Best Thermal Paste

  • Thread starter Thread starter nlr
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Well I was going to maybe try this stuff out but after reading on the internet i`m unsure now as reading some posts on the internet, user that have tried this Indigo Extreme seem to
think that if you already use thermal paste such as MX-3 then you`ll be just wasting your time and money buying Indigo Extreme because there is no real difference in temps.

Can anyone confirm if already using MX-3 then there is no point trying Indigo Extreme because I won`t benefit with lower temps?

Thanks for responding.
 
The reality is that if you've applied your MX-3 correctly, there will be a slight gain in terms of achieving lower temperatures if you were to use Indigo Xtreme. However, if you were to tint your CPU's heatspreader and the heatsink's contact, you can achieve slightly lower temperatures. If you're gutsy enough, you can lap your CPU's heatspreader to achieve lower temperatures.

The whole point of the Indigo Xtreme is that it is very much an enthusiast product, hence the £15 MSRP - it's for people to whom those few degrees celsius will make a massive difference. It is a liquid metal formula that requires burning in in a different way, you literally melt the metal by not powering on your CPU fan/watercooling pump so that all the microscopic valleys and air pockets are filled perfectly. Essentially, Indigo Xtreme gives you a near as perfect thermal paste application as is physically possible.

If you were to lap your CPU's heatspreader and tint your heatsink's base, you'd shave another couple of degrees off your temps and save money. Even if you were to simply tint your heatsink (personally, I'd never lap as I couldn't bare the thought of trashing my CPU by accident) you'd probably lower your temps by 1-2'c.

I'm not dissing Indigo Xtreme as a product at all - if it can do what it says then it must be great stuff, but you're essentially shifting from the realm of a paste/grease to a liquid metal. It's applications are far more limited and it is really trying to cater to a different market. If I were you, approach the product with curiosity but also with due caution, care and attention. :)
 
According to this old review, toothpaste is as good as anything.

www.dansdata.com/goop.htm

BTW, if you have a good contact between heatspreader and heatsink, then the difference caused by the TIM is minimal. And if you have a crap contact betwen the core and the heatspreader, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference which TIM you use between the heatspreader and the heatsink.

Unless you are really good at mounting your heatsinks and always get a perfect mount, the variation in temperatures makes any gain you may claim invalid.

In a perfect world, you wouldn't use a TIM. That benchmark reviews site makes the point that any join of heatspreader-TIM-heatsink is less efficient than heatspreader-heatsink. What we're all trying to avoid is heatspreader-air-heatsink. Good pressure and evenly smooth surfaces mean the TIM is then only where needed. Compared to metal-to-metal connection, the TIM is an insulator.
 
Theophany said:
The reality is that if you've applied your MX-3 correctly, there will be a slight gain in terms of achieving lower temperatures if you were to use Indigo Xtreme. However, if you were to tint your CPU's heatspreader and the heatsink's contact, you can achieve slightly lower temperatures. If you're gutsy enough, you can lap your CPU's heatspreader to achieve lower temperatures.

The whole point of the Indigo Xtreme is that it is very much an enthusiast product, hence the £15 MSRP - it's for people to whom those few degrees celsius will make a massive difference. It is a liquid metal formula that requires burning in in a different way, you literally melt the metal by not powering on your CPU fan/watercooling pump so that all the microscopic valleys and air pockets are filled perfectly. Essentially, Indigo Xtreme gives you a near as perfect thermal paste application as is physically possible.

If you were to lap your CPU's heatspreader and tint your heatsink's base, you'd shave another couple of degrees off your temps and save money. Even if you were to simply tint your heatsink (personally, I'd never lap as I couldn't bare the thought of trashing my CPU by accident) you'd probably lower your temps by 1-2'c.

I'm not dissing Indigo Xtreme as a product at all - if it can do what it says then it must be great stuff, but you're essentially shifting from the realm of a paste/grease to a liquid metal. It's applications are far more limited and it is really trying to cater to a different market. If I were you, approach the product with curiosity but also with due caution, care and attention. :)
Click to expand...

Sorry for the noob question, What is tinting your CPU's heatspreader?
 
Tinting is the process whereby you apply some of your thermal compound and use an implement to rub in the thermal compound, I find using your fingers (whilst wearing a latex glove) is the best method. Simply rub it on, ensure you get a good coverage and then wipe off the excess with a lint free cloth. Don't use any TIM cleaner or removal agents. Doing this will tint the heatsink/heatspreader to the colour of your thermal compound and serves to fill in the impurities on the metal surfaces.

Now if you do this, you must be extra careful in applying another application of thermal compound. If you've tinted, you want to use as little thermal compound as possible when you actually fit your heatsink, otherwise you run the risk of having too much compound, which would be detrimental to your temperatures.

As Mike said in the post above yours, the best possible solution is to use no thermal compound at all. Remember that it is not a conductor, it is purely to maximise contact between your CPU and your heatsink. If you're very confident in the quality of your heatsink's manufacture you can simply tint your CPU and heatsink and apply no more thermal compound.


If you click here and go to page 4, you'll see Arctic Silver's guidelines for tinting which apply to the majority of thermal pastes out there. :)
 
Not bad if it's done properly, no. You're much more likely to have compound leak out of the sides doing it like that. The majority of people I've spoken with seem to agree that applying a pea-sized amount in the centre and allowing the pressure from fitting the heatsink to spread it works just as well.

IIRC most modern CPUs have all cores positioned at the centre of the chip, so as long as you have a good contact and thermal conductivity at that point, you'll be fine.
 
Theophany said:
Not bad if it's done properly, no. You're much more likely to have compound leak out of the sides doing it like that. The majority of people I've spoken with seem to agree that applying a pea-sized amount in the centre and allowing the pressure from fitting the heatsink to spread it works just as well.

IIRC most modern CPUs have all cores positioned at the centre of the chip, so as long as you have a good contact and thermal conductivity at that point, you'll be fine.
Click to expand...

Peas are HUGE, that'll be wait too much paste. Grain or rice is probably more appt, or petit pois? :)
 
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