Thermal Paste Pump-Out on GPU Problem

Hello fellow masters. I'm seeking some advice about my 6700XT Red Devil and repasting.

Following advice from a user in the AMDHelp sub, u/DelayNo9376, I bought Gelid Extreme 0.5mm and 1mm thermal pads for the VRAM/VRMs. Overall, memory temps are actually a tad worse, but I believe that's because the Gelid pads are flat, stock pads were phat and fluffy mushed down, and the heatsink has a screw dimp that slightly overlaps one of the mem chips.

First tries: Using Kryonaut, I achieved -5c temp, -8c hotspot. This lasted for a few days, and then temps quickly climbed to +5c, +10c hotspot over stock. I repasted again with the same results and behaviors.

Then, following further advice, I switched to a higher viscosity paste: Gelid GC-Extreme. Temps were similar, noticeably below stock temps. A few weeks go by, and sure enough, temps are now much higher than stock. Talking +10c over on core, +15c hotspot.

WHAT GIVES?! I'm carefully and slowly tightening all the heatsink screws in a crisscross pattern, making sure they're all set and bottomed out. The thermal pads are all making contact, but don't look like they're so smooshed as to be causing resistance to the mounting pressure. What important detail am I missing?

Numbers from control tests in Superosition, fan speed set to 1450rpm manually, 2650MHz average frequency forced:

Stock paste Core/Hotspot: 65c/83-86c. Gelid GC-Extreme: 57-60c/78c After a couple of weeks: 72c/90-94c.

What can I possibly do?