Arctic Cooling Unveils "MX Authenticity Check" System - Notices Increase of Counterfeit Thermal Pastes

[T0@st]

Arctic Cooling's various thermal paste products have existed as favorite mainstays for PC builders—be it hobbyists, professionals, or influencers. Unfortunately, the disappointing presence of low-grade knock-off units has soured largely good impressions of modern MX-4 and MX-6 lines. Earlier today, Tom's Hardware put a spotlight on the Swiss-founded firm's brand-new "MX Authenticity Check" system. Worried customers can check the provenance of recently purchased Arctic thermal pastes (with updated packaging); via a QR code-based checker—the real deal will ensure "safety with genuine Arctic quality." The company's latest announcement outlined/reiterated the importance of a truly effective solution: "thermal paste plays a central role in any PC build that relies on effective cooling, as it ensures optimal heat transfer from the processor to the heat sink." In further correspondence—beyond an initial introductory email—an Arctic representative disclosed that this fresh anti-piracy strategy was rolled out in response to an uptick in counterfeit products appearing across markets. Their MX Authenticity checking program is easy to use, and authentication takes "just a few seconds." Tom's Hardware summarized this process: "in brief, when you receive your new thermal paste from Arctic or one of the many retailers that carry these compounds, you first check the seal, scratch it to reveal a QR code, scan it with your mobile, and then verify it online."



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[LabRat 891]

Were they actually having problems, or is this Brand image management for poor QC recently?
MX-6 still migrates, MX-5 was bust, and I've had and have heard of MX-4 separating w/in mere months of purchase.

 

[Shihab]

Were they actually having problems, or is this Brand image management for poor QC recently?

Remember those "visit www.thisurlshouldnotexist1234.com to register your product" paragraphs?

(Edit: Of course someone was going to register that URL!)

 

[_roman_]

My batch of Artic Mx6 Ordered on 12 June 2023 from amazon.de was not to my liking. Igorslab praises it a lot. I'll definitely never buy any arctic thermal paste agian. Mx6 was far worse as my existing already opened and half of the shelf live Noctua nh-t1.

Gamers Nexus video at thermal grizzly recently showed me some deviation in the same product. Thermal grizzly also mentioned they are working on laser markings on their products. I think the issue is more the production out of house. I doubt arctic will get that problem solved with that solution. they should get their own production.

 

[Paganstomp]

Sad part is that they don't have a direct link to buy it from Arctic Cooling. They link to Amazon and I hate Amazon with a passion. I went back to using IC Graphite Thermal pads since I can buy those directly. I tried Thermal Grizzly Carbonaut but wasn't happy with the usability of those. I'm always benchmarking CPU / Cooling combinations so paste would be a waste. I do use MX4 on videocard coolers.

 

[trsttte]

The most amazing part to me is how is this something that's necessary!? Thermal paste is not particularly expensive, it doesn't give that much of a performance advantage from brand to brand nor is it even a product that sought after.

Who's wasting time counterfeiting this!?

 

[Chaitanya]

Were they actually having problems, or is this Brand image management for poor QC recently?
MX-6 still migrates, MX-5 was bust, and I've had and have heard of MX-4 separating w/in mere months of purchase.

I had purchased batteries from Efest and they also had authencity verification code but unlike this easy to cheat QR code that one is much harder to crack.

 

[AusWolf]

Because a QR code under a scratch seal can't be faked?

 

[LabRat 891]

Because a QR code under a scratch seal can't be faked?

Obligatory:

 

[R-T-B]

Were they actually having problems, or is this Brand image management for poor QC recently?
MX-6 still migrates, MX-5 was bust, and I've had and have heard of MX-4 separating w/in mere months of purchase.

I mean on MX-4 years ago they offered some kind of verification code so yeah... this reeks a bit.

Because a QR code under a scratch seal can't be faked?

If its using a individual serialized code embedded in a qr code its pretty hard to fake. But no idea if that is happening.

 

[Kwadratowicz]

I've bought a while (half a year I think) ago thermal paste from them, and it was already with qr codes, and arcitc said that it is genuine product so I don't care much more, and it works well .
question is if it's for profit, or to make the company looks bad in consumer eyes.

 

[sLowEnd]

They've had this for a while already. My tube of MX-6 from Jan 2024 (that I purchased in Jan, the tube was produced earlier than that) has it.

 

[Evrsr]

My experience is these pastes don't age well. If you plan on not touching the GPU/CPU or whatever you put this in, use something from Arctic Silver.

I have disassembled an Xbox with Ceramique and it was as good as day one. On the contrary, most other brands tend to dry up, especially on GPUs.

Arctic Silver 3 had those issues but it was also fixed, long ago, with AS5. Looking at performance, seems to be mostly comparable to recent paste - even after all these years - except it costs a bit more.

 

[_roman_]

Because a QR code under a scratch seal can't be faked?

I did not touch the Thermalright " Scratch to check" Authentic Tag on my AM5 Secure Frame. This is not something new.

I see the problem when i unscratch it, I'll have problem returning the package.

Once open thermal paste is waste and can hardly be sold on the second hand market.

Noctua NH-T1 is a bad paste, but it delivery the same bad performance in a long term. I assume the user also changes the paste every 6 months or less regularly.

I do use MX4 on videocard coolers.

I think these days I would check first what igorslab forum recommends. I think they recommend these days thermal putty and something else for the core.
Those smaller sheets of thermal paper with 0.8 / 1 / 1.2 mm width, copper and such, ....
I'm quite sure I read too often to not use thermal paste on graphic cards.

On my notebooks in the past i used the noctua one. I think a mobile Nvidia 660m GTX has less thermal waste power as most modern desktop graphic cards.

Who's wasting time counterfeiting this!?

You may check youtube and the gamers nexus video with thermal grizzly which was posted in past 0-3 weeks.
Roman explains well the different qualities of thermal paste.

Cheap garbage with an expensive sticker will make a big profit. Thermal paste is far more expensive as those little packages of glue. I talk about the kilogramm price.

I do unterstand Igorslab Igor talk a bit more after watching the gamers nexus video. There is lots of money in thermal paste. And lots of ways to sell cheap garbage.

-- I want to say it again. My mx-6 from Arctic from amazon.de sold from "Sold by: ARCTIC GmbH" in june 2023 - was the biggest garbage I ever had after a few hours. I saw the difference to my usual, outdated noctua nh-t1, quite fast. The noctua one performs not very well for these days, there are much better thermal interface mediums on the markets.

 

[Chomiq]

They've had this for a while already. My tube of MX-6 from Jan 2024 (that I purchased in Jan, the tube was produced earlier than that) has it.

Yeah, I purchased MX-6 in February on Amazon from Arctic last year and it already had it on the packaging, just like in this press release. The only difference was the url:
a.arctic.de

Which now redirects to:
x.arctic.de