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?

[Monk]

As the others have said, it's all pretty much the same, personally I use the sprwad it out evenly approach as, well, it's what I was shown and told decades ago now, so I stick to it, but, it's no better than a pea size and letting pressure spread it out, but, I like knowing it's all covered all the same :)

[𝓡𝓮𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓒𝓪𝓽]

Escorve eredeti hozzászólása:

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

Performance:
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut
Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut

I can vouch for both Thermal Grizzly's, especially the Condutonaut. It lowered my temperatures by roughly 8 degrees.

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

I am a noob when it comes to thermal paste. As I mentioned before, I used to be into PC building a LONG time ago but then I just drifted away from the PC world for a very long time (about 2 decades) until recently when I got back into it. I think I mentioned that, when I built my current PC, I used the pre-applied paste on my cooler. There are some things that I'm experienced in & am pretty good at but applying my own thermal paste is just something I have no experience with. However, I want to keep learning & improving now that I'm back into it. But for my first time, maybe it's best to play it safe & go for the noob methods. I really don't know but I'll have to decide. I really appreciate everybody's input.

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

8 degrees? ok, I'll have to consider Conductonaut then. I only made a note of Kryonaut but if Conductonaut gets that kind of result, it's definitely worth considering

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

Computers were always something I loved. I couldn't even really tell you why I did drift away from it for so long. I guess I had a lot of life problems for a while that got in the way. But anyway, I'm so happy that I have found my passion again! The past year or so that I've been totally back into it have been amazing!

[r.linder]

Dave X eredeti hozzászólása:

8 degrees? ok, I'll have to consider Conductonaut then. I only made a note of Kryonaut but if Conductonaut gets that kind of result, it's definitely worth considering

8 degrees is more of a difference between the cheapest and worst paste and Conductonaut. Under most conditions with even half decent pastes like ARCTIC MX-4, you won't notice that much of a difference, and liquid metal pastes like conductonaut cannot be used with coolers that have an aluminium cooling plate, as the pastes contains gallium and will corrode the plate and effectively ruin the cooler. In addition, because it's metal, you have to carefully spread it on the IHS and be extremely careful not to get it on any other components, as it will conduct electricity and can cause problems, the least of which being a short. It's also pretty expensive, so it's not really for everyone and is more focused on extreme overclocking than anything else.

For most people, MX-4, NT-H1, or AS5 is more than enough, but if you care about performance, the best paste aside from liquid metal pastes is Kryonaut. Keep in mind that Kryonaut does not last as long as pastes like MX-4 or NT-H1 because it's very thin and spreads more easily, so it's susceptible to the pump-out effect, in which the mounting pressure of the cooler gradually forces paste outwards. Kryonaut will last up to 5 years, while the other pastes can last closer to 10 years.

Liquid metal and corrosion: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3362-how-liquid-metal-affects-copper-nickel-and-aluminum-corrosion-test#!/ccomment-comment=10013490

der8auer (who works with Thermal Grizzly) dives into pastes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCqxE-5Ct3w

[Jamebonds1]

The lower C/W, the better.

[ericcui1]

Dave X eredeti hozzászólása:

8 degrees? ok, I'll have to consider Conductonaut then. I only made a note of Kryonaut but if Conductonaut gets that kind of result, it's definitely worth considering

Usually its about 2~4 degrees difference. Conductonaut is for deliding, when used between the acutall CPU die and IHS, about 8~10 degrees drop is normal, but its not that dramatic when used between IHS and cooler.
The fact that Conductonaut is liquid metal makes it not very user friendly. It's very hard to spread duo to surface tension, has the danger of sorting if spilled out and only works with copper cold plate. So, if you are not deliding, don't use Conductonaut.

[ericcui1]

Stick with conventional thermal paste is my advice. Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut, Kingpin KPx, Thermalright TFX are usually the best ones.
If you can get your hands on some industrial products, Shin-Etsu X23-7921-5 is just as good as those metioned above, but dirt cheap.
Or you can just go with the good old MX-4, we are talking about only 1 or 2 degrees difference here. As long as you don't get the absolute worest thermal paste, the temp differences are usually negligible.

[Guydodge]

hands down kingpin thermal grease IMO

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

Oh! I'm definitely not gonna screw around with deliding. I'm not gonna take it that far. So maybe I should scratch Conductonaut off my list. Thanks for the heads up. So maybe Kryonaut then. This is the first time I've heard of Kingpin though. I'll check that out. As I mentioned earlier, in my ignorance I thought the main method of applying thermal paste was the "pea sized blob" method. I'll have to look up an instructional vid for the best way to apply & spread the paste. I know that you definitely don't want to use too much. It's not just a case of more=better. Past a certain amount it would start having a negative impact. If anyone knows of any good video guides on the best way to apply & spread thermal paste before installing the heat sink on top, that would be greatly appreciated. I really appreciate everyone's input. Thanks to all.

[ericcui1]

Dave X eredeti hozzászólása:

Oh! I'm definitely not gonna screw around with deliding. I'm not gonna take it that far. So maybe I should scratch Conductonaut off my list. Thanks for the heads up. So maybe Kryonaut then. This is the first time I've heard of Kingpin though. I'll check that out. As I mentioned earlier, in my ignorance I thought the main method of applying thermal paste was the "pea sized blob" method. I'll have to look up an instructional vid for the best way to apply & spread the paste. I know that you definitely don't want to use too much. It's not just a case of more=better. Past a certain amount it would start having a negative impact. If anyone knows of any good video guides on the best way to apply & spread thermal paste before installing the heat sink on top, that would be greatly appreciated. I really appreciate everyone's input. Thanks to all.

Conclusion: Too little thermal paste could be bad. Too much doesn't make a difference, apart from being messy, certainly not going to have negative impact on temps. Pea size blob is also fine unless we are looking a Threadripper.
https://youtu.be/EUWVVTY63hc

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

Ok, I just read somewhere that if you use too much, past a certain point it starts actually having an insulating effect instead of the conductive effect it's meant to have. But whoever wrote that article might not have known what they were on about. It is something that seems to make some intuitive sense but that doesn't necessarily mean it's right. Thanks for the info

[Monk]

Heh I've got some liquid metal, but I only used it to shunt mod my 1080ti's, didn't want the trouble of using it for the cpu as, frankly, I didn't want it stripping the model numbers from the top of a cpu I paid so much for, although, it is delided (not by me, 8packs team at ocuk covered that when I bought it, I wanted a warranty on an £1100 chip!... That's now worth a fraction of that, thanks ryzen and 10th series lol), and trying to get it to behave on the shunts was enough of a reason that I didn't use it on the gpu with the water blocks, too risky and a pain in the bum (this is, I decided it was too much of a risk after I deliberately short circuited the shunts, to use it on the gpu due itself).

[Set-115689]

Arctic silver 5 seems ok. It apparently stays gooey so it won't pull the cpu out of the socket when you remove the heatsink or w/e later on.

Arctic MX-2 (never tried MX-4) seems kind of inconsistent and more firm. It works ok but I don't think I can recommend it.