How to apply thermal paste to a GPU

Even the best graphics cards can fall victim to thermal throttling. If you're starting to notice lag in games that ran perfectly well before, or your GPU is overheating and the fans are running louder, you're experiencing thermal throttling. This can lead to worse performance and ruin the lifespan of your GPU. While there are a lot of ways to fix this issue, replacing the thermal paste is a quick and easy one.

While it is common knowledge that you should replace the thermal paste on your CPU regularly, it is less obvious that you should do the same thing for your GPU. Your GPU, like your CPU, has a heatsink attached to it, and over time it will perform worse as the thermal paste starts to dry out. Here's how you can quickly replace it.

Disclaimer before replacing thermal paste on your GPU

Before you go any further down the rabbit hole, please be aware that this process will involve you opening up your graphics card. This act, in and of itself, will void your GPU’s warranty, and you will not be able to return or replace your card in the future with the manufacturer, even if there is a manufacturer's fault with the card itself. So, before you begin, please make sure that the card you are doing this on is past its warranty date, or be prepared to buy a new GPU if anything ever happens to the card.

When to replace the thermal paste on your GPU

Replacing the thermal paste on your GPU is very similar to replacing your CPU’s thermal paste, albeit with a few extra screws attached. You only need to do this process once every few years, but you should always reapply thermal paste if you remove the cooler. Since most people are scared of opening their GPUs and don't want to void their warranty, there are very few that would do this within the lifespan of their PC.

That being said, you may be asking yourself if replacing your GPU’s thermal paste is necessary. While this process does help your graphics card manage heat better, which in turn will offer you better performance in-game, the difference is marginal. Unless you are trying to push every frame out of a game, it is not necessary for the majority of gamers. However, if you're experiencing bad temperatures and other factors have been considered, then it's worth doing.

Why replace the thermal paste on your GPU

Thermal paste is used to help transfer heat away from delicate hardware into heatsinks. A heatsink is a large metal block that usually has multiple sheets of metal and often an attached fan that helps evenly spread and dissipate the heat from your hardware. There are two main pieces of hardware that need heatsinks attached, your CPU and your GPU, and that is where thermal paste will be used to bridge the gap between the chip and the heatsink.

Over the years, as you use your computer more often, the thermal paste will become dryer and weaker, and will transfer less heat to the heatsink. This in turn will raise the temperature of your hardware, as it is less able to effectively dissipate heat. Tests show that actively using your computer for 1–3 years without changing your thermal paste will raise your GPU’s temperature by one or two degrees at most. However, if you bought an older used GPU, there's a higher chance that you'll get better temperatures after replacing the thermal paste.

How much thermal paste should you use and how to apply it

A general rule of thumb when applying thermal paste is that you should only use 0.1 ml of thermal paste or about the size of a pea. When applying thermal paste to your hardware there are two main approaches to take.

The first method is to add the thermal paste to the GPU and press the heatsink against it, causing the thermal paste to spread evenly under the pressure. The second method is to apply the thermal paste to the bottom of the heatsink, spread it evenly, and apply the heatsink to the top of the GPU.

Do not apply thermal paste to both sides, as this will be too much. In this scenario, more is not better, and if there is too much thermal paste the GPU will have a harder time transferring heat and will start to overheat. Furthermore, if you put too much on, it can be pressed out the edges, like when you put too much jelly on a sandwich. After applying the thermal paste, gently press the heatsink to the GPU and hold it there for a few minutes for the paste to harden in place.

How to apply thermal paste to a GPU

We will use a GTX 660 TI Boost for this example, but the steps will be the same for your graphics card. With a newer card, you will have more than one fan power cable, and you will probably have to use less thermal paste than on this card. With that said, let's re-apply thermal paste to a graphics card.

1. Unplug your PCIE 6-pin power cable from the GPU.
2. Un-dock the graphics card and place it on a non-static surface.
   

   

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3. Unscrew the back panel of the graphics card.
4. Unplug the fan power cable and separate the GPU from its heatsink.
   

   

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5. Clean off the old thermal paste from the GPU’s processor and the heatsink.
6. Apply new thermal paste to the graphics card, using one of the methods stated above.
   

   

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7. Plug in the GPU's fan and attach the heatsink to the GPU, then apply gentle pressure. Make sure the screw holes on the GPU and heatsink line up.
8. Screw in the back panel to reassemble the GPU.
   

   

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9. Dock the graphics card on the motherboard.
10. Plug the PCIe power cable back into the GPU.
    

    

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After following the steps above, start your computer and do a stress test on your GPU to check for the difference in temperatures. If you notice higher temperatures than before, you likely didn't apply the paste properly. On the other hand, if you notice lower temperatures, you're good to go.

Improving GPU performance and temperatures

Replacing the thermal paste on your GPU might sound like a scary process, but its fairly quick and easy. Again, keep in mind that it will void your warranty, so we only recommend doing this on older cards with higher temps. If you're still getting high temperatures after changing the thermal paste, it might be worthwhile to check your GPU's fans.