Bad batch of Kryonaut?

adrichardson81 · 15 Dec 2020 at 11:09

Hi everyone

I recently switched my 3700x for a 5900X. Cooling is a Corsair H100i (platinum?).

I used Kryonaut when I installed the 3700x, thin even spread. When I cleaned it off, the heat spreader was quite heavily marked.

I used a different batch of Kryonaut (not bought from OCUK) on the 5900X. I warmed it in hot water first, but it spread like chewing gum (tried the included spreader and a credit card).

Have just been unlucky, or am I applying it wrong?

adrichardson81 · 15 Dec 2020 at 19:10

Thanks! Definitely abrasive for me. Is Noctua nt-h2 still a good shout? I know IC Diamond is abrasive so I'll give that a miss.

adrichardson81 · 16 Dec 2020 at 11:48

Distracted said:
I used Kryonaut and it scratched a D15S I had so I haven’t used it since.

I have never experienced this with any other thermal interface material.

Thermal Grizzly claim (according to the response in these forums) that this is a known issue with 1 batch of their product produced in 2018. Evidence suggests that this batch is either still in circulation, or that the issue is more widespread and affects more recent batches of their paste as well. The affected tubes of Kryonaut cannot be traced so when buying you have no idea whether or not yours is affected until you use it.

Intetesting - I bought mine from the rainforest so I can't imagine it's been hanging around since 2018. I suspect it's more than an isolated incident in that case.

adrichardson81 · 19 Dec 2020 at 12:32

Glad it's not just me!

adrichardson81 · 19 Dec 2020 at 18:08

gbgt2 said:
I had a weird issue with this paste recently as well. It was a tube I originally opened a few years ago (so could have been one of the affected batch I guess) and it was ridiculously thick. I've used it multiple times before so I know it is normally quite thick but this was like putty rather than a paste. My temps were terrible so I remounted with some MX4 and dropped something like 15 degrees.

The whole CPU was covered so I don't think just having too thick a layer applied could make that much difference? I was mounting an H115i Pro on the stock AMD brackets so I don't really see how you can get a bad mount with that either since you just clip it on and tighten until it won't go down any more. So it seems like the paste expired or went bad somehow.

Pretty much how mine was, but it was a fresh batch. I wonder if the shelf life runs from opening or manufacture? I'm amazed they have no way of tracking batches - that just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

adrichardson81 · 19 Dec 2020 at 19:44

If it helps, I bought mine in October. It was direct from the rainforest and properly packed, so I'm confident it's the real deal.

adrichardson81 · 20 Dec 2020 at 12:09

True, though its a lot of work to fake the whole kit. If it was a loose syringe I'd quite believe it. If course, we don't know how big the batches are or how frequently they're rolled out.