Thermal paste

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

Hi. I have a fairly simple question, I just want some opinions. I want to ask for which thermal pastes people recommend. My situation is a bit unique. I used to be a major PC builder back in the 1990's but I just sorta drifted completely out of that world for a very long time. It was only recently that I got interested in computers & PC building again (for the past few years now) & I've even built my own dream PC. When I built that PC, it was the first & only time I've ever installed a liquid CPU cooler & that cooler came with pre-applied paste that I used. However, I have recently gotten into some CPU overclocking & I bought a bigger, better CPU cooler. I think it's probably better to clean off the pre-applied thermal paste & apply my own so I want suggestions on which paste is the best option. My PC is pretty high-end all round: i9 9900KS, ROG Maximus XI Code motherboard, 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 3600MHz RAM, RTX 2080 Ti. So I want a paste to match the quality of the rest of my build. Or is the pre-applied paste on AIO coolers good quality?

[Drowsy_Relish]

For the most part I haven't had issues with the preapplied but if I had to pick up something though I would pick up Arctic MX-4

[r.linder]

Low cost:
Arctic MX-4
Noctua NT-H1/H2
Arctic Silver 5

Performance:
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut
Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut

[Autumn_]

Originally posted by Escorve:

Low cost:
Arctic MX-4
Noctua NT-H1/H2

Performance:
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut
Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut

Arctic Silver 5 isn't bad either. Though I would pick Kryonaut.

I wouldn't pick conductonaut, since it will corrode the coldplate of the cooler (if it isn't nickle coated, and insanely fast if its aluminium.)

And as for IHS coverage, you'd want to do a line top to bottom or spread it by hand (glue spreader, old card, something like that.)
Then you get best coverage.

[Monk]

Originally posted by Escorve:

Low cost:
Arctic MX-4
Noctua NT-H1/H2

Performance:
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut
Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut

This really, I run MX-4 on my systems and I'm more than happy with it and been ocing on it for years, I mean, I could save a degree or two swapping out for liquid metal, however, it's a pain to use and will strip the top of your IHS (the model number etc) and could cause issues with your cold plate, depending on model and materials used.

So, I stick with what I know works well, any of the above will be within a couple of degrees of each other.

If you REALLY want to push oc's, you'll want to delid the cpu and maybe even run it open die, oh and buy a different motherboard, the code isn't the best option sadly.

I own it also and while I've hit 5.3GHz on my 9900k (albeit, not exactly stable), I should of bought the formula or extreme as you cannot get a monoblock for the code so you cannot watercool the VRM to really push the chip, if you don't want to go that far, ignore this piece :)

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

Thank you all for your advice. I will take it all into account. Cost isn't a factor for me fortunately. I hate bragging but I spent so much of my life always having to go for the budget option for absolutely everything, never being able to splash out on anything, but I've finally gotten to the point where I'm able to spend a lot of money on the few most important things to me. I'm far from rich but I've managed to obtain a degree of financial freedom. And considering my build in general, I just want the best. I was considering using the pre-applied paste but I really can't get a straight answer on how it compares to the high qual pastes out there,

[Monk]

Well, I tried it on my 990k with a corsair h150i 360mm aio and swapping to mx4 saved about 2-3c I think, but I didn't run any exhaustive tests, more just checking everything worked.

There isn't much of a different e between any of them tbh and it's more down to silicon lottery, I was planning to bin a bunch of 9900k's myself and find the fastest, turns out, I got lucky and my chip is in the top 5% anyway, although, I run it stock lol, still good to know for when I sell it eventually.

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

I have the 9900KS, not the regular 9900K, & even for that I seem to have won the silicon lottery. Not in a major way but the results I get seem to generally be a little bit better than most people get with the KS. I guess that getting the KS is already like winning the silicon lottery a bit too.

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

I was able to get the 9900KS without paying much extra than for the 9900K

[Monk]

Yeah it's slightly binned and looses the on board graphics.
It's the same basic silicon so I believe I am remembering these right, top 15% hit 5.1, 10% 5.2 and 5% 5.3 and your looking at 1 or 2% to hit 5.4 without going sub zero, but, it's been awhile since I looked into it, which is why when I hit 5.3 on a quick and dirty oc I decided to not go hunting for a new chip :)

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

I didn't have any issue hitting 5.2GHz but I also tend to play it safe & that's one reason I got a better cooler.

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

and why I wanna make sure I get the best thermal paste for the job

[Monk]

Nice. Yep you got a good one :)

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

Autumn_ above said: "And as for IHS coverage, you'd want to do a line top to bottom or spread it by hand (glue spreader, old card, something like that.)
Then you get best coverage."

I have never heard of anyone recommending this method. I've always heard of the "pea-sized blob in the centre". Is it better to do it this way?

As I mentioned yesterday, I want high performance & am not worried about cost. I appreciate the effort people made to give me budget & performance options but I'm only interested in performance. I do think I'll clean off the pre-applied thermal paste from my new cooler & apply my own. I have no doubt that pre-applied paste would work fine but I would expect only that: just working fine. From everything people have said it sounds like my best option is Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. Now I just want to know the best way to apply it. Before I read the above quote I thought the pea-sized blob was how you do it.

[r.linder]

Originally posted by Dave X:

Autumn_ above said: "And as for IHS coverage, you'd want to do a line top to bottom or spread it by hand (glue spreader, old card, something like that.)
Then you get best coverage."

I have never heard of anyone recommending this method. I've always heard of the "pea-sized blob in the centre". Is it better to do it this way?

As I mentioned yesterday, I want high performance & am not worried about cost. I appreciate the effort people made to give me budget & performance options but I'm only interested in performance. I do think I'll clean off the pre-applied thermal paste from my new cooler & apply my own. I have no doubt that pre-applied paste would work fine but I would expect only that: just working fine. From everything people have said it sounds like my best option is Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. Now I just want to know the best way to apply it. Before I read the above quote I thought the pea-sized blob was how you do it.

It's all the same, because the hottest point of the CPU is usually around the middle of the IHS. GamersNexus did a lot of tests on pasting methods and amount of paste, the difference is tiny with pea blob and spread being equal and the most efficient.

[Autumn_]

Originally posted by Dave X:

Autumn_ above said: "And as for IHS coverage, you'd want to do a line top to bottom or spread it by hand (glue spreader, old card, something like that.)
Then you get best coverage."

I have never heard of anyone recommending this method. I've always heard of the "pea-sized blob in the centre". Is it better to do it this way?

As I mentioned yesterday, I want high performance & am not worried about cost. I appreciate the effort people made to give me budget & performance options but I'm only interested in performance. I do think I'll clean off the pre-applied thermal paste from my new cooler & apply my own. I have no doubt that pre-applied paste would work fine but I would expect only that: just working fine. From everything people have said it sounds like my best option is Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. Now I just want to know the best way to apply it. Before I read the above quote I thought the pea-sized blob was how you do it.

So long as the paste gets good coverage it doesn't really matter.
People just say blob because it's most noob friendly.
Anyone who is actually serious would spread their paste to ensure proper coverage.
But as Escorve said, difference is usually within margin of error.

I personall like to ensure my paste is spread properly, call me paranoid, call it pointless, but at the end of the day, never steered me wrong.