Thermal Paste

[trihedral]

Have currently TIM from Thermaltake that came with the Frio, Antec Formula 5, and Thermalright Chill Factor III.

This was from a review of 80 different thermal pastes in 2009, i changed it so i didn't need to go on multiple pages just to see what's what. Will try to update chart with the most of thermal paste released since then to 2011.

If anyone has experiences with many thermal paste, please feel free to tell me which is better than which, i'm deciding on a thermal paste to use.

Correct me if im wrong.

TR CFIII, Antec Formula 7, Antec Formula 6, Arctic Cooling MX-4, Coollaboratory Liquid Metal Ultra, & Indigo Xtreme.

Best Thermal Pastes of 2011

Antec Formula 7
Arctic Cooling MX-4
Coollaboratory Liquid Metal Ultra
Indigo Extreme
IC Diamond
Shin-Etsu MicroSi G751
Arctic Silver 5
OCZ Freeze

*correct if wrong*


Somewhat Related: Arctic Silver 5 = Antec Formula 5

 

[angrychkn]

I have used the thermal paste which came with my Spire heatsink, and I have just replaced it with the Arctic Silver 5 polysynthetic. The difference is about 2°C under full 100% load on a Q6600 at 3.2GHz.

 

[trihedral]

No wonder so many people uses AS5. It does such a good job, and comparing it to Shin-Etsu, it comes with a lot more compound than 0.5G that the G751 offers.

Would it be this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007&cm_re=thermal_paste-_-35-100-007-_-Product

or this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100008&cm_re=thermal_paste-_-35-100-008-_-Product

 

[Onus]

The differences between decent pastes are too small to worry about unless you're trying to set a record. Even though it's been surpassed, I'd still be using AS5 if it weren't beginning to separate in the tube.

 

[trihedral]

^
I'm a die hard overclocker, if i have cash to burn and want to switch thermal paste, better off getting the best for a few bucks more than just to go for a standard paste.

1-3C is significant to an enthusiasts like me, others too probably.

So i'm guessing every product has it's flaw.

IC Diamond scratching the CPU's surface and Arctic Silver 5 un-mixing over time.

I wonder what is the best paste is with the lowest cons.

 

[wolfram23]

Some of them on here:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/thermal-interface-roundup-1_12.html#sect0

 

[trihedral]

^ Seeing this Review makes me feel a lot better about the Thermalright Chill Factor III.

Perhaps i'd keep it.
Funny how the Tuniq TX-3 beats the TX-4 haha.

 

[4745454b]

I dislike using AS5 because its electrically conductive. If you don't know what your doing and use WAY to much then you could end up shorting something out. Seeing as we have non conductive paste, why bother suggesting AS5 to someone online if you don't know their skill? (no offense to anyone in this thread.)

I've used the TX-2 grease, found it to be find stuff. I know 3 and 4 are better but didn't want to spend that much on paste back then.

 

[trihedral]

^
Yeah the 3rd seems to be better than the 4th if you revert to that chart.

AS5 is good only for non-newbies i suppose.

I wonder if the Arctic MX-4 beats the MX-3.

 

[Onus]

This just posted: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-April-2011/1246/5

 

[Toxxyc]

I'm using the Cooler Master IceFusion stuff, the kind that scored the "***" rating according to the first table.

TBH, I'm satisfied. Yes, it's not the best, but hell man for it's low price it's probably the best value-for-money thermal grease I've ever used. I paid for a pot of the stuff, 40g, about $8 in South Africa. It applies easily, but it tends to cure a little and stick your heatsink and CPU together, which is a big no-no for me. I'm considering something else to prevent damage to my motherboad/CPU/cooler when I remove the heatsink, so this thread comes as a warm welcome.

I've been exploring this world a little and found the Arctic Cooler MX-4 to be one of the highest thermally conductive thermal greases on the market, and that from a ceramic based compound. It's not electrically conductive, and I think I'm interested. Costs a pretty penny though.

Oh yes, and I think I can use it - I overclock a little. I wantz quality.

 

[Toxxyc]

Oh yes, and remember to check for compatibilty when getting thermal grease. Some of these greases will not be compatible with certain coolers, and some of them will literally eat through aluminium, so a pure copper contact patch is needed. Ensure everything is safe & compatible before buying!

 

[RetiredChief]

For AS5 Lovers, May not be the best, but good enough for me.

AS5 is conductive - Please list source as.
From maunf:
quote: Not Electrically Conductive:
Arctic Silver 5 was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity.
End quote:
The fact that it contains Pure Silver does not in itself make the paste conductive.
However it is capacitive, as all thermal paste is. Propably would have a higher capacitive value than a nonmetalic paste.

Added: A little Electronics 101
If the paste is across say a +voltage and a ground point, be that the 1 V on CPU pin or the +12 Volt on a MB trace, - No effect
However if the paste was across cpu pin or MB trace that has the Bclk and ground, then it could load the signal down, or effectively short it out. This is dependent on proxity of the two points, surface area of the two points and the Frequency of the signal. The first two affect the capacitance, the closer the two conductors are the higher the capacitance, the greater the surface area of the two conductors - the higher the Capacitance "C". XsubC = 1/2πFC As freq increases and or C increases then XsubC decreases. So lower resistance if blck was 400 Mhz vs a 100 Mhz bclk.

PS loved the charts, thanks.

 

[4745454b]

Looks like its a carry over from AS3 then, which was electrically conductive. I wonder how they use silver but not let it conduct electricity? Either way thanks for the heads up.

 

[RetiredChief]

Colloidal suspension - Have enough trouble saying it let along spell it.
But basically the base material (non-conductive) coats each silver particle so the silver particiles are electrically isolated from each other.

 

[joelmartinez]

I'm a die hard overclocker, if i have cash to burn and want to switch thermal paste, better off getting the best for a few bucks more than just to go for a standard paste.

indigo xtreme beats the best in the charts posted by 3-5 C but it's pretty expensive $18 USD

I use gc-extreme myself because it comes in a large tube (remember weight doesn't matter but amount does) and has a low viscosity.

 

[wolfram23]

Well last night I installed (mostly) my water cooling CPU loop and also redid my GPU heatsinks with some Arctic MX3 to replace the AS5. Hoping to see some good temps all around... I'll have it all back up and running tonight.

 

[trihedral]

indigo xtreme seems to have problems for some users.

wolfram, tell us how the MX-3 is compared to the AS5.

i will try and update the chart.

 

[wolfram23]

Well I can't give a perfectly scientific view because I changed all my case fans too, but from switching my GPUs from AS5 to MX3 the temps dropped several degrees, so I'd say it's a worthwhile upgrade. Plus, the price is only about $6 more but you get 3x more paste.

 

[trihedral]

Good review on the gpu part wolf.

i replaced my 790FX northbridge and southbridge stock heatspread to Thermalright chillfactor III which also dropped several degrees.

Though when i used it on the 4870, idle was went from 55C to 54C.
As for load, it went down from 80C to 78C. Not to much of a diff.

 

[joelmartinez]

indigo xtreme seems to have problems for some users.

wolfram, tell us how the MX-3 is compared to the AS5.

i will try and update the chart.

if you put it on correctly it works excellently from what I here where did you here about the problems

 

[wolfram23]

Hey just an update on the MX3. Now, I know having switched up my case fans definitely helped, as well as getting rid of my CPU cooler, but...

Playing Fallout 3 my top GPU was hitting mid 70s and bottom GPU high 60s to 70. After these changes and putting MX3 on there the temps aren't even going over 60C! So huge temp drop of almost 20C lol. But again, I know for sure changing my fan set up significantly helped get more air in there and also to pump it out the back easier.

 

[trihedral]

thanks for the update. apparently it works well on GPU then.

Today I'm testing three thermal pastes.

1. IC Diamond 7 Carat
2. Thermalright Chill Factor III
3. Antec Formula 5 (which is apparently Arctic Silver 5, though people got higher temps on this).

Test Setup:
NZXT Phantom Case with front 140mm and top 200mm extra fan.
MSI 790FX-GD70 Bios V1.17
Thermaltake TR2 RS 850W Black Widow
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T @ 4000Mhz & NB @ 3000Mhz
A-Data 4GB DDR3 Gaming Series @ 1600mhz 9-9-9-24 timing
ASUS 5870 1GB Stock
Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler
Western Digital Caviar Black

Extra Fans:

Results: Prime95 v26.5.5

Thermalright Chill Factor III
Overall: Low|Medium|Highs


Idle Temps: 21C|22C|23C   Load Temps: 43C|45C|48C

 

[joelmartinez]

get some indigo please, you will see i gurantee it will beat all the other pastes you listed as long as you apply it right

btw please don't use furmark it really degrades your GPUs seriously