Any recommendations for GPU thermal paste?

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by jbscotchman, Apr 1, 2021.

  1. jbscotchman

    jbscotchman Guest

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    Like many, I'm gonna be stuck with my current GPU for a while. So the one I have I want to make it last as long as I can and want to do a deep clean and re-apply some thermal paste. I've got some Arctic Silver I've never used but is there any other stuff I should look at? Last time I broke down a graphics card was my 8800 GTS 640mb.
     
  2. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

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    MX2 or MX4, and just pour it on.

    Artic Silver is capacitive sadly.
     
  3. jbscotchman

    jbscotchman Guest

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    Clarify that would you kindly?
     
  4. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

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    it has traces of silver and can hold a charge.

    http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

     
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  5. AsiJu

    AsiJu Ancient Guru

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    You can use Arctic Silver if that's what you have but you need to be extra careful with application.

    Droplet in center of die and apply pressure with heatsink (=install heatsink).
    Verify no spillovers.

    I see Thermal Grizzly getting good feedback but don't ask me which compound to use for GPU...

    I bought some Conductonaut a while back but it's very liquid metal like, probably not good for GPU application.
     
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  6. jura11

    jura11 Guest

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    GPU:
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    For GPUs I would try Noctua NT-H1 or NT-H2, Thermalright TFX, Kryonaut or ZF-EX(you can buy that quite cheap on Aliexpress)

    Arctic Cooling thermal paste, tried only MX4 I think and been unhappy with temperatures on friend loop, swapped for ZF-EX and temperatures improved by 5°C on load

    Personally I use Kryonaut or Noctua NT-H1 or Thermalright TFX on GPUs

    Hope this helps

    Thanks, Jura
     
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  7. A M D BugBear

    A M D BugBear Ancient Guru

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    Artic Silver 5 is decent, it does not seperate, can evenly spread it out if necessary, never usually have any problems with AS5.

    If your doing Minimal OC'in, AS5 is decent but if your going crazy with Voltage and such, I would go with something like Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut or Equivalent, MX-4 is good too.

    But yes, to be safer, I would use MX-4 over AS5, Now Artic just recently released: MX-5, never tried it so can not comment on it.

    I have tried:

    Phoyba NanoGrease Extreme, Works pretty good, here's a link:

    https://www.newegg.com/p/2MB-000X-00004

    But my personal Favorite out of all the paste, got to be non other then: Thermal Grizzly's Kyronaut, no doubt about it, actually infact, that's what I am using now under my 4-Way Sli project, yupper's, Kicks Royal Booty, very serious stuff, might be very expensive but its well worth it, trust me, and also, I have personally tried AS5 then back to Kyronaut while doing my 4-Way Sli Project, I think this was last summer, there was @ one time, with AS5 on all gpu's, certain Gpu(Can't remember which one, hit 90c(While using Spacers/please visit my 4-Way Sli thread under Nvidia Geforce thread for more on spacers) and I had to forcefully quit, after going back to Kyronaut, that 90c+ Gpu went down to a staggering 78c range, so yes, something this extreme, absolutely worth it, HUGE difference.
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2021
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  8. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

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    GPU:
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    What I tried and used extensively:
    Noctua thermal paste personal score 8
    Thermal Grizzly personal score 9
    Gelid Extreme personal score 8.5
    Artic MX4 personal score 7.5
    Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut mixed score...all my gear (cooper heatsink) is using liquid metal, but one has to apply nail polish on the CPU/GPU die, do a check up to see any signs of leaks or corrosion.
     
  9. 386SX

    386SX Ancient Guru

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    Well THAT is a "hands on" you dont see every day. ;)
     
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  10. vf

    vf Ancient Guru

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    How long does paste normally last on a GPU and when to repaste? If only gaming/rendering normal stuff. Not miners.

    I did one on an AMD 5870 after 7 years. It wasn't bad, not completely dried out which I was surprised.

    It seems the paste on GPUs last longer than CPU?
     

  11. toyo

    toyo Master Guru

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    If you go with Kryonaut from TG, before you apply it to the GPU, test it on some old CPU or surface you don't care about, spread it well/apply pressure, clean and check for scratches. I keep seeing (rare) cases of scratching from some defective batches of paste.
     
  12. vf

    vf Ancient Guru

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    IC Diamond batches was another one that causes scratches from way back. Real coarse scratches.

    IC Diamond was a great paste. It reminded me of that heavy duty dark grey grease for wheel bearings. Very thick and gooey.
     
  13. CalculuS

    CalculuS Ancient Guru

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    Depends entirely on the paste used and how often the pc is used.

    I disassembled my uncle's old win XP system which had an intel celeron from god knows when and the cooling paste was still somewhat fluid-like, probably because he used the PC daily.
     
  14. vf

    vf Ancient Guru

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    Ah so it dries out from not getting used instead of the cycles heating up and cooling down each day...

    Mine certainly was getting used a lot each day for those 7 years. PC certainly was on at least 8 - 12 hours per day.

    Unless it's a cheap cheap no name brand, I'd reckon those will dry out fast.
     
  15. CPC_RedDawn

    CPC_RedDawn Ancient Guru

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    that's because it IS liquid metal.
     
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  16. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

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    This is difficult to answer because you have silicon based pastes, trace metal based pastes, and then the bakelite crap that goes hard.

    Bakelite stuff will need replacing within sooner or later depending on heat and expansion/contraction cycles.

    Paste stuff that suspends trace powders and metals do not *dry* out as the paste is just there to suspend the particles that fill the microgaps

    so long as you never seperate the mating surfaces they are good to stay on there for decades. Of course, unless your computer operates in a dust filtered lab and you wear a hazmat suit while using it, dust build up will necessitate you breaking that seal on many occasions.
     
  17. OldManRiver

    OldManRiver Guest

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    Personally, the best I have ever used for GPU TIM, is IC Diamond. It's like working with clay putty, but you'll get years of use before needing to worry about pumpout like you do with thinner TIM. I've tried several times with LM while initial temps are good after several months you lose the bond with the bare die and temps start rising. My Nephew is using my 980 Ti I repasted years ago and temps have not budged on it at all. My two cents IMO being thicker paste is better for GPU's with bare die and I'd avoid LM.
     
  18. vf

    vf Ancient Guru

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    Sony uses that white paste in their consoles that dries out after a few years. It looks like dried out toothpaste. Some has even bubbled on the centre looking watery while dried out around the edges while still in contact of the IHS.
     
  19. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

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    thats the solid crap like bakelite which will go to crap after a fair amount of heat cycles.
     
  20. Guru3Dmember

    Guru3Dmember Active Member

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    Good info, here. Thanks
     

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