The Official Thermal Interface Material thread

[Kissamies]

No need for another single thread, let's use this for questions and suggestions.

 

[P4-630]

So what is the best TIM in February 2021? (not talking about liquid metal)

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Might be nice to add a poll
NT-H1
NT-H2
MX-4 2019
.
.
.
.

 

[kapone32]

I plan on getting some Mx-5 I will let you guys know.

 

[duskw4lker]

Thermalright TFX is awesome .

I used it on my Omen 2019 (i7-9750h, rtx 2070 max-q), first time/try repasting an expensive laptop after years of having a low end pc. lowered my idle temps (speedshift 0, so all cores working at max) by 5°C and max temps by 10°-15°C. a little difficult to apply at first without heating it up, but after you are done, great core uniformity temps, and no pumpout effect

 

[micropage7]

still use Deepcool Z9, maybe after it i may use mx4 or noctua stuff

 

[freeagent]

Another vote for TFX and TF8 as well.

 

[Hankieroseman]

Bought Corsair XTM50 today. I'll post results when I get my upgrade finished.

 

[dgianstefani]

So what is the best TIM in February 2021? (not talking about liquid metal)

Kpx or Cryonaut extreme.

 

[sneekypeet]

I think something like this could be much cooler if TPU came together and sent someone 50 or 100 pastes, and they run tests and chart the results.

I tend to keep boxed TIM tubes, so I can donate a few if someone is willing to take on endless hours of testing.

 

[trickson]

No need for another single thread, let's use this for questions and suggestions.

Only ONE I use AS5 (Artic Sliver 5) Nothing else works better.

 

[delshay]

Only ONE I use AS5 (Artic Sliver 5) Nothing else works better.

Lab test many years ago has shown it contains "real particles of silver". ..It's the thermal paste I use here.

Real Silver is a very good conductor of heat.

 

[nguyen]

For CPU (High mounting pressure): Kingpin KPx, Kryonaut, Noctua NT-H2, Gelid GC-Extreme
For GPU (Medium mounting pressure): Conductonaut, Kingpin KPx
For Laptop (Low mounting pressure): Kingpin KPx, Thermalright TF-X

 

[Hyderz]

im using arctic silver 5 since 10 years and haven't been looking at other brands, but i think i might try kingpin KPX
heard good things about the kpx

 

[Kissamies]

im using arctic silver 5 since 10 years and haven't been looking at other brands, but i think i might try kingpin KPX
heard good things about the kpx

That was the shit here in Finland about 15 years ago, nobody here uses that anymore. MX-4 has been my thing for the last few years, and when I've delidded an Intel GPU, I've used Coollaboratory Ultra or Pro. Works also with GPU dies.

 

[GerKNG]

i used tons of paste for over 20 GPUs and at least 30-40 CPUs.

Arctic MX4 is absolute trash above any little 65W CPU
at around 200W of Load and on any Die (GPU) it deteriorates within 2 weeks.

Kryonaut can have some mediocre batches where you have liquid sandpaper.

the Only Paste that never failed on me was GC Extreme and NT H2.

 

[John Naylor]

It's not like there's monthly changes .... other than Thermal Grizzly landscape.... not much has changed in a decade.

Generally in past ...

Shin Etsu G751 for CPU / MoBo Blocks.... matches the best thermally and only $4
Gelid Extreme on GPU Blocks .... for the longer usability to Hit GPU + Memory + VRMs,

But nowadays Kryonaut / Kryonaut Extreme has come down in price ... just check the web site ... one batch had become contaminated and the batch No. is on the site. If ya get it, they will exchange.

 

[kapone32]

i used tons of paste for over 20 GPUs and at least 30-40 CPUs.

Arctic MX4 is absolute trash above any little 65W CPU
at around 200W of Load and on any Die (GPU) it deteriorates within 2 weeks.

Kryonaut can have some mediocre batches where you have liquid sandpaper.

the Only Paste that never failed on me was GC Extreme and NT H2.

I started with MX4 then I had Gelid. After that I discovered NTH1 and used that exclusively until NTH2 was released which is 2 to 4 degrees cooler than NTH1.

 

[Kissamies]

Personally I don't wanna pay that 1-3EUR extra for a slight difference... MX4 is more than enough for generic usage.

 

[Deleted member 205776]

NT-H2 has been serving me very well. Applied a pea sized dot in the middle of my 3900X, then screwed in my NH-D15S. Took it off to see how it spread. Completely covered the CPU, didn't spill over the edges. Thermal performance is fantastic.

 

[8BitZ80]

I preach all day about GD900 from Aliexpress being the bargain thermal paste, but opinions don't really cut it, so instead I did a shootout comparison to let the results speak for themselves.

So I tested three different affordable thermal pastes: 1) Arctic Silver 5, 2) Noctua NT-H1 and 3) GD900 from Aliexpress. I tested them in that particular order. Since it's summer here and it gets hotter as the day goes on, the GD900 was actually running in the hottest ambient conditions at 30C. I measured ambient on my first run with Arctic Silver at 28C, so ambient temp was increasing by about 1C from run-to-run. Keep that in mind when you read the results.

Testbench was a Xeon X5460 with a 120W TDP overclocked to 3.8GHz at 1.35V, which was the hottest-running LGA771 processor I could find. Cooling solution is a Coolermaster Hyper T4. I recorded the temperature readings with RealTemp after running the CPU stress test in MSI Kombustor for about one minute.

Spoiler: Thermal test results - AS5 vs NT-H1 vs GD900

Arctic Silver 5 = 86C max

Noctua NT-H1 = 89C max

GD900 = 84C max

GD900 is about US$6 for a 30G tube. No degradation issues to date even after using it for well over a year now. This stuff is damn good

 

[freeagent]

I think AS5 is pretty good. Yeah its two days older than dirt and its capacitive, messy, and I can go on a little more..

But applying it is an art, and every CPU/HSF combo is unique. You cant really treat it like other pastes because it is not other pastes.. It works great on bare corez and IHS..

You need to experiment with your mount more than a few times to get it right.. and repeatable. And when you do get it right it is awesome stuff. Its pretty easy to get it too thin, or too thick, at which point its an insulator..

If you go with AS5 get a big tube so you can play with it a few times with no cares. The experience you gain working with it will help with higher end pastes, like *cough* TF8 and TFX *cough*

Maybe I'm just crazy.. Probably..

The 200 hour cure time does suck. You cant really accelerate it either, its just a placebo.. needs that sintered goodness.. But yeah.. I've moved on.. and I don't really miss it after using it for 10 years

I should try that MX4 stuff and see what the hubbub is about.. haven't used it yet..

 

[delshay]

For CPU (High mounting pressure): Kingpin KPx, Kryonaut, Noctua NT-H2, Gelid GC-Extreme
For GPU (Medium mounting pressure): Conductonaut, Kingpin KPx
For Laptop (Low mounting pressure): Kingpin KPx, Thermalright TF-X

When it comes to LM most users point to Conductonaut, but that not my choice here.

"Phobya" is the LM of my choice. It's the way it bonds to the surface.

 

[8BitZ80]

I think AS5 is pretty good. Yeah its two days older than dirt and its capacitive, messy, and I can go on a little more..

But applying it is an art, and every CPU/HSF combo is unique. You cant really treat it like other pastes because it is not other pastes.. It works great on bare corez and IHS..

You need to experiment with your mount more than a few times to get it right.. and repeatable. And when you do get it right it is awesome stuff. Its pretty easy to get it too thin, or too thick, at which point its an insulator..

If you go with AS5 get a big tube so you can play with it a few times with no cares. The experience you gain working with it will help with higher end pastes, like *cough* TF8 and TFX *cough*

Maybe I'm just crazy.. Probably..

The 200 hour cure time does suck. You cant really accelerate it either, its just a placebo.. needs that sintered goodness.. But yeah.. I've moved on.. and I don't really miss it after using it for 10 years

I should try that MX4 stuff and see what the hubbub is about.. haven't used it yet..

I don't get too scientific about thermal pastes. If you can't squirt it onto a CPU and get good results on the first try then it's not worth being patient with it, either it works or not.

The Noctua NT-H1 was a real disappointment. Very easy to spread but the syringe nozzle makes application difficult and it doesn't perform very well. Honestly I should probably throw it in the bin.

I have used Arctic MX-4 previously and thought it was good. The GD900 is far more affordable and performs better, but I'd use MX-4 if I were forced to use something else.

 

[FireFox]

I've been using ARCTIC MX-4 for a long time, works pretty well.