Kryonaut abrasive??

[PowerPie5000]

I recently purchased an Alpenfohn Matterhorn Pure cooler along with some Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut paste (from OcUK) for a Core i7 6850k that I bought new a little while ago.

I had it all installed and running in an MSI X99 board that I wasn't too happy with, so I swapped it over for an Asrock X99 Taichi board earlier today... I was shocked to see how pitted/scratched the mirror finish on the cooler was and also the pitting/scratching on the processors IHS!!

What could have caused this? The cooler was new with a mirror finish when installed and the CPU was also brand new with not a single mark or anything else on it. I've installed processors countless times and this has never happened before! It's also the first time I've ever used Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut paste (I've always used the Arctic MX range). Is Kryonaut abrasive or does it have large particles? Maybe my tube is contaminated or defective?

Does anyone have any ideas? And is there anything I can do about this as I'm not too happy considering the installation went perfectly fine and everything was new!

 

[PowerPie5000]

It does look like dried paste in one of the shots, but I'm very certain it's not. You'd think I used sand and not thermal paste looking at the condition. I wonder if it's anything to do with the nickel coating on the cooler.. Maybe it flaked? Although I had no issues with a Matterhorn Pure on my old Z97 rig a few years back (it always kept it's shine with Arctic MX-4).

I use isopropyl fluid and also have isopropyl wipes too. I use dry kitchen roll to wipe off the bulk of the paste, then rub it down with isopropyl and then finish with dry kitchen towel again.

The installation process went fine so I just don't understand how this has happened? The only thing I've done different is to use Kryonaut paste over the usual Arctic MX-4 after reading the reviews. I always use the spread method too and it's never failed me (looks nice and even when cooler is removed).

Is there anything I can do about this? I must admit it also feels like the cooler clamps down pretty hard on the X99's 2011 socket.

 

[PowerPie5000]

I didn't realise how much attention this thread had gained! I contacted Thermal Grizzly when this happened (ages ago now), but I never got a reply and just had to "put up with it" in the end and just ended up thinking nothing would be done about it.

I still have the original tube of Kryonaut paste that I only used once, and then went back to using good old tried and tested Arctic MX-4.

Did anyone get anywhere in regards to compensation or replacement parts? I ended up selling the processor recently as "fully working, but marked/scratched" . I still have the Matterhorn cooler though and want to use it with my new Ryzen chip... And it still has the ugly damage from the Kryonaut paste :/

 

[PowerPie5000]

Thought I'd give this thread an update.

I messaged Thermal Grizzly again regarding the bad batch of thermal paste from 2018 (small quantity I believe)... I got a reply a little while ago and they offered me compensation in the form of a new cooler up to the value of 100 euros and also some extra cash compensation through PayPal.

I can confirm I received a nice shiny new Noctua NH-U12A cooler that I'd picked (which is brilliant btw) and also a very generous amount of Kryonaut thermal paste... Two large tubes of it in fact, which should last me a long time! I also received some extra compensation through PayPal.

I have to give them credit where it's due for their great customer service. I really wasn't expecting the compensation they offered... It was a pleasant surprise. I was also told that apparently Roman himself had sent out the package .

They didn't have to compensate me and I'm sure plenty of other companies would have just swept something like this under the rug, but these guys really are great and I'm very grateful.

Cheers