Want to upgrade the floppy thermal pad on my GPU... how?

I've noticed the spot on the case where my GPU sits on my Acer 5002 gets pretty hot.

I removed the memory cover and it has a piece of thin aluminum glued inside it that sits on the GPU heatsink with a rubbery thermal pad. Problem is that only half of the heatsink is covered by this pad and would benefit greatly from a properly sized one!

Wondering

A) Are there better alternatives to this pad? Though this is the memory cover it isn't like it needs to be opened often so what about a copper shim with thermal paste? If so, how do you measure for something like that?

B) If there are no alternatives what's the best replacement pad material I can use? How do I know which thickness to get?

Thanks for the ideas!

 

As far as dimensions and what sizes to get you would need to purchase or borrow a caliber such as this one and measure.

You can certainly find thermal pads that you cut down to size at any of the PC overclocker stores such as FrozenCPU.com (use the code "xtreme" to get 5% off), Xoxide, or Performance PC's.

A copper shim and paste will always do a better job of transferring heat then a thermal pad but you're going to need to work out a method of securing the shim so it is pressed against the surfaces you are transferring heat to and from securely, as paste needs pressure to work best. It's often simpler to just use a thermal pad and only make the move to a shim and paste if the new pad isn't enough of a improvement for you.

 

If I went the copper shim route I'd use thermal adhesive on top of the heatsink to attach it and then thermal paste between it and the cover. My main question was how you properly measure how thick of a shim you'll need!

As for the thermal pad, same question. I've found what seems to be the best performing stuff ( link) but still not sure what thickness I'll need!

 

As I mentioned above, you'll need a caliper to properly measure such small distances.

One option would be to take stacks of paper or tape and increase the thickness till you got a firm seat between the two surfaces. You would then measure what you had created and have a rough estimate of the thermal pad thickness you would need. A way to tell if you've made it thick enough with a tape proxy would be when you see a indentation pressed into the tape by the top of the GPU sink.

Another option would be to measure the thickness of the pad and AL piece that is already installed after you removed it from the memory cover.

In any case, to know what thickness you need, you must have a way to accurately measure very small distances. If you don't want to purchase a caliper yourself, most junior colleges have a mechanical lab or you could go by a automotive repair shop with what you need measured and ask them politely if you could use their caliper to measure the thickness.