I knew I should have listened to my gut when I had a feeling that site was dodgy...... Any way, for better or for worse (and £120 out of pocket) I have this GPU block. And I want to use it. However, even though his website states the following - • Screws. • Allen key. • Thermal pad 5w / mk. • Waterblock GPU. • Notice. I did not get the allen key or thermal pad 5w/mk. I have tried over and over again to ask him what thickness the thermal pads are but he won't reply. He just keeps sending me bogus French tracking numbers that have already been delivered. How can I find out how thick they are? a buddy of mine mentioned those spark plug gapping things (forget what they are called now). Would that work? are they thick enough? I desperately want to fit and use it, but desperately don't want to kill the GPU by using pads that are too thick and thus cracking the BGA.
Feeler gauge I think. Would that not cause issues with them being metal? Also if the gap is that small would thermal paste do the job?
You could blu-tack (well, something that's going to some off easily) on the bits that need pads, fit the heatsink, then take the blu-tack off and measure the width.
I imagine the gap would be at least 1mm. It's literally for the VRAM and VRM. The card looks like this. Or raw... So basically it looks like it makes contact here... Now what I can do is measure the thickness of the PCB + vram module, as well as the PCB and VRM. Because looking at it they look the same. I can use my verniers for that. Whatever the result turns out to be on those I am pretty sure it will be the same pad. For the things next to the VRM? that will obviously need to be thicker. I wasn't planning on stuffing the feeler gauge in (thanks for that !) and gouging it. I was just going to very carefully insert into the gap with the block dry fitted.
If you suspect he's dodgy, I'd suggest pressure testing the block for a decent amount of time before fitting it to the card too.
Calipers. Measure all of the high bits then the low bits on block and card and compare. It'll be a massive faff. It may actually be easiest to do a simple CAD (autocad personal is free for a year) and do a simple blockout of the card and block with calipers measuring all of the parts. Would take a couple of hours but then you'd know exactly how much space you need to fill! Plus then you'll have an idea of how well it'll fit in hidden spots.
Playdough. If like me you collect scraps and off cuts of thermal pads, you could just use a bit of trial and error with small pieces placed in the required locations. I'd imagine 1-2mm on the vram and vrm, 0.5-1mm on the inductors. If you don't have any scraps I have a bunch and can send you some.
I think I have some blu tak. Mum swears by it. Will probably try that tbh. Cheers fellas. I should be over there in about a week, so I will crack on with it then.
