am sorry for reviving this thread but its better than starting a new one for a simple question

After hours of searching i couldnt find how thick are the thermal pads used in my laptop but if its 1mm-1.5mm and i got the phobya 2mm will it squish and work normally or no? and if i only find the 1mm and my laptop needs 2mm is it ok to squish two 1mm on top of each other to reach 2mm?

and if i want a good soft pads that i can use with my laptop which way should i look?


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## Awsan

Any one?


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## songuke

I recently disassemble a Dell Vostro 3550 laptop and found that thermal pad thickness really matters. I first use a 1mm thermal pad to apply on the VGA memory chips. Because the 1mm thermal pad is too thick, it leaves a too big gap between the heat sink and the processor for CPU thermal paste to fill. The result is that the machine auto shutdowns in less than 5 minutes after it is on.

I replaced the 1mm with the 0.5mm thermal pad and the machine becomes stable. It can pass prime95 stress test without issues.

In summary, thickness does matter. When you take the laptop apart, make sure to retain some of its old thermal pad and measure how thick it is.

I heard some suggest that you can test if there is a small or big gap between the CPU and the heat sink by putting a piece of paper between them, assemble and try to pull the piece of paper out. If it can be pulled, it means the gap is too big and one might need to check the thickness of the nearby thermal pads. I never try this before but it seems to be a good trick.


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## Lubo91

Well, thickness does matter... here's why: http://hwcooling.net/en/test-of-chewing-gums-3-arctic-and-thermal-grizzly-minus-pads/


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