Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 Super Thermal Pads and Paste Replacement

Written By: Caleb Ellenburg
  • Comments: 19
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 Super Thermal Pads and Paste Replacement

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

10

Time Required

No estimate

Introduction

Follow the steps below to thoroughly clean your 2070 Super video card and replace thermal paste and thermal pads.

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    • Using the #1 Philips screwdriver, remove the two screws below the fan shroud

    • Turn the video card to face the display ports

    • Remove the four screws using a #0 Philips screwdriver

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    • Using a #0 Philips screwdriver, remove the two screws holding the fan shroud to the heat sink, then flip the card over and remove the identicaltwo screws from the other side of the card

    • Disconnect the two fan connectors from the video card

    • Separate the fan shroud from the video card

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    • Flip the card over so the back plate is facing up

    • Using a #0 Philips screwdriver, remove the four screws with springs from the back plate

    • Using a #0 Philips screwdriver, remove the three remaining screws from the back plate

    • Flip the card back over and carefully remove the heat sink from the card

    The backplate and heatsink were stuck on super hard, very difficult to separate. My tips are: use a hair dryer to soften up the thermal pads and grease, and pry at the extreme end of the backplate/heatsink instead of in the middle.

    fezzo -

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    • Using a #0 Philips screwdriver, remove the three screws from the front of the card

    • Carefully remove the back plate from the card

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    • Using 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs, carefully remove all old thermal paste from the heat sink and CPU

    • Be sure to completely remove any remnants of the old thermal paste

    You can unscrew the plate from the heat sink to get easier access to remove the thermal paste and do deeper cleaning.

    fezzo -

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    • Using a high quality thermal paste, such as Thermalright TF thermal paste, carefully apply a small amount to the video card

    • Use a thin spreader, or credit card-like tool, spread the thermal paste evenly over the card, ensuring no excess paste leaks over the edge

    • Heating the thermal paste in warm water may help it spread more evenly

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    • Remove the old thermal pads and clean the VRAM chips with 90% isopropyl alcohol

    • Using the 0.5 mm thermal pad, place one strip, measured at 6 cm x 1.5 cm along the top VRAM

    • Using the 0.5 mm thermal pad, place two strips, measured at 3 cm x 1.5 cm along the VRAM on either side of the CPU

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    • Remove the old thermal pads and clean the heat sink with 90% isopropyl alcohol

    • Using the 1.0 mm thermal pad, place three strips, measured at 9 cm x 1.3 cm, along the heat sink as outlined in red

    • Using the 2.0 mm thermal pad, place one strip, measured at 9 cm x 1.3 cm, along the heat sink as outlined in green

    The measurements here are wrong, each strip is not 1.3cm wide - more like 7mm wide.

    I also found a 1.5mm thermal pad is a better fit than a 2mm thermal pad (for the third strip in this picture).

    fezzo -

    What makes you think it's a better fit, what are you fitting it against to confirm?

    Andy -

    I opened for the first time my card and the first stripe (the left most one) is completely missing leaving the capacitors there naked.

    I checked that there isn't any loose pad elsewhere that might came off from there.

    How normal is this?

    padrobo -

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    • Remove the old thermal pads and clean the back plate with 90% isopropyl alcohol

    • Using the 2.5 mm thermal pad, place one strip, measured at 5 cm x 1 cm on the back plate as outlined in red

    • Using the 2.5 mm thermal pad, place one strip, measured at 3.5 cm x 1.5 cm on the back plate as outlined in green

    • Using the 2.5 mm thermal pad, place one strip, measured at 6.5 cm x 1.5 cm on the back plate as outlined in blue

    You can get away with using 3mm thermal pads here too, more contact between the PCB and backplate.

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    • Follow all steps in reverse order to reassemble the video card once cleaned and thermal paste and all thermal pads are replaced

Conclusion

Follow the steps below to thoroughly clean your 2070 Super video card and replace thermal paste and thermal pads.

Author

Caleb Ellenburg

Member since: 27/11/23

235 Reputation

13 comments

Thank you so much. It was exactly what I was looking for.

Ahmet Bozacı -

steps 1 and 2 (fan shroud/display port shield) are unnecessary. The entire fan + heatsink assembly comes off in one piece and the DP shield stays attached to the board. Also on step 8, all of the pads are 1mm. The green one was not 2mm on mine. (measured with caliper, they are all identical)

Not Me -

On step 8, 9x1.3cm wasn't too wide? It looks more like 9x0.8cm.

Albert -

A couple of questions:

1. Is it ok to use 3mm pads instead of 2.5mm in the back plate?

2. On step 8, 9x1.3cm is way to big, it looks more like 9x0.8cm. Also can i use 1.5mm instead of the 2mm?

Albert -

Did you do it? What thickness did you use for the backplate?

Feixas -

Mine were already 3mm on the back. I wouldn't use a thinner pad than was already installed in case it no longer makes good contact, but I reckon you could get away with 0.5mm thicker on most of them without issue because they squash flat pretty well, almost like clay. (At least these Thermal Grizzly minus pads do)

Phatt Johnson -

***HOLY $@$****

I only replaced the paste and saw a 30 degree dip on my gpu hotspot using HWMonitor.

It went from 104 to 77.4. It normally reached this temp in about a min.

and my GPU temp never went above 69.5.

This is a pc upgrade that only requires isopropyl-alcohol, Qtips and thermalpaste

i used arctic silver Mx4

100/100 would reccomend.

Scott Timmermans -

On step 8, i juste do it, left to the right

1st: 9x0,8. 1mm

2nd; 9x0,5 cm. 1mm

3rd; 9x0,5 or 0,6 cm. 2mm

4th; 9x0,5. x1

Emilien Foulon -

It looks like they have different sizes even with same models...

In case someone needs the one i measured for my Gigabyte RTX 2070 Super Gaming OC 3X (GV-N207SGAMING OC-8GD):

- 2.5mm under the backplate (65x20mm, 35x20mm, 50x15mm)

- 0.5mm RAM (30x15mm, 30x15mm, 60x15mm)

- 1mm VRMs (90x6mm),

- 1mm chokes (90x10mm)

- 2mm capacitors (85x7mm)

I followed another Youtube tutorial and ordered the wrong pads for capacitors (1.5mm were too thin). I just stacked 1.5mm and 0.5mm since caps don't get too hot anyways.

I've used "1pc 12.8W/MK Thermal Pad Non-Conductive GPU Card Water Cooling Thermal Mat For CPU CPU PS4 SSD Thermal Pad Silicone Grease Pad" from "3CCC Store" on Aliexpress. The packaging says "7 SUBZERO SEVEN THERMAL PAD STORM 15W/mk". They aren't as soft as the stock pads, but they seem to be okay.

Denny -

The temperature went from 85C to 60 max. Plus I am getting more fps now, on heavens benchmark for example 60fps -> 79fps.

Gyunay Kadirov -

In step 8 i used 1.5 mm pad instead of 2 mm is it okay? And also i don't have the right most thermal pad strip? How??

Red -

I don't have the left most one.

Don't know what to say...

padrobo -

Just did this in 2025!

I needed to use:

- 0.5mm pads around the die

- 1.5mm pads for 3 of long thin VRM pads, 0.5mm for the fourth one

- 3mm pads on the back.

On an Australian model Gigabyte Gaming OC, my copper pipes above the die itself look different to the pics so seems not every heatsink is identical.

The pads on the back were still perfect 6 years in despite other overheating issues, so it seems you won't need to replace those unless you damage them taking the cover off somehow (they're thick, so good luck).

And yes, steps 1 and 2 can be skipped entirely (other than removing the 2x fan cable plugs).

Phatt Johnson -