Spec me some thermal paste :)

RandomNoob · 26 May 2017 at 12:06

I've been using Arctic mx4 since 2010 and its served me well, probably used it on everything from desktop gpu's and cpu's and notebook gpu's and cpu's. Sadly my last syringe of it ran out a few days ago

Before buying more mx4 I thought I'd ask here as to if there is some thermal compound you guys find better to use than the mx4 stuff I've used in the past, what does everyone recommend from past or current experience?

BriT · 26 May 2017 at 14:18

This is king at the moment, used it myself good stuff. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ther...ance-thermal-paste-5.5g-1.5-ml-th-001-tg.html

acake · 26 May 2017 at 14:41

BriT said:
This is king at the moment, used it myself good stuff. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ther...ance-thermal-paste-5.5g-1.5-ml-th-001-tg.html

Ill second this cant go wrong

benjii · 26 May 2017 at 15:34

Thirded. Their liquid metal beats the competition too, if you ever need any.

tipes · 28 May 2017 at 23:03

Cant go wrong with the Kryonaut - so fourthed lol. Must admit though that as said below there is hardly anything in it temp wise between many different pastes. I was very happy to use Gelid extreme too - a very good paste imho.

Aberfala · 29 May 2017 at 14:52

As someone who used MX4 for years before Thermal Grizzly arrived on the scene I can highly recommend their products as well.

doyll · 29 May 2017 at 17:20

If find it amazing how people go for new TIMs that is not as easy to use and only give about 1c better heat transfer then older established TIMs.

The top 31 TIMs tested by Overclocking Guide were all within 3.18c of each other. The top 6 were 1.36c apart .. and the top 2 (liquid metal) were 0.43c apart and Grizzly Kryonaut was 0.93c worse then they were and only 0.31c better than GC Extreme. The next 24 TIMs were all within 1.35c of each other.
MX-4 is only 1.1c below Kryonaut .. not enough to make a noticeable difference .. not even as much change as lowering your room temp by 1.1c or improving case airflow so cooler intake air temp is only 3-5c above room .. and many builds have cooler intake air temp 8-18c above room when gaming or working system hard.

dcb29ab9-a3d4-45a7-9aef-e94f4394659f_zpshg8byw7j.png~original

Minstadave · 29 May 2017 at 17:23

Yeah I have to agree, I bought hydronaut and it was completely underwhelming. May have well just used MX4.

crazy8s · 31 May 2017 at 18:20

I use the Noctua NT-H1 on both my CPU and GPU. Would recommend.

crazy8s · 31 May 2017 at 18:20

accidental double post (how do i delete this?)

doyll · 1 Jun 2017 at 10:15

Noctua NT-H1 is very good. Ive been using Thermalright Chill Facter III for several years .. mostly because I mount lots of coolers with all the testing I do and I got a box of CF III at cost.

mattyfez · 4 Jun 2017 at 12:22

To be honest I think most Tim these days is at least 'good'.
Variances in application probably account for most benefits.

I re did my rx 480 with kryonought and it made no difference.

I used cooler master paste on my CPU originally , the biggest difference was delidding and replacing the stock Intel Tim under the lid.

But I didn't try the cooler master Tim under the lid, just went from stock Intel Tim to kryonought, so I can't really say how much better the kryonought is than the cooler master Tim they supply with thier coolers.

laddy · 5 Jun 2017 at 08:58

noctua paste is one of the best, my favourite for years - and if they are all 1- 3 degrees then, you gotta also think its not easy to get exactly the same results, ambient room temp, the same tension, same amount, whatever the test bench!

doyll · 5 Jun 2017 at 12:06

What laddy said. How easy a TIM is to apply and how well it seats is at least as important if not more important than what the actual heat transfer ability of specific a TIM is. Get a TIM that is not to stiff and use a small dob in middle of CPU. When cooler base is pressed down an mount tightened the best print is one that just reaches the edges of IHS .. at least on most CPUs because all the heat is coming from the actual CPU chip, and that is usually 1/4th or less in size compared to size of IHS .. and the IHS does not spread heat but very little. I'ts size is bigger than CPU chip to give a good base area for cooler or block to mount onto, not to spread heat. IHS is too thin to spread heat much.

We want as thin a layer of TIM as possible so as much metal to metal contact as possible is made.

TIM%20seat%20thickness%204_zps4ko3ixz7.png

Sorry for small size. But you can see how less TIM and smaller print transfers heat better than more TIM.

Simon Belmont · 8 Jun 2017 at 13:32

Been using MX-4 for years and will continue to use it for years to come. Great stuff.

Angilion · 12 Jun 2017 at 01:53

If you're buying new, you may as well get the Thermal Grizzly. It's very slightly better, it's about as easy to apply as long as it's warm enough and the price difference is negligable. But if you're used to MX-4, that might be a better bet. Different manufacturers make a huge deal about how different and better their product is, but dozens of TIMs are almost identical in performance when applied correctly. If you're going for overclocking records, every tiny advantage is worth having. Otherwise, why care about 1C, maybe 2C at most?

Danny75 · 12 Jun 2017 at 02:02

I'd like to warn about Arctic MX4. Not that a good tube of it isn't good, far from it. But in recent years many tubes have been bad (too old since production maybe?), either dried already, or too liquidy and drying within a year of use and raising temps by 10 degrees. I'm still using mine because I bought a 20g tube of it lol, and I don't mind replacing the paste every year, but I would not buy it again due to the risk. Nor would I use it on someone else's build, where I'd want it to last. Like I said, this is a recent thing, and my experience of it (and tons of posts by others with the same experience), not questioning others' experience of it.