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Which Thermal Paste?

Associate
Joined
15 Apr 2019
Posts
1,140
Been a while since I last built a PC and when I did I always used Arctic Silver, but seems a lot of people now recommend Grizzly Kryonaut High Performance Thermal Paste.

Is it this one; https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ther...formance-thermal-paste-1-gramm-th-020-tg.html

Thanks.

If you're going with Kryonaut, make sure you test a little out on something cheap. They had a bad batch in the past that scratched the IHS and cooler:
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/kryonaut-abrasive.18827970/

The bad batch was from 2018, so chances are there's no stock left of it. But there's no difference in packaging, nor any revision numbers to be able to differentiate between good and bad batches. So best just be cautious and test a little on something not too valuable.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
1 Mar 2004
Posts
2,161
Location
Kent, UK.
I've personally not had any issues with Kryonaut either, but the official Thermal Grizzly representative has confirmed that a bad Kryonaut batch was the cause of component damage:
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/32810140

So for me, I'd still do small test first to be on the safe side.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll test a small amount before applying to CPU.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,821
Gonna go against the grain a bit here and recommend AS5 or MX-4 - dunno whether it is due to the bad batch they had or what but I'm not convinced by the longevity of Kryonaut with increasing reports from people I game with regularly of it drying out and not working effectively after 1-2 years. MX-4 for instance over many many years I've not had one person I know complain post applying it (unless they seriously ****** up).
 
Associate
Joined
7 Jul 2016
Posts
163
Nice timing OP was going to ask the same question myself :)

And while we’re on the subject, what’s the preferred method of application these days for AMD CPU’s, line, pea, something else?
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Dec 2004
Posts
8,696
Im still using AS5 and I always spread it very thinly so it covers all of the cpu... It hasnt let me down in all these years, I have even uses AS5 on gpu's aswel.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,821
Nice timing OP was going to ask the same question myself :)

And while we’re on the subject, what’s the preferred method of application these days for AMD CPU’s, line, pea, something else?

Depends which AMD CPU - for many a blob in the middle but for most of the Ryzens ones do a line through the Ryzen text on the IHS. Some like Threadripper you are probably better off using a paste that is suitable for spreading or a thermal pad (not a cheap one).

Also don't hand spread AS5 (unless doing direct die) though the difference is relatively minor - not only does it slightly reduce its performance with the chance of air bubbles or not fully filling the surface geometry it also increases how many thermal cycles are required to cure it properly.
 
Last edited:
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,821
i'm using the Noctua NT-H1.

And my last couple of thermal paste applications i used the X Method

That image is with MX-2 IIRC - other pastes may have different results - MX-2 and MX-4 tend to be fairly tolerant on application method and getting optimal results for that paste which is another reason why MX-4 is often recommended - it is designed to be easy to apply and safe in terms of conductivity, etc.
 
Associate
Joined
15 Apr 2019
Posts
1,140
I prefer to use non-conductive/non-capacitive TIM between IHS and cooler because you don't need to be as careful when applying it compared with conductive/capacitive ones. This means I tend to avoid pastes like Arctic Silver 5, etc.
 
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