As in the PC processor, the graphics card has a GPU that produces quite a bit of heat, which is why all modern graphics cards have a heatsink, almost always with fans to provide active cooling so that it can work at a good temperature. And of course, if there are two elements between which you need to transfer heat (the GPU and the heatsink), you have to use Thermal paste to ensure maximum transfer. But, does it happen like in the CPU?
Pay attention to the warranty
For starters, we’ll start by telling you to forget “change your graphics card’s thermal paste once a year”. By law, in Europe, all products have 2 years warranty, and if you open the graphics card to change its thermal paste, you will lose this warranty and with it your right to recourse in the event of failure of the device. Therefore, before considering anything, make sure your graphics card is out of its warranty period (be careful, many are 3 and even 5 years old and not the normal 2).
What if you notice that the temperature of the graphics card is gradually rising but it is still under warranty? If you’ve noticed this happening to you, it might be time to change the thermal paste, but we don’t recommend doing so while it’s under warranty; If this happens to you, start by cleaning the graphic on the outside but not disassembling it, and if overheating has become a problem, then take advantage of the fact that it’s under warranty and deal with the manufacturer.
Therefore, this “change graphics card thermal paste once a year” is completely debunked.
Ok, how often do you change the thermal paste?
We are not going to deny that, from the factory, the thermal paste that graphics card manufacturers usually use is neither too good, nor that the way to apply it is the most optimal (we refer to both to the opening photo of this article like the one we’re going to put below), so if your graphics card is already out of warranty and you’ve started noticing that the operating temperature (and noise) is excessive, it may be time to renew it.
But, going back to the postulate we put in this section, how often is it advisable to change the thermal paste of the graphics card? The answer is that there is no exact answer, because it depends on many factors: the manufacturer and the quality of the paste used at the factory, the time of use, the ambient humidity conditions, the chart normal operating temperature, etc.
Therefore, our recommendation is to always try to keep the graphics card clean and free of dust, and not to think about taking it apart to change the thermal paste until you notice that it is getting too hot. Please note, this is our personal recommendation based on our experience, as it is true that some thermal pastes can degrade too much due to excessive temperatures and the passage of time, leaving them almost solid and in poor condition. The main problem is that you can’t tell if the graphics thermal paste is bad until you open it to check it…
What thermal paste is recommended for a GPU?
In fact, it is not that there are specific thermal pastes for graphics cards, because in the end its operation is always something almost identical to the way it works between a processor and its heatsink. For this reason, any good CPU thermal paste will work just fine for the GPU, although in our own experience we also recommend fairly viscous pastes, which are more difficult to apply but degrade less over time.
Overall, if you want our recommendation, we’d go for the new Arctic MX-6, which is perfect for these purposes and isn’t too expensive.
Another thermal paste that we recommend due to its viscosity and durability (the manufacturer says it lasts several years without issue) is CORSAIR XTM50, which you can find here:
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