Thermal Paste what's the best?

R

ReTiCuLeX

Gawd
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Oct 31, 2002
Messages
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What's the best thermal paste nowadays for CPU? I've been using artic silver 5 for years but I hear it needs to be reapplied after a year? That's about the last time I put my rig together. My AS5 has been laying in my drawer for about 3 years and seems a bit watered down so I figured i'd pick some new stuff up. Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Ret
 
There are quite several thermal pastes that are equal to and even better than AS5 without curing time, and last longer too. Arctic Cooling MX-2 to MX-4, Zalman STG2, Thermalright Chill Factor III, some Shin-Etsu products (dont remember models), IC Diamond's...

Pick your poison, they are all great. All withing 2C thermal difference depending on application, quality of contact and just luck.
 
I have the shin etsu but for some reason it's super thick. I wonder if it went bad from laying in the drawer unused for about 3 years. I have about 5 tubes of it.
 
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I was using Noctua thermal paste (which is good stuff) until today. I decided to install IC Diamond today as I hear it is good. Here is how I tested.

My CPU is currently a i7 920 C0 running at 3.99GHz (21x190) with HT off. Keep in mind the Noctua compound has been on my CPU for about 14 months as it was applied last summer. I typically reapply every 12 months.

System booted from cold. Left to sit idle for 30 minutes after my HDD stopped reading so I knew Windows completely loaded. I played Battlefield 3 multiplayer for 30ish minutes with Core Temp keeping track for the details. Here are the results.

Idle Noctua (MIN in Core Temp):

Core 0: 45
Core 1: 44
Core 2: 46
Core 3: 43

Idle IC Diamond (MIN in Core Temp):

Core 0: 42
Core 1: 42
Core 2: 43
Core 3: 38

Noctua During BF3 gameplay (MAX in Core Temp) CPU Load approx 70%:

Core 0: 68
Core 1: 67
Core 2: 69
Core 3: 64

IC Diamond During BF3 gameplay (MAX in Core Temp) CPU Load approx 70%:

Core 0: 61
Core 1: 60
Core 2: 61
Core 3: 57

Noctua running Prime95 for 10 mins (MAX in Core Temp):

Core 0: 77
Core 1: 75
Core 2: 76
Core 3: 74

IC Diamond running Prime95 for 10 mins (MAX in Core Temp):

Core 0: 71
Core 1: 70
Core 2: 71
Core 3: 68

Those are some pretty big drops. I was expecting 2-3 degrees at most. I averaged all core values to get the following results:

Idle temp difference: IC Diamond 3.25C cooler
BF3 Gameplay difference: IC Diamond 7.25C cooler
Prime95 100% load difference: IC Diamond 5.5C Cooler

Total effective result (all temps averaged) is 5.33C cooler. As you can see the results are noticeable, IC diamond may also get better too as it is difficult to say how long it will take to cure. I've heard as little as 2 hours to as much as 20 hours for IC diamond. Also if you are wondering, I use the pea sized blob at the center of the CPU to apply the compound, the Noctua was applied the same way. This allows the pressure of the heat sink to do the spreading. As you can see even at idle the difference is there, the most notable drop was playing games with a good amount of CPU usage, this is likely what you'll be doing mostly. Idle of moderate levels of CPU usage. The 100% load Prime95 fell right in the middle of idle and gaming with a very nice drop. I would highly recommend this product to anyone. One of the best $10 I've ever spent.
 
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Go to [H]ardForum, go to "cooling" and do a search for "thermal compound shoot-out" There was a fantastic article on the top 10 thermal compounds, done in April of 2009. Granted the test is now two years old, but what's changed that's important? I went with MH-2 on sale ($2.99 per 4 gram tube - free shipping - from MWAVE.COM) Tell them [H]ardOcp sent you. (it was 3rd best on the Shoot-out article) Kyle et al put like 1200 hours into the research for this article. Impressive stuff!

(I saw the lead for the $2.99 deal on the "Hot Deals" forum so I shouldn't get in trouble for giving MWAVE props for their sale...should I? LOL)
 
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how hard was that IC Diamond to apply? I'm looking at the Shin Etsu but man I guess I lost my tubes when I left for the Army.

Btw thanks for the article about the thermal shootout well-worth the read.
 
ReTiCuLeX said:
how hard was that IC Diamond to apply? I'm looking at the Shin Etsu but man I guess I lost my tubes when I left for the Army.

Btw thanks for the article about the thermal shootout well-worth the read.
Click to expand...

It was easy to apply. It is a little thicker than AS5 or NT-H1 but not too bad. I wouldn't want to have to try to spread it, but you shouldn't do that anyway. I used a pea sized blob in the middle of my CPU and installed the heat sink to allow it to properly spread the compound. It was no more difficult or easy compared to other compounds I've used using the same install method. I suppose you might have to push the syringe a little harder but that is it. I plan on doing my GPU soon too.
 
I'm a big fan of MX-4. Electrically nonconductive (unlike AS5) so if you accidentally overpaste you don't have to worry about shorting anything out, no curing time (unlike AS5), and is almost always within the top 5 on almost every review that I've ever seen it used in. Like MaZa said, the top contenders are all within 2C of each other, and even then it's arguable that it's chalked up to human error.

Oh, and MX-4 is quite a bit cheaper than some of the others, and can be found at some local stores. My last tube I purchased at Microcenter.
 
MX-4 is also my favorite. Solid performer, and cheap. Gelid GC-Extreme comes in a close second.
 
Damn, I think I'm going to give IC Diamond a whirl on my next build.
 
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