Stulid Tested all of OcUK Thermal Paste Range

Thermal paste round-up.


http://www.overclockers.co.uk was kind enough to send me a range of thermal pastes to test and report back on, what follows is my own thoughts and testing. The following pictures are of the outside packaging as you would receive it, the contents and finally the "spread-ability" + "coverage" of each paste using my own method of testing.




Akasa AK-455 Thermal Compound - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-002-AK&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27






Akasa AK-460 High Performance Thermal Compund (3.5g) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-004-AK&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27






Akasa TIM Kit Thermal Compound + Cleaner & Spreader - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-003-AK&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27





Alpenföhn "Snow Cannon" Thermalpaste (1.5g) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-000-AL&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27






Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound (4g) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-004-AR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27






Arctic Cooling MX-4 Thermal Compound (4g) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-003-AR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27






Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=AC-000-AC&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27





Arctic Silver Alumina Thermal Paste (1.75g) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-006-AR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27





Arctic Silver Céramique 2 Thermal Paste (2.7g) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-002-AC&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27





Cooler Master IC-Essential E1 Thermal Paste - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-016-CL&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27






Cooler Master IC-Essential E2 Thermal Paste - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-017-CL&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27






Cooler Master IC-Value V1 Thermal Paste - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-000-CM&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27






Coollaboratory Liquid MetalPad - 1 x CPU Thermal Pad - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-007-CL&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27

I decided not to try test this product.





Coollaboratory Liquid Pro Liquid Metal Thermal Paste - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-005-CL&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27






Dimastech HTX-EE Thermal Grease - Enthusiast Edition (3.5g) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-000-DT&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27






Gelid Solutions GC-Extreme Cutting Edge Thermal Compound (3.5g) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-000-GD&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27






IC Diamond 24-Carat Thermal Compound (4.8g) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-001-ID&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27





IC Diamond 7-Carat Thermal Compound (1.5g) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-000-ID&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27





Prolimatech PK-1 Nano Thermal Compound (5g) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-000-PL&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27






Prolimatech PK-2 Nano Aluminium Thermal Paste - 1,5g - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-003-PL&groupid=701&catid=27&subcat=






Prolimatech PK-3 Nano Aluminium Thermal Paste - 1,5g - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-004-PL&groupid=701&catid=27&subcat=






Xigmatek PTI-G3606 Thermal Grease - (3g) - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-000-XG&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27






Test Setup.

i5 3570K @4.5GHz (45X multi and using 1.4Vcore)
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H
Antec Kuhler920 (set to silent mode)
Realtemp
Prime95


Each paste was applied using a rice grain sized blob in the center of the CPU's heatspreader and the clamping force of the Kuhler920 allowed to spread the paste, except for the Coolaboratory Liquid Pro which I followed the instructions within the packaging to apply.

I don't have a thermometer to measure the ambient temperature of my room, but the testing was done on similar days.


Spread-ability.

This is my own thoughts on how easy it was to spread a pea sized blob of each paste across a mirrored surface, I used one of the plastic spatula supplied in one of the kits and then tried to use the same amount of force to spread.



The Coolaboratory Liquid Pro doesn't work at all well when trying to use the CPU cooler to spread it using pressure, instead the instructions say to spread a small blob around the surface using a cotton bud or similar until the surface is like a mirror, it behaves like Mercury metal at all times and I didn't like it at all, the fact I got it to spread at all means it doesn't receive a 0


Idle temperatures.

Idle temps were recorded after leaving the PC alone for 15 mins and then the minimum temperature of all four cores added up and divided by the number of cores to give the average.




Load temperatures.

Load temps were recorded in a similar method after running Prime95 for 15 minutes, the maximum temps were again just added up and divided by the number of cores.




Conclusion.


Firstly lets talk about the Liquid Pro, its temperatures were good at both idle and load, but the mess it made of both the CPU's surface and Kuhler's surface was a nightmare to clean, the instructions also say that the writing on the heatspreader can be unreadable after use, luckily mine is still readable but the heatspreader surface certainly looks more dark and used after trying to clean this stuff off, even using the supplied cleaning kit isn't enough, as for the scouring pad supplied, I wouldn't dare touch either surface with it.

The Coolermaster IC-Value V1 is cheap at £2.99, but it shows with maximum temperatures way above the others.

I can not recommend the use of these thermal compounds at all.


Then we come to the £4-5 thermal pastes, the Cooler Master IC-Essential E2 being both easy to spread, a nice coverage and good temperatures.

In the £5-10 range the Gelid Solutions GC-Extreme was lovely to use and great temperatures, the Prolimatech PK-1 Nano and Alpenföhn "Snow Cannon" was nice to use also, but the temps were a tiny bit worse, an honorable mention must go to the Arctic Cooling MX-2, at £6.98 its a bargain.


If I was buying thermal paste tomorrow with my own money, the Gelid Solutions GC-Extreme or MX-2 would be first on my shopping list with the Prolimatech PK-1 Nano and Alpenföhn "Snow Cannon" following close behind.

Amazing!

Really good work,welldone Stulid and OCUK

Good review. Thanks.

Do get a thermometer so you can monitor ambient temp... without it you have no reference point to base results on. Your room can change 2-3c very easily. Idle temps of 31.25-34.25c a 3c variance.

Still a great bit of work!

Nice work

Great review!

Are those temperatures normal for a clocked 3570K though? The load temperatures seem awfully high!

it doesnt seem that you accounted for thermal paste burn in...would that make any difference to the results?
great review btw xD

andrewdodd13 said:

Great review!

Are those temperatures normal for a clocked 3570K though? The load temperatures seem awfully high!

Click to expand...

The temps of a 3570K are high when sticking 1.4v through it.

tamzzy said:

it doesnt seem that you accounted for thermal paste burn in...would that make any difference to the results?
great review btw xD

Click to expand...

I got the samples a month ago, they had long enough

nice review, would you say that the Gelid is okay for putting on a gpu?

Niceone Stulid.

majnu said:

nice review, would you say that the Gelid is okay for putting on a gpu?

Click to expand...

Don't see why not, its not conductive

Neat thread, good work stulid

@stulid i have some mx4 that is about a year old still sealed in its applicator with the cap on, will it still be ok to use?

many thanks buzz

Looks like the main pastes are all within a few c of each other, or what I'd consider the margin of error. Good to see which ones to avoid tho.

buzzlightweight said:

@stulid i have some mx4 that is about a year old still sealed in its applicator with the cap on, will it still be ok to use?

many thanks buzz

Click to expand...

Test some on a piece of paper. If the consistency is the same as when new it'll be fine. The only issue with old paste is when it drys out, making application and even spreading under pressure difficult.

sadbuttrue said:

Test some on a piece of paper. If the consistency is the same as when new it'll be fine. The only issue with old paste is when it drys out, making application and even spreading under pressure difficult.

Click to expand...

thanks dude

Brilliant review, thanks Stulid.

Great work, and I think this should be a sticky. So anyone wanting to look for some new thermal paste, can find it straight away.

I and many others are great full for your time you have spent doing this.

Clairvoyant said:

Great work, and I think this should be a sticky. So anyone wanting to look for some new thermal paste, can find it straight away.

I and many others are great full for your time you have spent doing this.

Click to expand...

+1