whats the verdict on the best thermal paste these days?

[weebroonieuk]

gonna be making a few builds and redoing my laptops thermal pastes aswell with whatever is the current best performing paste

[peterb]

Personally I think they are all pretty much of a muchness. If there was an outstanding 'best' it would be market leader and none of the others would sell.

For reference I prefer one that isn't electrically conductive, but other than that - choose the best value for money.

However, Im sure you will get replies from many stating that "brand xx loaded with rare earth metals", is best, but only if it applied on the night of a full moon when there isn't an r in the month, using a spatula heated to a temperature of 53.785C.

[matty-hodgson]

The Noctua NT-H1 is supposed to be very good, as is the Arctic Silver 5. Thermalright Chill Factor 2 is also decent. And the diamond dust stuff is pretty good too.

[PeteSmith]

[weebroonieuk]

lolol

nice replies guys

i know theres not a huge difference but was just wondering what the general thought was last stuf i used was shin etsu but it was a nightmare to apply

but i will jus read around see whats what on some review sites

[lego batman]

Arctic silver 5 and Arctic Cooling's mx2 are both easy to apply. Think I got the same temps with both.

[peterb]

MX2 was cheap when I bought it - seemed to do the job. (I think someone did a test with peanut butter - but obviously not the crunchy kind)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

IMHO Noctua NH-T1 and Shin Etsu G751 are among the best thermal compounds I have used and I have tried many different ones in the last few years. However even if you use decent thermal but add too much of it you will have poor thermal performance. Hence I think that Zalman ZM-STG1 is also worth a mention as it is very easy to apply in thin uniform layers using the supplied brush.

[Pob255]

MX2 was cheap when I bought it - seemed to do the job. (I think someone did a test with peanut butter - but obviously not the crunchy kind)

isn't that the review that used toothpaste as well?
Or if not there was another one that used toothpaste and some other household item, they both actually worked very well at first, however they quickly dried out and didn't work so well.

Main thing to look at is viscosity and how smooth the surfaces are, the smoother the surface the better a more runny paste works, with rougher surfaces more viscous pastes work better.

I've been using the Zalman stuff, comes in a little bottle with a brush, like nail varnish, it's not one of the "top" pastes however the brush makes it very easy to apply a thin coat.

[TAKTAK]

Some of my results before i upgraded to i5

CPU: AMD AthlonX2 6400+BE
Cooler: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
Ambient: 22.4c

OCZ 5+ (in other words AS5 )
Idle: 27c
Load: 47c

The chill factor
Idle: 27c
Load: 48c

Ceramique
Idle: 26c
Load: 46c

NT-H1
Idle: 25c
Load: 46c

ICD instant temps (i.e. no cure time [they reckon no curing is needed])
Idle: 26c
Load: 47c

ICD 1 week cure time
Idle: 25c
Load: 45c

So even though ICD performs better, i'd just go with NT-H1 or Ceramique, both are non-conductive and both perform amicably , plus both are cheaper...

[lego batman]

Mmm this website http://www.dansdata.com/goop.htm seems to be coming up a lot here!

[TAKTAK]

Mmm this website http://www.dansdata.com/goop.htm seems to be coming up a lot here!

Things have moved on in 8 years.

Someone really needs to do a new one...

[Pob255]

Mmm this website http://www.dansdata.com/goop.htm seems to be coming up a lot here!

Ahh that was the toothpaste one and vegimite


Here we go, 80 pastes compaired in june 2009
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph...=150&Itemid=62

[jnm21]

gonna be making a few builds and redoing my laptops thermal pastes aswell with whatever is the current best performing paste

Thanks - just the question I wanted to ask, but didn't dare in case someone had asked recently!

Ahh that was the toothpaste one and vegimite


Here we go, 80 pastes compaired in june 2009
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.ph...=150&Itemid=62

Thank you Pob - that link provides the best answer possible.

[joel_spencer]

Yeah that benchmark reviews is the one I used. Get a 12g tube of arctic silver 5 as it works out cheaper

[Biscuit]

I dont bother going all out on the stuff over 1-2c, i used to but its just really not worth it. Get whatever is the best value (price/gram) and put it out of your mind. As long as you know not to trust stock stuff with a high end overclocked build, there are much more important things involved in building a PC.