The Official Thermal Interface Material thread

[Franz]

I've been notified this topic and forgot about my last cooler disassemble, checking here some notes it was august 2022

That was when I switched the gd900 to gd007 and since then nothing changed, still great perform and not degraded (24/7). Still the same performance like day 1

Tested in others pc and works really well, in some days of use the paste will dry and gets hard consistency like oem amd/intel tim. The most cheap and the best performer i seen

 

[KLiKzg]

Are you joking? Not so much better, it's like night and day. I have kryonaut on my CPU for a ~year, and the temps didn't even budge from the first day. And people around the internet were all about it's wasted in less than a year. With MX-4 it was heavily deteriorating after a few months, and with MX-6 it was within weeks. Get real, it's about time to end that free Arctic advertising, GN for example get millions for it. TG products (have conductonaut on both of my GPUs) are of a decent quality, unlike Arctic garbage. It's cheap for a reason.

Still (kryonaout) is superb to any Arctic thermal solution up to date. I'm not using my PC 24/7, and it's not like I'm a couple of millions richer by going with a 8g MX-4 tube over a 1g Kryonaut tube. People that go cheap on such things, deserve such things.
And yes, it is a performance oriented product. For a high durability they have Duronaut, and Hydronaut.

Well, my use & your use of computer are different...as I use it 24/7 & running projects on BOINC...so those are my experiences!
You do turn ON & OFF, so you do pump in & out of heat on your system. Maybe some other producers are better in that way, but we do it differently.

& in the end, it is rude to say someone is breaking rules here. As no advertising is intended or provided. But please feel free to prove it!

Back to topic:
Today I am going for my 2nd monster cooler & that would keep my processors cool...so when you can't do it with paste, you can always do it with bigger cooler (engine)!

 

[Veseleil]

Well, my use & your use of computer are different...as I use it 24/7 & running projects on BOINC...so those are my experiences!
You do turn ON & OFF, so you do pump in & out of heat on your system. Maybe some other producers are better in that way, but we do it differently.

Yes, I agree it's a completely different usage case. Constant temps are always welcome for many reasons.

& in the end, it is rude to say someone is breaking rules here. As no advertising is intended or provided. But please feel free to prove it!

II was just saying how too many people are praising Arctic products, even if they are subpar at best. Chill out. They are cheap for a reason.
I've used Arctic product over the years, and my PCs are full of their fans, I also have storage boxes full of them, couple of tubes of MX-4 and MX-6 as well.

Spoiler

I have a couple of old Akasa fans (blue impeller, transparent frame), and they are superior in every regard, build quality and sound signature is superb, for the same price.

Guess what, after the initial "wow, a lot of fan(s), pastes, w/e for this cheap" shot goes off,
- a bunch of those fans are leaking oil soon enough, 90% of them came with unbalanced blades, they have a terrible resonance around 900RPM;
- Fans that come in a 5-pack are much worse in all aspects that I've mentioned above;
- MX-4 lasts but after a while temps are not good, not suitable for direct die app, but it's still a much better product than the garbage mentioned below;
- MX-6 pumps out in less than a month, soon enough after fresh application that gives insanely good temps for a paste, already posted many photos in various threads, I'm repeating myself too much already;
- TP-3 pads are great, but they are far from cheap.

tl;dr I think that Arctic is a company that the PC enthusiasts should avoid, for everyone else just listen to Steve Burke, he's a good guy with a million dollar smile.

 

[KLiKzg]

Yes, I agree it's a completely different usage case. Constant temps are always welcome for many reasons.

II was just saying how too many people are praising Arctic products, even if they are subpar at best. Chill out. They are cheap for a reason.
I've used Arctic product over the years, and my PCs are full of their fans, I also have storage boxes full of them, couple of tubes of MX-4 and MX-6 as well.

Well, here is some insane results:

• TG Kyronaut was around 78~80°C in the end...at the beginning it was around ~75°C with stock WorkStation fans.
• CM MasterGel Pro V2 was 80~82°C, though it should have been better...did not prove itself at all!
• AC MX-6 from the start is making:
  • 72~75°C on full load on stock fan
  • 56~60°C on aftermarket fan (will post photos soon), as it is a monster fan on my system now!

Those are my measurement for now. Will update more in the morning!


EDIT:
Load is 100%
Ambient temp. 26,5°C

 

[lexluthermiester]

it is rude to say someone is breaking rules here.

Ah, but they are right. Kyronaut IS consistantly a higher performing set of products than the general competition, in some case by a solid 3% or 4%. Furthermore, you have zero room to be calling anyone else "rude". Just throwing it out there.

 

[meem55]

MSI Z390-A PRO mobo, 32Gb DDR4 4400Mhz, Intel i9-9900kf CPU, BeQuiet Dark Rock 4 cooler, MSI RTX 4070 Ti Super 16G Gaming X Slim.
Got this hardware for a couple of years now (except the GPU) and it's doing a great job for my needs. No benchmark wizard though, don't find that useful for me.

But, I'm hugely surprised by the Thermal Grizzly KryoSheet 33x33mm with silicone oil. I used that for my CPU around 2 months ago and the results were very good.
But at the moment here outside temps of 32 degrees Celsius, which results in an ambient temp of around 26 degrees Celsius.
And the difference with last year when I had Kryonaut paste, if very noticeable.
I have astro-photography as hobby and when processing all that data, it can give very high to max CPU usage. Last year temps would spike in the 70-75 degrees Celsius with these high ambient temps.
Now around 65 degrees Celsius with way less cooler noise.
So sticking with Kryosheet here with this hardware

 

[Borc]

No wonder here, they ALL LIE in advertisement.

Edit:
BTW, after I was using for a long time AC MX-4, which was changed for not so much better Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut. Now I have tried out Cooler Master Mastergel Pro V2, which is worst then the previous two... So soon, will change up to MX-6, but also with monsters of a coolers...so temps, will change for sure!

Igorslab talked about it in his review. At the end of the day the performance is great with unmatched peak performance as far as we know. Even the untested TC-5960 might not reach the peak performance of HY-P17 because it is specified with 6.0 W/mK and Dowsil is usually accurate with their specs.

However, there is a certain fly in the ointment, as Halnziye couldn’t resist advertising an unrealistically high thermal conductivity value of 17.3 W/mK on the packaging. A figure that belongs more in the realm of wishful thinking and optimistically calculated powder mixtures than in the reality of practical applications of such ceramic pastes, which reach the theoretical limit at around 7 W/mK. A pity, really, because with this actually measured performance of an astonishing 6.8 W/mK, there would have been no need for such exaggerations. The paste is convincing on its own merits, even without pseudo-scientific number games and fake bucket measurements.

 

[sneekypeet]

Kyronaut IS consistantly a higher performing set of products than the general competition

Fallacy.

I personally tested four of their pastes, and it is the generic line that perform on par.
In fact, Kryonaut and Duronaut did not perform anywhere near claims and they stopped me from going forward with their article because they could no debunk my numbers. Duronaut was touted to be the next best things since sliced bread. Kryonaut is not in the chart, but give me a half hour or so and I can add that result in the mix. Chart below was when testing their goods and what they claimed to better than (ARCTIC, Noctua, and their own Polartherm).

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Fallacy.

I personally tested four of their pastes, and it is the generic line that perform on par.
In fact, Kryonaut and Duronaut did not perform anywhere near claims and they stopped me from going forward with their article because they could no debunk my numbers. Duronaut was touted to be the next best things since sliced bread. Kryonaut is not in the chart, but give me a half hour or so and I can add that result in the mix. Chart below was when testing their goods and what they claimed to better than (ARCTIC, Noctua, and their own Polartherm). View attachment 403770

Sorry for this question, but aren't some of those pastes designed for Sub zero cooling methods opposed to ambient such as the Kryonaut and Frost X45?

 

[sneekypeet]

Sorry for this question, but aren't some of those pastes designed for Sub zero cooling methods opposed to ambient such as the Kryonaut and Frost X45?

Not anything of the sort spelled out by the manufacturer. They knew what I had to test with and were all for sending samples.

Packaging claims: Long-term high performance thermal grease. Even on the back they make no such claims. Nothing else in the list is "special" paste.

 

[Veseleil]

Sorry for this question, but aren't some of those pastes designed for Sub zero cooling methods opposed to ambient such as the Kryonaut and Frost X45?

Kryonaut Extreme was, and probably still is the go to interface for sub-zero scenarios.

 

[sneekypeet]

Kryonaut Extreme was, and probably still is the go to interface for sub-zero scenarios.

A few of the guys I know in the game claim that the Kingpin and Splave1 paste are great for that aspect of cooling as well. No personal usage to base an opinion from. Just adding options

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Not anything of the sort spelled out by the manufacturer. They knew what I had to test with and were all for sending samples.

Packaging claims: Long-term high performance thermal grease. Even on the back they make no such claims. Nothing else in the list is "special" paste.

Well, no I'm not so sure about that. Kryonaut specifically states on their site that is's shown good results in a "cryogenic environment". "Overclocking with LN2"

Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme Thermal Paste

Kryonaut Extreme is a high-performance Thermal Paste with optimized low-temperature load capacity for extreme overclocking.

www.thermal-grizzly.com

It's already known Kryonaut isn't great in ambient cooling. I don't LN enough to buy it, most 5 dollar pastes do almost as well as 25$ pastes when that cold (opinion, not tested but experienced). But must be formulated to prevent freezing. The paste actually "pops" under the pressure from the mounting.

Only curiosities. Your testing looks similar to everyone else's that would be considered legit. A whopping 2c difference over 15 pastes. Pick one use it. yay.

Kryonaut Extreme was, and probably still is the go to interface for sub-zero scenarios.

Ah you ninja'ed me!!

Yes extreme.

 

[Veseleil]

A few of the guys I know in the game claim that the Kingpin and Splave1 paste are great for that aspect of cooling as well. No personal usage to base an opinion from. Just adding options

A lot of popular overclockers pushed their own brand for the competitive scene, just like Derbauer did with the mentioned. The TG K: E 9ml ~$100 package screams LN benching.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

A few of the guys I know in the game claim that the Kingpin and Splave1 paste are great for that aspect of cooling as well. No personal usage to base an opinion from. Just adding options

No it's great stuff. I'm asking because I don't really know.

A lot of popular overclockers pushed their own brand for the competitive scene, just like Derbauer did with the mentioned. The TG K: E 9ml ~$100 package screams LN benching.

Yes, I have some Frostvolt Purchased from overclocker Dreadzone. I have not tested it yet. But it's designed for extreme cooling. But honestly, I didn't ask all the important questions of the specific details of the paste. I took notice there where no specifics of the paste for sale other than the mention of extreme cooling. These pastes may or may not just be rebranded pastes they bought large quantities of and just re-selling for a profit. Please understand this comment may or may not be true. I care less to investigate it. I got some paste, it'll do just fine with DryIce. I decided to retire LN2 clocking and stick to Dice. It's just easier for me. So Corsair XTM70 worked just fine with DryIce. Absolutely no issue with that, but not as well as Antec Formula-7 or IC Diamond pastes which I favor actually.

 

[Veseleil]

Well, no I'm not so sure about that. Kryonaut specifically states on their site that is's shown good results in a "cryogenic environment". "Overclocking with LN2"

Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme Thermal Paste

Kryonaut Extreme is a high-performance Thermal Paste with optimized low-temperature load capacity for extreme overclocking.

www.thermal-grizzly.com

It's already known Kryonaut isn't great in ambient cooling. I don't LN enough to buy it, most 5 dollar pastes do almost as well as 25$ pastes when that cold (opinion, not tested but experienced). But must be formulated to prevent freezing. The paste actually "pops" under the pressure from the mounting.

Only curiosities. Your testing looks similar to everyone else's that would be considered legit. A whopping 2c difference over 15 pastes. Pick one use it. yay.


Ah you ninja'ed me!!

Yes extreme.

The regular Kryonaut was advertised and considered to be a higher-end solution for ambient cooling, but as noted by many, it needs repasting in less then a year, due to a performance degradation. In my use case, it still performs well after that period, but I'm not using my PC too much overall.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

The regular Kryonaut was advertised and considered to be a higher-end solution for ambient cooling, but as noted by many, it needs repasting in less then a year, due to a performance degradation. In my use case, it still performs well after that period, but I'm not using my PC too much overall.

Using XTM70 with a Phenom II heat pipe cooler with a wraith fan and no mount with a 14900K.

 

[nomdeplume]

A lot of popular overclockers pushed their own brand for the competitive scene, just like Derbauer did with the mentioned. The TG K: E 9ml ~$100 package screams LN benching.

They also bin product runs like RAM and CPU.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

They also bin product runs like RAM and CPU.

Oh yeah, and this is saying they already had a fast ass chip, the paste wouldn't had made a difference

 

[Veseleil]

Oh yeah, and this is saying they already had a fast ass chip, the paste wouldn't had made a difference

They always have the best binned CPUs, GPUs, RAM, it's a well known secret.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

They always have the best binned CPUs, GPUs, RAM, it's a well known secret.

Sponsorships my brother. No different than Nascar. And that's good. It brings sales because that overclocker Used Kryonaut and hit 8ghz!

Good for them though. That is totally a lifestyle choice, I'm just an honest hobbyist. I can truthfully say the top 15. neh 20 pastes are all within a few degree of each other, end user environmental variables differ.

But some pastes are not good for direct die. I wouldn't use Corsair's XTM70 honestly for that. This is when people should really research pastes IMO.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Fallacy.

I personally tested four of their pastes, and it is the generic line that perform on par.
In fact, Kryonaut and Duronaut did not perform anywhere near claims and they stopped me from going forward with their article because they could no debunk my numbers. Duronaut was touted to be the next best things since sliced bread. Kryonaut is not in the chart, but give me a half hour or so and I can add that result in the mix. Chart below was when testing their goods and what they claimed to better than (ARCTIC, Noctua, and their own Polartherm). View attachment 403770

That depends. I said the "general competition". I did not say the rest of the top tier brands. Deliberately made that distinction to address the earlier comment. Of course, I don't include Noctua's offerings in that top tier group as their "stuff" tends to dry out and become less effective over time, at which point even old pastes like ArcticSilver5 consistently perform better.

By your graph, TG performs along side the other top tier brands which supports the point @Veseleil was trying to make and I was supporting.

 

[sneekypeet]

That depends. I said the "general competition". I did not say the rest of the top tier brands. Deliberately made that distinction to address the earlier comment. Of course, I don't include Noctua's offerings in that top tier group as their "stuff" tends to dry out and become less effective over time, at which point even old pastes like ArcticSilver5 consistently perform better.

By your graph, TG performs along side the other top tier brands which supports the point @Veseleil was trying to make and I was supporting.

My fallacy comment was to your percentage. As I said, the manufacturer made big claims on performance, but it's meh at best IMHO. Nothing high-performance about their stuff.

 

[lexluthermiester]

My fallacy comment was to your percentage. As I said, the manufacturer made big claims on performance, but it's meh at best IMHO. Nothing high-performance about their stuff.

I understand what you're saying. The 3% to 4% is a valid statement when compared to many non-top tier pastes. Compared to other top tier pastes, 1% or 2% is the best anyone can hope for.

We've hit an apex plateau in TIM development. There's just not a lot of room for improvement left. Unless someone comes up with a TIM that can conduct heat at the same level of the metals being thermally bridged themselves, there's simply not going to be much improvement beyond LM.

 

[sneekypeet]

I guess I'm jaded considering how long mx4 has been around, and everyone makes these huge claims ( manufacturers as everyone) yet here we are so long later, and we are talking about a degree or so from top-tier to average lower cost solutions. To me it is all a money grab till you go sub-ambient.

I agree with the later bit, including LM being the best option, it's just not user friendly.