• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

The Official Thermal Interface Material thread

You know, it's really odd about what kind and how much paste use. I've known people who use as little as a drop on the center and some pave away the whole CPU & GPU. Go ahead and use as little as you want or use the whole tube. I'm sure most of us aren't stupid. Take reconnaissance photos and so we can ascertain the damage.
On the other hand, manufactures love it and are tickled to see such a big concern for magic mud. They love piling on, "Why, this stuff is miracle mud, made from the rarest silver and gold mines of Africa. Just $50.00 a tube". When all they did was scoop up the dirt at the dead end of Rosamond Blvd north of Lancaster, CA. Course I'm exaggerating. No doubt it's all good mud but I don't think there's any -20c heroes in the whole bunch. Unless the muds' dried till it cracks can anyone boast a 20c difference
Most of us are smart enough not burn up our rigs with temps exceeding 100c so I wouldn't be too afraid of your application practices.
Aside from it most mud being pretty good stuff, repasting should be done 2 to 4 years.
 
Last edited:
Halnziye HY-P16
JmqmqlY.png


Looks like we have a new champion for endurance(PCM) and performance. :cool:
 
Halnziye HY-P16
JmqmqlY.png


Looks like we have a new champion for endurance(PCM) and performance. :cool:
$5 for 1 Gram? Oh my goodness, no. Hard pass. Terrible value.
 
No break-in and the potential to last a lot longer...
When you have an OC session and test many CPUs, that 1g goes faster than a can of beer. My current personal favourite is MX-4 in 8g syringes.
 
Hi,
Not as bad as the grizzly :laugh:
 
Guys, do some research for Phase Change Thermal Interface Material, one example
 
Hi,
Not as bad as the grizzly :laugh:
You mean their defective batch? Well, MX-5 was pure crap in almost every way, I still don't laugh at Arctic. :/
 
Hi,
Price/ amount of product comparison.

My one tube of mx-5 was okay.
 
Same here. For me it tested out as an exceptional TIM.
Hi,
First few applications of a 5g tube looked okay or mixture was consistent color/ wet..
Not sure what the rest of it looks like though.
 
I asked Arctic for a little tester tube of MX5 and they said it was EOL due to separation issues.
 
I asked Arctic for a little tester tube of MX5 and they said it was EOL due to separation issues.
Hi,
Yeah that's why I'm not sure what the rest of the tube looks like
Could be clear in the middle or end of the tube.
 
Non scientific 100% amateur tests to satisfy my curiosity, take it with a grain or a bucket of salt...
Anyway, after +- 4 months I decided to check how the Krytox grease + Alseye T9+ Platinum mix was.
It not separate or dry and to remove the cooler from the CPU was easier, but 4 months is nothing...
Well, removed the mix and applied Zezzio ZT-GX that feels and smells(clove/eugenol) like TXF.
Mixing +-20% of Krytox and the performance decrease +-+ 0.5ºC, but I am sure the lifespan is prolonged...
Removed the Zezzio ZT-GX and applied the Shin-Etsu 7921 which gave me an advantage of +- 1.5ºC over the Zezzio without Krytox. :confused::love:
I got lazy and didn't test 7921+Krytox, but will do for the GPU copper shin mod.

The Shin-Etsu 7921 is from AliExpress and seems not fake, I tested with paper to check for oil
or solvent and it had none like the original, considering the performance it must be original.
The Shin-Etsu 7921 is VERY dry/dense and not sticky, must heat it to be able to apply a paper thin
layer over the heatsink with a plastic card. I prefer to warm the heatsink(without fans) in the kitchen
stove(hot air from the fire), to make it hot/warm, but not burning hot.

Now I am mainly only using Shin-Etsu 7921 for CPU and for GPU the mix with Krytox to prolong the life span.
Shin-Etsu 7921 is old and still RuleZ!
High performance, not expensive, harder to apply, but because it is so dense it will not pump out easily and
that is why you should apply a paper thin layer with a small drop in the middle.
For those who don't know, Shin-Etsu is Japanese.

BTW, you may also find this post interesting...
 
Last edited:
Honestly... it probably doesn't matter what you use for modern TIM these days, as long as it's in good shape when it goes on and you have a good cooler with good clamping pressure.
 
Honestly... it probably doesn't matter what you use for modern TIM these days, as long as it's in good shape when it goes on and you have a good cooler with good clamping pressure.
Well it’s just something to justify a hobby more often than not. Regardless of the brand best effect is still changing paste frequently.

Really don’t see any real world practical gains aside from overclocking or running the hardware at the bleeding edge 24/7.
 
Well it’s just something to justify a hobby more often than not. Regardless of the brand best effect is still changing paste frequently.

Really don’t see any real world practical gains aside from overclocking or running the hardware at the bleeding edge 24/7.
I wouldn't worry about changing a quality tim frequently. They are made to last many years. I haven't touched the paste in several of my older rigs in 5, 6, 7 hell I don't know how long it's been tbh. Temps are still chuggin right along.

I like testing out new pastes every once in awhile, in the rigs I use more frequently. It's cheap and so am I, so we get along mighty fine ;)
 
this the last time im going to say this "i bet your all glad" save your selfs a load of money and get some GD900 its the only paste you will ever need its as good as MX4 if not a bit better. i double dare you .
 
Honestly... it probably doesn't matter what you use for modern TIM these days, as long as it's in good shape when it goes on and you have a good cooler with good clamping pressure.
True to a point, but not for everything. It really depends on what you're running. With the latest batch of CPU's and GPU's(I'm including AlderLake, Ryzen5X00, RX6X00 and RTX30X0), TIM is actually very important because they can produce so much heat to be dissipated. On lower end models you would be correct, any TIM made well and effectively applied will do the job without causing any issues. But midrange up, that story changes. Using a quality TIM becomes essential. On high end models, it is critical to optimal performance. ANY OCing will require a TIM to perform well. With all the new high wattage TDP hardware coming, this becomes even more critical. Not any TIM will do.
 
Last edited:
Honestly... it probably doesn't matter what you use for modern TIM these days, as long as it's in good shape when it goes on and you have a good cooler with good clamping pressure.

My CPU cost $25 (second hand) so I'm not going to dump the same sort of money on TIM
 
My CPU cost $25 (second hand) so I'm not going to dump the same sort of money on TIM
Yes for you the 30G HY510 thermal interface material for ONLY .... $1.41

WAIT - It gets BETTER

ONLY 10-15 days shipping on average!!

You'll have a PC up in no time with better than ketchup paste temps and a cool running PC.

parity post
 
GD900 for me ($4 for 30g with shipping); I already have 120g
 

Attachments

  • GD900 open.jpg
    GD900 open.jpg
    163.1 KB · Views: 90
Back
Top