Thermal paste applied on your GPU / CPU, survey!

[Vario]

Arctic Silver 5 on both my CPU and VGA right now.

 

[P4-630]

Arctic Silver 5 on both my CPU and VGA right now.

Thats not the best anymore.... It was good stuff years ago.

I must say I still have some though but I don't use it anymore.

 

[Vario]

Thats not the best anymore.... It was good stuff years ago.

I must say I still have some though but I don't use it anymore.

After trying NTH1, X23, PK3, CF3 and others, I've found they all seem to dislodge when I remove my videocard. Problem is the retention system on the MK13 is poorly designed. AS5 seems to stay put with same temperatures. Convenience of not having to repaste the videocard every time I remove it is enough for me. Using it on my CPU heatsink and it gives the same results as all the other pastes I listed within 1 degree.

 

[Athlonite]

The absolute worst paste I have ever used was some crap made by Titan it was called Titan Blue it was so bad I may aswell have had nothing between the IHS and HS their Titan silver was not to bad though almost up with AS5 almost but not quite

others I've tried = GC 1 , GC 2 Extreme and NTH1 and some Shinetsu in a laptop

 

[Chris36]

Arctic Silver for the past 5 years, at least. Because of personal testing and online test results.
The items are cleaned and degreased with MEK.
I apply a pea sized drop, then 2-3 drops of methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) on top and mix it in to form the consistency of heavy cream.
This spreads the paste very evenly. In 2 mins the MEK has evaporated leaving no trace behind and the paste is thin, even, solid as mud and perfect.
I have used this method for 20+ years on transistors, CPU's, GPS, memory, anything needing a paste.

Chris

 

[peche]

Arctic Silver 5 on both my CPU and VGA right now.

Thanks, application method used? and also do you always use the same paste and method? just to be sure,

Thats not the best anymore.... It was good stuff years ago.

I must say I still have some though but I don't use it anymore.

Well, the topic about that , some people is loyal to a specific brand no matter what, if work flawless for them, you might just respect and let them enjoy !

After trying NTH1, X23, PK3, CF3 and others, I've found they all seem to dislodge when I remove my videocard. Problem is the retention system on the MK13 is poorly designed. AS5 seems to stay put with same temperatures. Convenience of not having to repaste the videocard every time I remove it is enough for me. Using it on my CPU heatsink and it gives the same results as all the other pastes I listed within 1 degree.

well said, in my case it happens with arctic MX4, no need to move on from it,

The absolute worst paste I have ever used was some crap made by Titan it was called Titan Blue it was so bad I may aswell have had nothing between the IHS and HS their Titan silver was not to bad though almost up with AS5 almost but not quite

others I've tried = GC 1 , GC 2 Extreme and NTH1 and some Shinetsu in a laptop

Great, i haven't heard about this paste, but i really apreciate the fact just in case i find it someday, to expect the worst with it!

Arctic Silver for the past 5 years, at least. Because of personal testing and online test results.
The items are cleaned and degreased with MEK.
I apply a pea sized drop, then 2-3 drops of methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) on top and mix it in to form the consistency of heavy cream.
This spreads the paste very evenly. In 2 mins the MEK has evaporated leaving no trace behind and the paste is thin, even, solid as mud and perfect.
I have used this method for 20+ years on transistors, CPU's, GPS, memory, anything needing a paste.

Chris

well this might be the best reply on this topic, thanks so much cris for coming up with something new to the topic, could you explain us moar about your signature application method? its pretty interesting!

Regards,

 

[Chris36]

Thanks, application method used? and also do you always use the same paste and method? just to be sure,

Well, the topic about that , some people is loyal to a specific brand no matter what, if work flawless for them, you might just respect and let them enjoy !


well said, in my case it happens with arctic MX4, no need to move on from it,


Great, i haven't heard about this paste, but i really apreciate the fact just in case i find it someday, to expect the worst with it!


well this might be the best reply on this topic, thanks so much cris for coming up with something new to the topic, could you explain us moar about your signature application method? its pretty interesting!

Regards,

 

[Vario]

Spread on GPU with plastic bag on my finger, dot on CPU. I have found that GPU is very sensitive to any gap in coverage, spread works best for it.

 

[yesyesloud]

which one its your preferred one ?
i love Arctic MX4, which is a great product, liquid metals are only used for delid purposes, i have heard that some people use liquid metals for waterblocks and GPU's, thats going to far for me,

MX4 for safety and great temps, of course.

I agree, there's no need for weird stuff/electrically conductive compounds.

I once used silver-based paste (can't really remember its brand) and it was just ok for CPU cooling. I regret having bought that cr*p.

 

[eidairaman1]

Gelid, Arctic Cooling, Arctic Silver are my choices

 

[Komshija]

I use lithium grease for industrial bearings. It's great and it can withstand temperatures up to 120°C. Just kidding.

Currently I use Arctic MX-4 on all hardware.

 

[R00kie]

Still using the paste that came with the EK waterblocks that I bought for my set up, its a godsend to spread (I use a plastic bag over the finger method)

In my experience, there is pretty much no difference in the pastes that I used, had some random Akasa tube, AS5, MX-4, TG Kryonaut as well(decided not to re-buy this one, you only get 1 g for the price of pretty much quadruple of that in MX-4's case),
bunch load of EK ones, antec pastes, coolermaster ones...

and there is definitely no reason to buy any, as the ones that I just mentioned are still somewhere in their cooler boxes

 

[Toothless]

So laptop had some thermal issues (those in the TPU Discord probably saw this) and a friend bought a brand new Hyper 212 recently. Slapped that paste on and had a nice 30c drop in temps so that has my vote.

 

[GreiverBlade]

TG Kryonaut as well(decided not to re-buy this one, you only get 1 g for the price of pretty much quadruple of that in MX-4's case)

the counterpart of the MX-4 is the Aeronaut not the Kryonaut (you know ... apple to apple etc etc etc )


plus the Kryonaut has a higher density ... you get more ML for the same G, but yep the 1g is over expensive ... i don't know why they've put a 1g in listing ...
thought i prefer paying 18.90-25.60chf over 6.70-18.30chf and my TG syringe did last longer than my MX-4 batch i had before, in fact all of them have more than 80% content left (yep you get more you pay more not really since for 2 MX-4 4g bought, in the same interval and use, i only need to get 1 Kryonaut 5.5g but again the counterpart is the Aeronaut.)


granted the MX-4 is the perfect all-rounder and the AS5 need to be EOL and terminated for good (only Gelid and Thermal Grizzly are worth something for me nowadays , i forgot the Cooler Master MasterGel Maker Nano ... that one is also a little expensive but quite good )

Still using the paste that came with the EK waterblocks that I bought for my set up

Gelid GC-Extreme is what they use most of the time (they have their own but i still always find GC-E bundled with EK Blocks )

Geil

you mean Gelid? right?

or you mean that one ...
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835126002
i hope not

 

[R00kie]

Gelid GC-Extreme is what they use most of the time

it smells like fish

 

[peche]

Geil, Arctic Cooling, Arctic Silver are my choices

application method? which one is the preferred one? applied on CPU or GPU or both?

I use lithium grease for industrial bearings. It's great and it can withstand temperatures up to 120°C. Just kidding.

Currently I use Arctic MX-4 on all hardware.

application method?

Still using the paste that came with the EK waterblocks that I bought for my set up, its a godsend to spread (I use a plastic bag over the finger method)

In my experience, there is pretty much no difference in the pastes that I used, had some random Akasa tube, AS5, MX-4, TG Kryonaut as well(decided not to re-buy this one, you only get 1 g for the price of pretty much quadruple of that in MX-4's case),
bunch load of EK ones, antec pastes, coolermaster ones...

and there is definitely no reason to buy any, as the ones that I just mentioned are still somewhere in their cooler boxes

well i have found some differences between several pastes, so i have decided to stick with Arctic Cooling Mx4

So laptop had some thermal issues (those in the TPU Discord probably saw this) and a friend bought a brand new Hyper 212 recently. Slapped that paste on and had a nice 30c drop in temps so that has my vote.

@Toothless Thermal paste applied sir? forgot to mention i guess!



Regards,

 

[eidairaman1]

the counterpart of the MX-4 is the Aeronaut not the Kryonaut (you know ... apple to apple etc etc etc )
View attachment 83906

plus the Kryonaut has a higher density ... you get more ML for the same G, but yep the 1g is over expensive ... i don't know why they've put a 1g in listing ...
thought i prefer paying 18.90-25.60chf over 6.70-18.30chf and my TG syringe did last longer than my MX-4 batch i had before, in fact all of them have more than 80% content left (yep you get more you pay more not really since for 2 MX-4 4g bought, in the same interval and use, i only need to get 1 Kryonaut 5.5g but again the counterpart is the Aeronaut.)
View attachment 83905

granted the MX-4 is the perfect all-rounder and the AS5 need to be EOL and terminated for good (only Gelid and Thermal Grizzly are worth something for me nowadays , i forgot the Cooler Master MasterGel Maker Nano ... that one is also a little expensive but quite good )


Gelid GC-Extreme is what they use most of the time (they have their own but i still always find GC-E bundled with EK Blocks )


you mean Gelid? right?

or you mean that one ...
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835126002
i hope not

Gelid, I meant lol, I said the ram by mistake lol

 

[R00kie]

What I have also found out (the hard way) about the AS5, is that after some time it started oxidizing my copper cooler on a HD5870 I had ages ago, plus it 'kinda' killed my AsRock Z97-Extreme motherboard, just randomly had spasm attack when I applied it on the CPU(the mobo wouldnt react to the power buttons whatsoever), as soon as I cleaned it off, everything worked fine. That's probably why I stopped using it altogether.

 

[peche]

What I have also found out (the hard way) about the AS5, is that after some time it started oxidizing my copper cooler on a HD5870 I had ages ago, plus it 'kinda' killed my AsRock Z97-Extreme motherboard, just randomly had spasm attack when I applied it on the CPU(the mobo wouldnt react to the power buttons whatsoever), as soon as I cleaned it off, everything worked fine. That's probably why I stopped using it altogether.

that sucks, it never screwd my hardware, the curing time was the original stone on the shoe here, thats why i started using MX4

Regards,

 

[Toothless]

application method? which one is the preferred one? applied on CPU or GPU or both?

application method?


well i have found some differences between several pastes, so i have decided to stick with Arctic Cooling Mx4



@Toothless Thermal paste applied sir? forgot to mention i guess!



Regards,

Whatever the Hyper 212 ships with, i didn't get a look at the tube.

 

[DR4G00N]

I use mx-4 for everything, it's just an all round great paste that's not too pricey. Works good above or below zero degrees which is the best part.
I always buy it in the 20g syringe since I go through so much of it.

 

[GreiverBlade]

it smells like fish

yep GC-Extreme indeed ... it does smell like fish (both the original and the one i got with my EKWB Supremacy Evo Copper )

 

[Ruru]

Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra always when possible. Damn that it messes up the base of coolers.

 

[RealNeil]

I've been using a lot of Thermal Grizzly products lately. The Aeronaut has a good spatula style spreader for paste, and a tiny artist's paintbrush works for spreading the silver.
As Chloe mentioned, Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra is also a good liquid metal solution.

 

[Empty_Node]

I use MX2 and MX4 almost always, but recently i have tested EK-TIM Ectotherm which was included in EK-KIT package and it runs pretty much the same as MX4 but is less thick and much easier to apply.

Tried Coollaboratory Liquid Pro but there is something wrong with my sample or something, because it always turns into dry metallic crust which is extremely hard to clean and loses its efficiency dramatically over 2-4 months (tested with Corsair H100i and EK-Supremacy EVO on my 4790K)