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?

[h_LordEC[no-VC]]

Diposting pertama kali oleh 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

The theory behind too much paste is real, if the gap it is filling is too large which will also increase the chances of air pockets being formed/trapped within that mess of goop.

The main factor is, the mounting hardware for the cooler is designed to have a good amount of mounting pressure that will leave not much of a gap between the CPU IHS and the heatsink which helps spread the paste to fill all the microscopic gaps, and the not so microscopic.

Diposting pertama kali oleh 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.

MX-2 and MX-4 are great. There are obviously better pastes out there and they aren't optimal for all situations but they both are a decently cost effective solution for most situations.

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

Most noob friendly huh? Sounds like that's for me! Yeah, I can build a PC but I'm under no illusions about my level of skill & experience. I guess that's why I'm asking about thermal pastes. As I mentioned in my original post, I used to build PCs back in the 90s but then I just left the PC world for a long time until only recently. My current desktop is the only modern PC I have built. The reason that I didn't get thermal paste experience with that is coz my AIO cooler had pre-applied thermal paste (which has worked very well actually).

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

The theory behind too much paste is real, if the gap it is filling is too large which will also increase the chances of air pockets being formed/trapped within that mess of goop.

That's something that did make sense to me. I thought it wouldn't be good to use too much.

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

Hey! I don't even know how people do that thing of copying a section of someone elses message to show what they are replying to. I just copied & pasted what I waa replying to in my last message & it just looks like something that I typed myself. Oh well. Hopefully people saw what I meant

[Zukabazuka]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Dave X:

Hey! I don't even know how people do that thing of copying a section of someone elses message to show what they are replying to. I just copied & pasted what I waa replying to in my last message & it just looks like something that I typed myself. Oh well. Hopefully people saw what I meant

If you look at the corner of this post you will find a flag and an arrow, the arrow will allow you to quote other people in that flashy box.

As for to much thermal paste its been proven over and over again that it doesn't reduce performance. The only time it has is when its been to little.

[Guydodge]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Zukabazuka:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Dave X:

Hey! I don't even know how people do that thing of copying a section of someone elses message to show what they are replying to. I just copied & pasted what I waa replying to in my last message & it just looks like something that I typed myself. Oh well. Hopefully people saw what I meant

If you look at the corner of this post you will find a flag and an arrow, the arrow will allow you to quote other people in that flashy box.

As for to much thermal paste its been proven over and over again that it doesn't reduce performance. The only time it has is when its been to little.

thats only the case in non metal pastes,metal pastes can ooze out on m.b. and short circuit it.

[r.linder]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Dave X:

The theory behind too much paste is real, if the gap it is filling is too large which will also increase the chances of air pockets being formed/trapped within that mess of goop.

That's something that did make sense to me. I thought it wouldn't be good to use too much.

Watch GamersNexus' video on too much paste. They purposely use too much paste and it barely had an effect. Why? Excess paste is actually pushed off of the IHS by the mounting pressure.

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

I've looked at info on different types of thermal paste & I really don't feel comfortable in my skills to use one of the liquid metal preparations. I'm gonna go for a safe, traditional form of thermal paste. Since that's the case, I'd like to know which of those types are my best bet. So I'd like to know which thermal pastes people recommend out of Arctic MX-2, Arctic MX-4, Arctic Silver 5, Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut, Noctua NT-H1/H2, etc.

[Monk]

Mx4 or kryonaut, would be my choice, I personally use mx4 out of habit as much as anything (used it for years) there's basically a degree between them and mx4 is cheaper (and was in stock last time I needed to buy more), perhaps I'll try out kryonaut when I decide to put my pc back together (I'm bei g lazy, the loop is in bits awaiting me to clean the blocks).

[Set-115689]

There's tons of test on youtube. It's more of what thermal paste not to use (usually cheap uncommon bulk brands). Then there's application methods. You might get a few degrees if you want.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUWVVTY63hc

[Zyr]

I personally use Artic MX-4. My PC is a gaming rig with near constant use, and has held up for 4 years with good temps until the CPU fan gave out and had to be replaced. It’s definitely a thermal paste I would recommend

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Xenon:

I personally use Artic MX-4. My PC is a gaming rig with near constant use, and has held up for 4 years with good temps until the CPU fan gave out and had to be replaced. It’s definitely a thermal paste I would recommend

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

That last message was just me seeing if I understood how to do the kind of quoting something from someone else's text. I obviously got it. Thanks to everyone who explained it

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

Oh yeah, everything (like the quotes that I didn't know how to do before) make a lot more sense when you're on your PC instead of your phone. For the entire rest of this discussion (up til this message) I was unable to use my PC. I was mostly out. But now I'm at home & on my PC. And the quotes make much more sense:

Diposting pertama kali oleh Xenon:

I personally use Artic MX-4. My PC is a gaming rig with near constant use, and has held up for 4 years with good temps until the CPU fan gave out and had to be replaced. It’s definitely a thermal paste I would recommend

like that

[𝔇𝔞𝔳𝔢− 𝔛]

Anyway, now that I'm home & on my PC, I'm in between games. I've gotta choose something\