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Thread: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

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    Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    Hello people,

    I am in the the process of collecting the final few parts for my custom build and suddenly realise i do not have any thermal paste for my CPU (first time build, so don't judge me too harshly!). However, I found that I received "high performance thermal paste" with my CPU cooler (Akasa Nero 2) and would like to know if it is any good?

    I have seen quite a few people recommend the Arctic Silver 5 and would like to know if it is worth while in just spending the extra £5-10 for a decent paste (considering this amount is tiny compared to the rest of the system and it is one of the most important).

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    HEXUS.social member Agent's Avatar
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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    It's going to make very little, if any difference, just use it.
    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    And by trying to force me to like small pants, they've alienated me.

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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    Agree with Agent ^^^.

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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    Quote Originally Posted by andrewhutt View Post
    Hello people,

    I am in the the process of collecting the final few parts for my custom build and suddenly realise i do not have any thermal paste for my CPU (first time build, so don't judge me too harshly!). However, I found that I received "high performance thermal paste" with my CPU cooler (Akasa Nero 2) and would like to know if it is any good?

    I have seen quite a few people recommend the Arctic Silver 5 and would like to know if it is worth while in just spending the extra £5-10 for a decent paste (considering this amount is tiny compared to the rest of the system and it is one of the most important).
    I remember reading a review ages ago which tested various thermal interface materials, & the differences between the expensive ones (like Arctic Silver) and more generic ones was pretty small...just a couple of degrees at best. The funny thing was, just for the hell of it, they tried using mayonnaise (yes, really!) as a TIM, & it actually out-performed some of the cheapest materials on test! Not that I'm suggesting you go down the condiment route of course, but it made me chuckle...

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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    I tend to put thermal compound in the same category a gold platedd oxygen free copper cables, and £200 HDMI cables - items where marketing hype place a large part in inflating the price of a product for little - if any - performance improvement.

    No thermal compound is going to have better thermal conductivity than metal to metal contact - the compound is to fill the microscopic air gaps caused by imperfections in the contacting surfaces - as it will have better thermal properties than the air. However, unless the surfaces are badly warped or severely scored, the amount that is doing anything is so small that any differences in performance is likely to have negligible difference. That is why dedicated over clockers spend some time lapping the mating surfaces of a processor and heat sink to make sure they are perfectly flat and smooth, and may not use thermal compound at all.

    What ever you do use - use it very sparingly.
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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    I tend to put thermal compound in the same category a gold plated oxygen free copper cables, and £200 HDMI cables - items where marketing hype place a large part in inflating the price of a product for little - if any - performance improvement.
    Ohhh don't we all love that. Marketing hype. Get this "super duper high performance ultra durable 100x better than your standard brand HDMI cable for your TV experience" type of nonsense

    But yes I agree with that, it's mainly just hype. Yes some offer non-electrical conductive parts within the paste but that's about it.


    To be perfectly honest the reason I go with Arctic MX-2 is that it doesn't leave manky thick residue like some other brands
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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    I used Nocuta's stuff last time but that's because I was buying a load of fan from them and needed some paste so just threw it in It will last me either many many many years... or until I misplace it (prob the latter).

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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    The thermal compound can make a difference over time with certain kinds of application,ie,bare die and bare heatpipe type coolers.

    However,the stuff which comes the coolers is usually fine.

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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    I bought this teeny tiny little syringe of Arctic Silver for a few quid, back when I first started modern PC gaming a few years ago and it's lasted me 6 or 7 changes of CPU or Heatsink so far... The only complaint was from a tech-savvy friend who reckons it's rather messy and personally favours a different brand (Ice White, or summat?), but for my uses, it's been great.

    I do use Articlean 2 part cleaning/surface purification treatment as well, although it STINKS to high Heaven and my office smells like The Body Shop for a day or so!

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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    It makes a difference if you're trying to get the last bit of performance out of an overclock, but otherwise the one that comes with the cooler is good enough. I have some Arctic MX 2 but only because it was 1 pound in PC world a while back and I needed some anyway for repairing and building PCs in my area for people.
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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    Quote Originally Posted by MrRockliffe View Post
    It makes a difference if you're trying to get the last bit of performance out of an overclock
    This might have been the case years ago with some of the very old CPU's, but I'd love to see some evidence of it on any modern architecture.

    At best you're talking about a few degrees - in a lot of instances the over-clock is limited by other factors before temperature (excusing crazy LN2 setups and the like), assuming you're using decent kit. Multiple times I've witnessed how little of an increase water cooling offers on a modern setup (I'm talking first hand experience, not reviews) over a decent air solution.

    So thermal paste offering an increase in overclock, given how small of a difference it makes? I'd say it's going to be impossible to even measure that.
    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    And by trying to force me to like small pants, they've alienated me.

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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    I have always used "Thermalright Chill Factor 3 Tube" which i find the temps good using this with a decent cooler

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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    Quote Originally Posted by Agent View Post
    This might have been the case years ago with some of the very old CPU's, but I'd love to see some evidence of it on any modern architecture.

    At best you're talking about a few degrees - in a lot of instances the over-clock is limited by other factors before temperature (excusing crazy LN2 setups and the like), assuming you're using decent kit. Multiple times I've witnessed how little of an increase water cooling offers on a modern setup (I'm talking first hand experience, not reviews) over a decent air solution.

    So thermal paste offering an increase in overclock, given how small of a difference it makes? I'd say it's going to be impossible to even measure that.
    I was aiming it at heat. Between the best and standard thermal paste it'd around 5 degrees which when you're putting an 8350 under water means you've got a 5 degrees difference which could be the throttle threshold.
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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    I've found Arctic Silver pastes bring temps down a couple degrees C. There isn't a great deal of difference if you use them all correctly. Leaving a window open often give better results than changing paste (and a lot less hassle).

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    Re: Thermal Compound / Paste Choice

    I tend to use the Xigmatek PTI-G3606. I know other are saying there is very little difference but I find that the compounds with better thermal conductivity work best. The Artic silver stuff has pretty high thermal conductivity. The Xigmatek stuff is 5 W/m-k.

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