Guru3D Thermal Paste Roundup - Round 2 (2021)

Discussion in 'Frontpage news' started by Hilbert Hagedoorn, May 13, 2021.

  1. SplashDown

    SplashDown Maha Guru

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    What are you using for paste?
     
  2. Michael Lang

    Michael Lang Active Member

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    Suprim Liquid x4090
    I personally go back and forth from Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut , Conductonaut, and MX-4 all depending on what I have at the time. AS5 is sort of my last resort because I normally always still have a tube of it laying around.
     
  3. Michael Lang

    Michael Lang Active Member

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    I will say my first attempt with Liquid metal didn't go so well as a retard I tried to apply while the CPU was still in the socket, It dripped as I came up from putting it on the CPU and went into one of the first memory slot then of course I had a missing stick of memory being detected but luckily it was easy enough to remove out of the memory slot and all was good.
     
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  4. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

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    Great review, thanks.

    I'm surprised how well Gelid Xtreme holds up still.
    I tried it years ago after delidding my 6700K because it suffered terrible pump out between the core and lid within a day.
    Gelid Xtreme being very thick took weeks for the same effect to happen and gave better temps too.
    I think I was using MX-4 before that.
     
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  5. KissSh0t

    KissSh0t Ancient Guru

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    I've only ever used Arctic Silver so seeing where it placed on the chart was.... interesting.
     
  6. MerolaC

    MerolaC Ancient Guru

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    Pump out is only an issue if you use the paste on the die.
    Not when used over and IHS.
     
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  7. Mineria

    Mineria Ancient Guru

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    Kryonaut both for air as water on GPU and CPU, takes a bit more work applying it and a day or two to fully settle in.
     
  8. schmidtbag

    schmidtbag Ancient Guru

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    I haven't really had the need to replace thermal compound on any laptop I've owned for years so I don't have a good recommendation, but have you considered creating a silicone gasket to help keep the compound from leaving? You'll want to make sure it's properly vented of course, but that vent shouldn't be enough to allow for thermal compound to leak.
     
  9. Robbo9999

    Robbo9999 Ancient Guru

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    @Hilbert Hagedoorn , you've got your Hydronaut & Carbonaut pages & photos mixed up:
    https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/guru3d_thermal_paste_roundup_round2_2021,4.html
    https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/guru3d-thermal-paste-roundup-round2-2021,5.html

    Still reading the review, will edit this post if I've got anything interesting to say about the products or results.

    EDIT: Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut still right near the top in performance, I'm using it on my CPU and GPU, I've had it on my CPU since 2017 and it's still performing just as well....I think part of the longevity is down to the fact that my liquid metal delidded 6700K doesn't ever go above 65degC, and I remember reading in the literature of Grizzly Kryonaut that the paste won't dry out if kept below 70degC (or was it 75degC)....also the mounting system of the Noctua NHD14 cooler I use is high pressure/flat and stable/secure so that might contribute to the longevity of the Kryonaut paste which is now essentially 4 yrs old without any need of repasting.
     
    Last edited: May 14, 2021
  10. Catspaw

    Catspaw Master Guru

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    I would suggest testing Thermal paste in laptops.
    Due to the pump out effect (at least that is what der8auer called it), it is probably the most important place to know what thermal paste to use.

    I personally used 3 different pastes (Arcitc silver 5, thermal grizzly ... I think it was cryo and a standard thermaltake paste) and all of them had the same problem: after a few thermal cycles (like 2 weeks to 6 weeks, 2 in summer, 6 in winter), the temps were very high again.

    When I went to replace the thermal paste I saw almost none of it was still left on the contact area, it was mostly on the sides of the contact plate/CPU or GPU die.
    Right now I dont have a laptop but once I do I will have to find a fix for this issue, because my temps right after replacing the TIM were in the high 60s for the GPU and high 70s for the CPU (this was an old laptop, i5-2670m and 570M) and after a few weeks: high 80s ion the GPU and mid 90s on the CPU.

    And the more wide spread the temps get in a laptop, the higher the chance that something will die quicker, especially in bigger GPU dies. If your Laptop is at 20C when turned off, and at 80+ when on load, that is a rather large variance for the metal parts that will contract and expand due to thermal expansion.
     

  11. Glottiz

    Glottiz Ancient Guru

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    Thermal paste looking "dried out" doesn't mean it stopped working. If thermals do no change, who cares if paste looks dry next time you open system? Lots of thermal compounds can be dry and still work fine.
     
  12. Silva

    Silva Ancient Guru

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    @MerolaC this is a real issue you'd think someone thought about solving long time ago.
    I'd say you're better using a different metal (one that expands similarly to silicon) and the usual copper heat pipes on top to carry the heat.
     
  13. MerolaC

    MerolaC Ancient Guru

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    I don't think the issue could be solved from the cooling portion since it will most probably increase the price of it.

    The thing is that most manufacturers, use what people call "crappy TIM". The dry looking paste is in fact carbon based with no silicone, so it doesn't pump out and looks like that since day one.
    Yes, it might not be the most effective paste in terms of thermal transfer, but it will last forever in your CPU die without pumping out.
     
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  14. rkb

    rkb Member

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    Would love to see GD900 here on the list. its giving me amazing performance for the money
     
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  15. Fediuld

    Fediuld Master Guru

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    For years rule of thumb Kryonaut for CPUs and Conductonaut for GPUs. Job done
     

  16. Dragam1337

    Dragam1337 Ancient Guru

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    I prefer just using mx2 - easy to work with, doesn't run, and doesn't go hard for many years.
     
  17. cucaulay malkin

    cucaulay malkin Ancient Guru

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    nth performs very badly over time
    dc1 was the only one I haven't seen any deterioration in 3 years time.
     
  18. Falkentyne

    Falkentyne Master Guru

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    Plenty of people on the laptop forums have done tests like this. You just don't see them around here since everyone else cares about desktops and video cards.

    But I think this is what you were looking for.

    ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...and-liquid-metal.806840/page-48#post-11084441 )

    (if that link gets truncated: (forum.notebookreview.com/threads/which-thermal-paste-to-buy-and-apply-traditional-and-liquid-metal.806840/page-48#post-11084441")

    Try Thermalright TFX? I think this is one of the best pastes for something with weak contact, with IC Diamond probably being the best. But keep in mind literally everything you would use would degrade if the contact is that bad (except IC Diamond), and graphite pads like these wouldn't help you.
    https://www.amazon.com/IC-Graphite-Compression-Thermal-40X40mm/dp/B08XNYHYCH/ (I believe this is Panasonic EYG-R, which is newer than the older EYG-S).
    Compare this to https://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Cooling-Graphite-Thermal-Pad/dp/B07CKVW18G (this is EYG-S). I bought both of the panasonic brands directly from digikey, and I still have the original IC packs from when I was testing for them.

    Also see if you can do a contact pressure test on the laptop with contact paper

    https://www.innovationcooling.com/product/ic-contact-test-analysis-kit/

    (this is the same material as Fujifilm "Ultra Low" Prescale (25-85 PSI), which you can request a sample of (politely) from sensorprod.com).
    There is also Extreme low prescale, which is I think 6-25 PSI.

    If you determine the CPU or heatsink is convex, you can try to do a mild sanding with 600 grit-3000 grit sandpaper (sand only enough to flatten the convexity slightly).
    Then you can try to reapply.
     
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  19. CrazY_Milojko

    CrazY_Milojko Ancient Guru

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    For all these years after using God knows how many different thermal compounds MX-2 is still my favorite one. I've spend last tube of MX-2 last year, can't find it here localy past few months so now i'm "forced" to use MX-4 and NT-H1. Shipping MX-2 (same as anything that costs more than $2 to $3) from eBay/Aliexpress is insanely expencive past year or so, so atm I'm waiting for a good local deal for MX-2 than I'm gonny buy supply of MX-2 that'll last me at least 10 more years.

    But will try MX-5 after this review...
     
  20. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    I always use: Thermal Grizzly's Kyronaut.

    I currently using on 4 of my Titan Xp's: Kyronaut Extreme. I have seen difference from 2c to 7c over the stock paste that it came with, that being said, this was at a glance, as I have not checked what is after hrs after use(Curing), even though Thermal Grizzly claims no curing time, I see otherwise and other sites too:

    Check this forum, look where the see the testing results after some use:

    https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...-vs-conductonaut-liquid-metal-73-w-mk.229167/

    AS5 is good for systems that are not going extreme with the overclocking, such as: Voltage, Speeds, etc.

    One thing I love about using AS5, spreads evenly, no separation, but it is conductive, Never had a problem with AS5, not to my knowledge.

    I have personally tested AS5 on my hottest gpu while I was under 4-Way Sli(Believe while using Spacers), and this was(If I remembered correctly, last summer), it was hovering to 90c, it wanted to go higher, so I backed out of it, Next, after cooling down the system for a bit, changed the Thermal paste to my personal Favorite: Thermal Grizzly's Kyronaut, I have seen a 12c drop easy, Absolute staggering difference, and these were at a glance tests, these test were not conducted in a long hrs worth of test.

    Now, I haven't personally tested the difference between Kyronaut and the Extreme version, I would like to see differences on my own end, I think within long hrs of use, the difference would probably be almost nil, I wouldn't expect much difference, maybe a 1c or two tops, Haven't had an issue with it yet.

    Thanks for sharing this.
     
    Last edited: May 14, 2021
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