ATI, cheap with thermal paste?

[ElectroX]

Well,

When I first bought my 1.8Ghz HP at the beginning of my freshman year I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Eventually the onboard 48Mb graphics weren't keeping up with current games so I decided to upgrade. At the time, a Radeon 7500 PCI was the most I could afford and was still a decent card (Dx7 :attn: ). So I played C&C: Renegade with my new 7500 and I was stylin, except for these little flashes of color (I later found out about Heatspikes). Some time later I got my 2200+ with my Ti4200 and the HP with my super cool Radeon became my dedicated game server and was never gamed on again untill just recently when I gave it to my little brother.

I decided I would fix that little heatspike problem with some custom RamSinks..... But seeing as I just got my 22g tube of ASC I decided to pop some of that onto the core too. When I removed the GPU heatsink this is what I saw:
http://www.theforumisdown.com/uploadfiles/1203/electrox_7500_1.gif
:eek:

I was shocked by what I saw, NO WONDER I HAD FREAKING HEATSPIKES :mad:

http://www.theforumisdown.com/uploadfiles/1203/electrox_7500_2.gif

I then gathered my distraught self and removed the whole square CM of thermal paste and replaced it with good 'ol ASC.

I was amazed that the card didn't kill itself with that ammount of thermal paste. So after my custom ramsinks and some ceramique my heatspikes have disappeared... I just couldn't beilive my (ex) favorite company would even ship something like this.

What do you guys think?

[Cerberus2k7]

Looks like they set all their cards outside and let birds crap on them, then they put on the HS. :p And I plan on getting a 9800pro soon, but i'm gonna add an aftermarket cooler, so i'll make sure to get extra TC. Thanks! :D

[ElectroX]

*BUMP* Doesn't this bother anyone?

[Mr.Radar]

Hmm... Maybe I should put check out the family comp's 7500. If they skimped on the paste I think I'm going to use the el chepo stuff that came with my SLK-947U (ya gotta use it for something!)

[Nero]

It would bother me if I didn't know that my last 2 ATI cards had ample thermal paste (of course I replaced the generic stuff with AS3/5).

That *is* a funny image though, what Cerberus2k7 said is the first thing came to my mind. :D

[snvpa]

Ati's changed alot since the days of the 7500 so i don't worry. I also don't worry since the first thing I do when I get a new v card is rip off that crappy hsf and cruddy TIM and put some as3,5 or ceramique on there then watercool it, but its pretty funny. It does look like a bird divebombed it.

[stan03]

Originally posted by snvpa
Ati's changed alot since the days of the 7500 so i don't worry.

yea i heard ati puts plenty of it on now... companies change and the 7500 isn't really recent.

[brakezone]

=/ They might as well not even put any paste on.

[Cyberwiz01]

Originally posted by Cerberus2k7
Looks like they set all their cards outside and let birds crap on them, then they put on the HS. :p

ROFL!!! That's the funniest thing I've read all day. Thanks for the laugh.

[Silversinksam]

I'm not surprised at all, in fact in the last few years I have recieved 2 video cards that didn't have a thermal pad or any thermal paste in between the core and the heatsink.

I make it a priority to remove the video card heatsink (Unless its epoxied on) and check to see if a thermal paste or pad is present, then once I see this I scrape or wipe off the paste or pad and use Arctic Silver thermal paste or adhesive.

[stan03]

from ati, or both ati and nvidia?

[N1vek215]

Wow, I laughed when i saw that little bit of paste, Lol I'm surprised the card didn't die on ya in a matter of hours. Hmmm, now that I think about it, I never ever took the HSF off my cards.... BRB!!!!

[Silversinksam]

Originally posted by stan03
from ati, or both ati and nvidia?

Both were Nvidia cards, but as ElectroX posted how theres was just a dab of paste on his ATI, its always a good idea to look

[stress]

wow, there a bit tight with the paste, i cant remember how much was on mine when i changed heatsinks....