What thermal paste do you use now?

G

Glow

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jul 20, 2002
Messages
4,834
Well I've switched from time to time curious what you guys feel is cream of the crop now
 
MX-2 from artic cooling I think. It has a long shelf life unlike AS5 and performs equally if not better than AS5.

Just a note: It really depens how you apply it and seat it. Also, lapping should reduce temps more than anything, if it's done well of course.
 
MX-1 for me. First used it due to it being the stock paste on the Freezer 64 Pro. Worked so well I bought a tube.
 
I'm using MX-2 as well, but if I felt like replacing it, I'd definitely try out the new Tuniq paste, or even the Noctua. From reviews, the Tuniq does better than most TIM's, beating out MX-2 and Arctic Silver 5(albeit by only a degree or two).
 
i use the stuff that comes with the thermalright 120EX kit ;p

im to cheap to buy as5 ahaha
 
I wont touch AS5 again or any paste with metallic flakes after hosing a graphics card by getting a little on a memory chips legs. After fully cleaning it off with solvents, the card was still broken.

AS5 is fine when first applying it but if you ever need to do it again, cleaning up the old paste can be a complete sod.
You need to be extremely careful to take off the excess that was squeezed to the sides without letting it get onto the PCB or the legs of any chips.
Man is it sticky!

I have used AS Ceramique for a long time as it is so much easier to work with / clean up and is non conductive.
It also ages very well and is a good performer.
Some of the newer pastes are looking good though, I've yet to try them.
 
At the moment, I'm using AS5. I've ordered Arctic Cooling MX-2, hopefully the thermal paste will arrive next week along with my Accelero S1.
 
I am using Shin Etsu x-23. It cools about 4-5 degrees better on my system than As5 did.
 
Nenu said:
I wont touch AS5 again or any paste with metallic flakes after hosing a graphics card by getting a little on a memory chips legs. After fully cleaning it off with solvents, the card was still broken.

AS5 is fine when first applying it but if you ever need to do it again, cleaning up the old paste can be a complete sod.
You need to be extremely careful to take off the excess that was squeezed to the sides without letting it get onto the PCB or the legs of any chips.
Man is it sticky!

I have used AS Ceramique for a long time as it is so much easier to work with / clean up and is non conductive.
It also ages very well and is a good performer.
Some of the newer pastes are looking good though, I've yet to try them.
Click to expand...

I had an issue with my old Athlon XP-M and AS5, it refused to boot no matter how sparingly I put AS5 on it. As soon as I used regular white goop it was fine but if you'd switch back to AS5 it wouldn;t post or anything. Nobody could explain it but many tried. I even let a few local OC'ers try and prove me wrong and they had the same results much to their amazement.

Stabbin said:
Ceramique. :)
Click to expand...

I switched to ceramique after my issues with AS5 as outlines above.
 
actompkins said:
I am using Shin Etsu x-23. It cools about 4-5 degrees better on my system than As5 did.
Click to expand...

I used to swear by Shin Etsu G71, but it got so hard to find that I had to switch back to Arctic Silver 5. :(

Man that G71 was soooo thick and such a pain to apply, but the results were well worth the effort.



I saw someone in this thread recommending the Tuniq paste... hmm, I thought that stuff was supposed to be ultra crappy???

[EDIT: Looks like I'm thinking of TX-1, TX-2 looks promising!]
 
I'm using MX-2; I've used AS3 in the past but decided on MX-2 rather than AS5 based on slightly better performance in reviews and lack of conductivity.
 
My compound of the moment is MX-2. Its advertised specs are verbatim to TX-2 so I suspect they are similar, mainly differing in color. They go for around the same price as well. Easy to apply, long lasting, and dielectric.
 
AS Ceramique - Much easier to work with + don't have to worry about shorting out if some gets on the board or in the surrounding area.
 
i got a hold of a bunch of shin-etsu microsi tubes from my guard unit when we had to replace 50 motherboards in dell optiplex gx270s. working good for me
 
AS5. Never had a problem with it. Works a treat. Don't find cleanup to be too impossible either - coffee filters and rubbing alcohol are never in short supply around my place. :)
 
I use to use Creamique on everything temp critical, and whatever cheap stuff I had laying around on other non temp critical parts. Now it is MX-2 on the temp critical stuff.
 
AS5 forever. It kept my barton cold (and it still does), my 939, and hopefully my upcoming upgrade. Installations were always a breeze.
 
MX-2 seems good, did tuniq tx-2 just come out I'm surprised with the reviews I'v read it's been beating mx-2 so I'm surprised more of you guys aren't using it.
 
Alot of reviews are coming out now, showing that the Arctic Cooling MX-2, Noctua NT-H1, and Thermalright Chill Factor all beat Arctic Silver 5 by 1 - 2 degrees.

It's time for Arctic Ceramique 2...
 
For my own builds I use MX-2, when I build computers for others, I use AS5.

I noticed MX-2 is usually 2-3 Degrees C better than AS5.
Can't go wrong with either, though you do get more MX-2 than AS5 for like a buck or two extra..
 
Dynex works fine for me. Idling at 27c e4500 @ 2.2 Ghz with a Hyper TX2.. Had to get a quick fix, so far its not doing too bad.


Though i have to admit, that diamond compound is absolutely crazy..I don't know weather to beleive it or not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top