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The Official Thermal Interface Material thread

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i had as5 on a HD 7970 back in 2018ish, the temperatures would go up (like 5C iirc) after every 2 months or so, after every repasting it always went back to normal. But come on, who wants to repaste a card 4 times a year??
Last time I used AS5, it went fine. The system in question is still running fine 3 years later on the same application. Whatever problem you were having was not related to the quality of AS5. Sounds like you were using NT-H1 as that is exactly how that TIM behaves.

Would be nice to have a thread on indium and carbon thermal pads along with phase changing pads.
@Lenne
I've already made this request, but perhaps we can change the thread name to include thermal pads? Something like " The Official Thermal Interface Material thread "? That way we can discuss thermal pads without worry of being off-topic.
 
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Anything on indium pads?
 
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Anything on indium pads?
Not personally seen them. Kinda curious.

As mentioned above, I have received the CoolerMaster Cryofuze Violet TIM ordered from Amazon.
CMCFV-01.jpgCMCFV-02.jpgCMCFV-03.jpg
It looks more pink than Violet from the outside. Will be doing testing soon and on the same system I used to test MX-5.
 
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Sorry guys, the tag did not appear in my notifications :confused:
 
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Not personally seen them. Kinda curious.

As mentioned above, I have received the CoolerMaster Cryofuze Violet TIM ordered from Amazon.
View attachment 267014View attachment 267015View attachment 267016
It looks more pink than Violet from the outside. Will be doing testing soon and on the same system I used to test MX-5.
Hi,
I have a policy
I do not use items that have cry in the name :laugh:

Over at Phil's Computer Lab, he;s done a few tests with thermal pads, the most recent one linked below;

There's also these;
IC pads are not very good for oc'ing
But if you don't care what the temps do sure go for it they are reusable so best for servers/ grandma/...
 
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Hi,
I have a policy
I do not use items that have cry in the name :laugh:
That made me laugh, I remember the age of crysis, cryostasis and others 10~20fps range:laugh:

Bad times:(
 
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Please, test the gd007 too. I think it will be a good surprise
GD007 is included at
(CF14 = CryoFuse 14 W/mk, CryoFuse Violet is 12.6 W/mk and not in the test)


And another for accelerated aging(baked at 200ºC for 24h) at
 

Robinio

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I asked Arctic for a little tester tube of MX5 and they said it was EOL due to separation issues.
I know you posted this a while ago, but I just received the LFII service kit and they provided a 0.8g tube of MX-5. Are they bringing it back?
 
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I know you posted this a while ago, but I just received the LFII service kit and they provided a 0.8g tube of MX-5. Are they bringing it back?
I assume they are just using up what stock they have left. It's definitely eol.

Edit- don't be worried about using it. The stuff I have has been top notch.
 
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I know you posted this a while ago, but I just received the LFII service kit and they provided a 0.8g tube of MX-5. Are they bringing it back?

No there's MX-6 now.
 
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Ok, tests for CoolerMaster's Cryofuze Violet are done. Sorry for the delay everyone, been busy and traveling. So here my review.

For reference, please review the test conducted previously with other competing TIM's on the same system and similar conditions.

Here is the application process:
CM-CFV-HS01.jpg

Simple line of TIM across the lead edge of the contact plate.

CM-CFV-HS02.jpg

All spread out. This TIM is a full-on paste! Very dry, not oily or fluid-like at all. It did spread smoothly though. Took some work, but spreads nicely as you can see. Now for performance.


In the following tests, Prime95 was used in Small FFT's mode.
CM-CFV-Test01-MX5.jpg

This test showed the Arctic MX-5 application that has been on for some time. Solid performance as expected.

CM-CFV-Test02-CMCFV.jpg

This test shows the CryoFuze Violet doing well. It performs within a couple of degrees C compared to MX-5 which is known for it's excellent performance(setting aside the bad batches).

Reviewer Conclusion;
Coolermaster has a good performer with this one but they need to adjust the value of the product by either including more volume of TIM for the same price or just lowering the price. The novelty of the "Violet" metallic appearance advertised is not delivered, see photo's above. This TIM is very much pink in colour and does not have the metallic sheen shown in marketing materials. However, at the end of the day, performance is king and CryoFuze Violet delivers that very well.

Please note: In this run of tests, I did not run each test for 11 minutes like I did last year. It was discovered that the system in question reaches thermal saturation within 2 minutes of load. There was no need for extended testing as the results would not have changed. I also used Windows 7 instead of 10 as that is what is currently installed on that system and I didn't feel it necessary to change the OS as variations for this series of testing were not expected nor observed.
 
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Space Lynx

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Ok, tests for CoolerMaster's Cryofuze Violet are done. Sorry for the delay everyone, been busy and traveling. So here my review.

For reference, please review the test conducted previously with other competing TIM's on the same system and similar conditions.

Here is the application process:
View attachment 268212
Simple line of TIM across the lead edge of the contact plate.

View attachment 268213
All spread out. This TIM is a full-on paste! Very dry, not oily or fluid-like at all. It did spread smoothly though. Took some work, but spreads nicely as you can see. Now for performance.


In the following tests, Prime95 was used in Small FFT's mode.
View attachment 268214
This test showed the Arctic MX-5 application that has been on for some time. Solid performance as expected.

View attachment 268215
This test shows the CryoFuze Violet doing well. It performs within a couple of degrees C compared to MX-5 which is known for it's excellent performance(setting aside the bad batches).

Reviewer Conclusion;
Coolermaster has a good performer with this one but they need to adjust the value of the product by either including more volume of TIM for the same price or just lowering the price. The novelty of the "Violet" metallic appearance advertised is not delivered, see photo's above. This TIM is very much pink in colour and does not have the metallic sheen shown in marketing materials. However, at the end of the day, performance is king and CryoFuze Violet delivers that very well.

Please note: In this run of tests, I did not run each test for 11 minutes like I did last year. It was discovered that the system in question reaches thermal saturation within 2 minutes of load. There was no need for extended testing as the results would not have changed. I also used Windows 7 instead of 10 as that is what is currently installed on that system and I didn't feel it necessary to change the OS as variations for this series of testing were not expected nor observed.

Not going to lie, I was tempted by the gimmicky name and color as well. lmao thanks for saving me some money.

I do still have my NT-H2 paste, so I will be using that. Not sure if anyone here has ever bought NT-H2 paste before, but damn Noctua is hella good at packaging and accessories. Mine came with little Noctua wipes to remove paste with, and the packaging is just solid and thought out. It doesn't matter, but I am sucker for nice packaging. lmao
 
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Not going to lie, I was tempted by the gimmicky name and color as well. lmao thanks for saving me some money.
Make no mistake, it's a good TIM. It was only $7 for 2g. A little high, but not compared to the premium brands. You would not have wasted your money. 2g is enough for 7 or 8 applications.
I do still have my NT-H2 paste, so I will be using that. Not sure if anyone here has ever bought NT-H2 paste before, but damn Noctua is hella good at packaging and accessories. Mine came with little Noctua wipes to remove paste with, and the packaging is just solid and thought out. It doesn't matter, but I am sucker for nice packaging. lmao
There you go. NT-H2 is a solid TIM too.
 
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Hi,
Nt-h2 price is not solid though it's inflated by noctua adding a bunch of useless 2% alcohol wipes in it
Nt-h1 rules still in my book at nearly half the price at 10g tubes I've never noticed any fall off.
 

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1667595749347.png
re
 
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@MachineLearning
I seem to recall you working at a PC repair shop, do you often deal with laptops? Would you ever have a chance to test MX-6 in such a situation?

Currently use MX-2 in my laptop because it performs better than MX-4 does in that use case, and I would replace it if something else is significantly better.
I do. I've been using variety of TIM's over the years. Until recently we were using MX-5. Before that MX-4 and AS5. So far, MX-6 is performing well! It seems to be very stable and given it's properties, I think it's going to be exceptional for a wide range of applications, including laptops. For high power laptops, I've been using KPx. That stuff kicks @$$. Pricy though, but worth it if you need it. Keep in mind that a quality TIM is only part of the equation. TIM's are not magic and can not solve heat problems on systems that have a heatsink/fan design that is lackluster. IF the laptop itself can easily overload the cooling system, no TIM is going to prevent throttling.
 
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MX-4/MX-5/MX-6 comparison:


MX-6 is much more viscous. On my notebook it performs much better than the previous MX-4/MX-5. This is not the best paste I have tested but given the low price it's a solid paste and unlike MX-4/MX-5 I can say it works on my notebook.
 
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