Leave stock thermal pad or use AS5

[Revivalist]

I have the stock heatsink/fan on my 6600GT (which is AGP) but mine has has little pads between the sink and the GPU/RAM. Would it be better to remove those pads, apply some Arctic Silver 5, and then mount the sink right on the chips? Also, if I do that, will it mount as tight? Right now the mounting bracket fits just as tight as possible. Without the pads I figure it will be looser than before and if that happens then would the pads be better?

Thanks for any help.

Oh, by the way, mine's the MSI (http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=NX6600GT-VTD128&class=vga) seen here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=14-127-150&depa=1) at Newegg.

[Revivalist]

Bump. . .

Any advise?

[mcoleg]

as5 would be better but i'd advise using arctic ceramiq - it's non-conductive and cheaper for such a large application - get a large suringe. plus you'd be able to do a dry run - put some on, re-assemble the sink, dis-assemble it again and see if all is well.

[Revivalist]

Thanks alot for the info guys. I'll try it and report on the difference.