Thermal compound for passive GPU

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nismoguy82

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Feb 25, 2014
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I successfully crammed a GTX 750ti into a Silverstone ML06b case, removed it's fan, using the side case fans to exhaust air out. Working well so far, but would like to lower the GPU temps. I'm hitting about 80c right now, where it used to be around 70c-75c.

Which thermal compound would be better for a "passive" GTX 750ti ? Noctua NT-H1 or Arctic MX-2, both just under $7.
 
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Nope, paste works the same for passive and active coolers. If they worked differently, they would also work differently on good vs bad coolers. But that isn't the case. Besides the time it takes to cure, how high a temp you hit, or how quickly you hit it, doesn't make much of a difference on the thermal paste effectiveness.

There won't be a very significant difference, but if your 4670k doesn't run too hot, then you should get the paste that works better for your GPU since that is more likely to be the bottleneck.
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JohnKau

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Feb 5, 2015
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Thermal paste works the same whether you are cooling it actively or passively. The only thing that is affected is the time it takes to cure. But this isn't really very significant. So what you want to look for is a thermal paste that works best given the mounting pressure on your GPU. You can see this:

04-GPU-Cooling.png


The MX-2 is about 1.5 degrees cooler than the NT-H1. So I'd say just get that.
 
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nismoguy82

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Feb 25, 2014
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Yeah, I looked at that article/comparison, but thought maybe the effectiveness of the pastes might be different if used on a passive cooler. I was leaning towards the MX-2, but I'll also be using the paste on my stock 4670k cooler too. That's why I'm undecided. Thoughts?
 
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JohnKau

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Feb 5, 2015
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Nope, paste works the same for passive and active coolers. If they worked differently, they would also work differently on good vs bad coolers. But that isn't the case. Besides the time it takes to cure, how high a temp you hit, or how quickly you hit it, doesn't make much of a difference on the thermal paste effectiveness.

There won't be a very significant difference, but if your 4670k doesn't run too hot, then you should get the paste that works better for your GPU since that is more likely to be the bottleneck.
 
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