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Hi everybody,

I have changed my D300 thermal pads without any issues.
You have to measure the old one thickness, which counts the most.
Clean well the VRAM’s and stick the pads to them firs, not to the heatsink.
I have used the Thermal Grizzly Minus Pad 8 8W/m.
They have strips of 120mm in length with 20 mm in width and multiple thickness.
Measure you original pads thickness and purchase the same measure.
You can cut the 120mm x 20 mm in eight equal pieces who can fit your needs.
Easy job who worked for me.
Good luck ✌️
 
During installation, there were a few "hiccups" and issues...including a bolt on a bracket of the CPU un-attaching and had the talked about black tamper proof stickers over the CPU screws (that ifixit does not show on their video) showed up..along with a few other minor challenges along the way...but overall, the process went well.
Hi,

Can I ask how you dealt with the tamper proof stickers? I've not seem them mentioned on any of the videos I've seen so far!

Scratch that! Have fixed it! They really look like metal but are just plastic tape over the top.
 
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Hi,

Can I ask how you dealt with the tamper proof stickers? I've not seem them mentioned on any of the videos I've seen so far!

Scratch that! Have fixed it! They really look like metal but are just plastic tape over the top.
They come off easy and are basically stickers, probably to show apple if you messed with the insides if under warranty.

I did not have any issues with it, but used an exact-o blade to go around the sticker and it lifts off easily.

just be careful when going that deep into the system, for the Mac Pro 2013 is known for a lot of heat and if it was used for a lot like rendering video etc. then components inside over the years start to get weak etc. My graphic cards were really tight into the connection and thought I broke one when I put it back together, but after reopening it I found that the connector was not fully pushed in. Had to really push to get it to snap in again with a lot of caution and sweat to make sure I did not break something (did not thank God).

Just don’t be in a rush and take your time and be very careful and any work within or upgrades aren’t too difficult. The videos are good to watch, but know they were made when the system was newer so components were not heated enough yet to start to expand making connectors tight or screws weak etc.
 
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Due to COVID-19 I have recently spent a non-inconsequential amount of time building custom gaming PCs for myself and have discovered (unsurprisingly) that applying thermal paste is something that requires a fair amount of practice (not just staring at YouTube videos).

Like frosting a cake.

Ideally you'd want a thermal interface that is a few molecules thick with zero air bubbles or coverage gaps.

These days I apply paste to both the cooling block and the chip. I use an artist's palette knife to spread the paste on both then press the two components together, then twist. Then I'll separate the two components and look carefully to see if there are any coverage gaps which I try to rectify with the palette knife.

Today, I have an SFF build with the same CPU and same AIO cooler that I acquire eight months ago but the thermals are far better (even taking into consideration the difference between summer and winter) because I have a FAR better understanding of how to correctly apply thermal paste.

I believe the actual product is less important than the technique: Arctic MX-4, the newer H2 Noctua stuff, the Grizzly paste matters much less than the user's skill in correct application. You see this in the PC site reviews; all of these top-tier thermal compounds perform very similarly but those guys are experts at reconfiguring hardware.
 
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May I ask that what is the thickness of the thermal pad on the memory chips of the D700 graphic card ? I’m going to re-paste the CPU & GPU , perhaps upgrade the CPU too . So wanna prepare the material first .
Thank you a lot !
 
May I ask that what is the thickness of the thermal pad on the memory chips of the D700 graphic card ? I’m going to re-paste the CPU & GPU , perhaps upgrade the CPU too . So wanna prepare the material first .
Thank you a lot !
Just some info on the thermal pads thicknesses is 2mm maybe 2.5mm but my calipers says that it’s 2mm for the D300,D500 and D700. The only difference is the D500 and the D700 are longer than the D300 due to more vram memory on the GPU cards.
 
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