Should I remove old thermal pads while changing video card?

Question

Video card of my acer laptop has broken down and I bought a new one. The seller gave me a thermal paste to use, but the place where I am gonna insert the new card to has some termal pads from the previous video card. Should I apply thermal paste to it or remove all pads then use paste only between metal part and video card?

Will the old thermal pads have any effect, and would I have any problems from keeping or removing them?

Answer 1

Both thermal pad and thermal paste need a good connection to whatever they are cooling. If your old thermal pad is deformed (e.g. it is dented where it previously connected to other parts) then replace it. Either with a thermal pad or with thermal paste.

Note: Not both.

Depending on the internals of your laptop you might need the thermal pad (e.g when the cooling parts do not press firmly against the cooling chip without the extra thickness of a thermal pad).

I mean will the old termal pads have any effects or not?

Any effect: Probably yes.
Enough of an effect: Doubtful.