In addition to its excellent performance, it’s also beginner-friendly, and comes with extras to make the job easier. These extras include a spatula, CPU templates to help prevent messes, alcohol wipes, and a finishing card. As shown in the slides above, the outcome of the different testing scenarios resulted in some interesting comparisons among the compounds. We’ll look at the overall thermal load averages for each, as well as the relative performance value of each in terms of price-per-gram. As usual, great review, Garrott, and very thorough. I can appreciate how tedious and time consuming that work can be, as well as the research, patience and attention to detail that's required. I posted a link to your review in the Intel CPU Temperature Guide 2021.

This thermal compound is just perfect, easy to spread, the quality is simply amazing and it makes a huge difference in temps. In contrast, traditional thermal paste compounds are relatively simple for every experience level. Most, but not all, traditional pastes are electrically non-conductive. I de-dusted this 3 times in the meantime, so it's not a dust clog effect, and fresh paste made it again into a comfortable palm rest. We tested each thermal paste with a low-tension air cooler mount, high-tension air cooler mount, and a high-tension AIO liquid cooler mount. Each application was given a 1-hour burn-in using Prime95 with ten load and cooling cycles over the course of the hour; six minutes each with a ten-second cool-down between. Each testing load session was then executed for a one-hour load period, again using Prime95.What surprised me is, performance difference between metal and "normal" pastes is quite small -considering big "listed" conductivity differences. And that shows how important such tests are. MX-5 is a new compound which does not directly replace their popular MX-4 but is a new formulation for enthusiast use based on carbon micro-particulates in what is assumed to be a silicon or silicone base. The slight-blue tint and smooth, viscous compound has a bit more fluid consistency much like thin toothpaste making it easy to apply and cleanup which lends to very smooth and fast spreading during cooler tension, but can also be prone to dripping and running if applied on vertical surfaces. I would like a paste I can apply to both the CPU and GPU. I have never applied paste, and I would like to only have to do it every very long period, but I know heavy gaming is hard on the paste. When it comes to thermal paste, there are quite a few different types, with liquid metal being the most thermally efficient. However, due to the electrical conductivity of liquid metal, most people opt for an electrically non-conductive thermal paste. Perhaps the next most thermally efficient type of thermal paste is a carbon-based paste, and with the BSFF Thermal Paste, it’s easy to see how that’s the case. The Thermal Grizzly Carbonaut is a carbon-based thermal pad that offers an insanely high thermal conductivity rating of 62.5 W/mk. Just like with the BSFF thermal paste, carbon-based thermal compounds are excellent heat conductors, making them a great choice for high-performance CPUs.

Thermal paste is an important part of your PC, and helps to keep hot components cool by allowing for better heat transfer between chips and their heatsinks. That’s why if you’re looking to get the most out of your CPU, you’ll want a good thermal paste to help achieve optimal cooling performance. This time around, we got an addition for the above. For the best (non-liquid-metal) thermal paste, we've got a new contender. It’s the Alpenföhn Permafrost 2. In general, it's almost always on a similar level to the Kryonaut (and it's cheaper). Wow, how's things have improved! I've used MX-4 for like the last decade. Good to know there's something better and not overly expensive. Corsair Commander Pro, 100%/50% PWM Speed profiles (liquid cooling pump always @100%, if applicable) For a compound that costs less than half as much as leading competitors , Phobya's Liquid Metal Compound LM offers impressive performance, often besting the the CoolLaboratory Liquid Pro or Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut in our tests.But where it really shines is in the value it offers, with a phenomenal price for the amount of thermal paste you’ll receive. It’s also a non-curing thermal paste, meaning that it won’t dry out over time like other thermal pastes do. Small differences in temperatures jostle the chart a bit, but overall the more budget-friendly compounds show much more promising performance value due to relatively close load ranges. We see a trend that most good and great thermal compounds perform very similarly, but might be worlds apart in price per gram. Thermal compounds might always be compared and debated over, but the simple fact remains: PC system building needs thermal compounds to effectively dissipate thermal loads. Without them, our beloved gaming and content-producing machines would struggle to keep components cool during heated frag sessions, heavy workstation computations, or just simply browsing the web. In addition to the spectacular thermal conductivity, the Thermal Grizzly Carbonaut is also dead-simple to use – just cut and place. And unlike thermal pastes, this will not dry out over time, making it reusable for many years.

It's interesting to see, that between (popular) similar priced thermal pastes , there's quite a difference in performance. Here I would say, the difference of 2°C (and bigger) is important enough to influence our decision. The performance value chart shows most of the liquid metal compounds with a poor value-per-gram rating, but once again, Phobya LM proves to be the outlier for that sub-category with its budget price tag. Pactum PT-1 is grey, and its thermal conductivity is 4 W / mK, with a density of 2.5 g /cm³. As the density is relatively low, the paste is very easy to apply. The product does not conduct electricity. Together with the syringe, in which there is 4 g of the compound, the manufacturer adds a plastic spatula to facilitate applying the paste. Many thermal compound brands have come and gone, but one that’s at the forefront of nearly every PC builder’s builds over the last decade is Thermal Grizzly. And when it comes to standard, non-conductive thermal pastes, the Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut is possibly the best around. For the air cooling low- and high-tension tests, we used a large Noctua NH-D15 air cooler. We created the low tension mount environment by torquing the mounting screws to 1.13 Nm (10 in/lbs).

Liquid metal compounds make their way to the top of the temperature chart with slightly cooler values than the traditional pastes. Interestingly, the difference between the top and bottom of this chart is less than 4C. Over time, thermal paste can dry out and become hard, which can impede its ability to transfer heat. This, in turn, can cause your CPU to run hotter, which can lead to thermal throttling, thereby decreasing your CPU’s performance. The caveat is that thermal pads are often less thermally conductive than thermal paste is. But that isn’t always the case. With high-performance thermal pads, the inverse can actually be true, and pads like the Thermal Grizzly Carbonaut are a great example of this.

Thermal paste is a staple in any PC build, but it can be a pain to work with. That’s where thermal pads come into play. Thermal pads serve the same function as thermal paste, but are much easier to work with, since they are pads you cut to size. They’re also more durable than thermal paste is.The results for gpu applications would be different though, as the more viscous pastes would have an edge here - at least from what I've read so far. We'll go into our breakdown of how we test these thermal pastes below, but the key takeaway here is that a single thermal compound can perform differently based upon several variables, such as what type of cooler and mount you use. To cover all the bases, we've tested every thermal paste with three variables: It’s no surprise that the liquid metal compounds once again sit atop the thermal comparison. Still, a 6C difference between all 15 thermal compounds tested shows there isn’t a lot of variation, even with a 360 all-in-one cooler with a push+pull fan setup for performance. Learn your way around the EVGA Forums, Rules & limits on new accounts Ultimate Self-Starter Thread For New Members Even though a dizzying array of different thermal pastes is available — some blends have been around for over a decade — new formulations still come to market at a surprising pace. Long-time PC cooler maker NZXT recently entered the market with its first paste, the not-very-excitingly named NZXT High-Performance Thermal Paste. Cooler Master introduced a new purple CryoFuze, and Alphacool unveiled its Apex thermal paste. Cooling mainstay Corsair also has a new XTM70 blend that will be heading to our test bench soon, and Gelid has recently released its GC-4 Thermal Paste, showing that the TIM market is still thriving.