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IT Support & Hardware · Intermediate

Thermal Pad

A soft, pre-formed thermally conductive pad used between components and heat sinks where gaps are larger.

Definition

Thermal pads conduct heat across larger or uneven gaps where paste would not work, such as on memory chips, VRMs, and SSD controllers. They come in specific thicknesses that must match the original. Laptops and graphics cards commonly use pads.

Example

Replace GPU VRAM thermal pads with the same 1.5 mm thickness during a repaste.

Exam tip

Using the wrong pad thickness can prevent the heat sink from contacting the GPU die.

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