Best thermal paste?

[computernewbie]

Title says it all, last i heard was the arctic silver 5, dunno which one is the best now

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

AS5 is good and is the most popular but the best is Arctic Cooling MX-2, it slightly (and I mean slightly) outperforms its competition and spreads real well. Also, unlike AS5 which has silver particles in it, MX-2 is totally non-conductive.

 

[computernewbie]

i mean theres not much of a price difference, and if there is even the slightest performance boost, its still a step up, thanks. I cant believe people make it a big deal about the price of thermal paste, i mean its like 5-10$, whats the big deal? lol. Oh yes, i forgot to ask, whats the best way to apply thermal paste? I do believe its just sticking one drop in the middle and letting the cpu cooler naturally spread it out

 

[Shadow703793]

Here you go: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=232141

I vote for MX2 or AS5 depending on price/availability.

Aplication depends on the cooler. For non HDT coolers I prefer spreading a thin layer on the CPU with cling wrap covered finger. For HDT coolers:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/248445-29-orentate-mount-xigmatek-1283

 

[uncfan_2563]

well i always thought it was best to smooth it out with the edge of something, like a business card...

 

[computernewbie]

im not good with acronyms, what is a HDT?

 

[Wisecracker]

OCZ Freeze user here.

It's a wee bit less viscous than AS5 - I dab a 'rice grain' across the spreader with a small dot close on either side of the 'grain' - looks like a semi-colon, sorta - LOL

 

[dallasjoh]

Artic Cooling MX-2
Artic Silver 5

 

[pjmelect]

The very best thermal paste is home made paste with diamond powder mixed in with it. There was a post on this forum about it and there are web pages about it but I will leave it up to you to look it up.

 

[computernewbie]

o.o diamond, must be expensive (thermal paste wise that is), how were the benchmarks for it? lol i just imagined a cpu and cpu cooler that were made out of diamond...

 

[JohnnyLucky]

I use IC Diamond 7 Carat Thermal Compound:

http://www.innovationcooling.com/

Here's a link to the xbitlabs technical review and test results of just about every compound made:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/thermal-interface-roundup.html

Here's a link to one of the online vendors:

http://www.heatsinkfactory.com/ic-diamond-7-carat-thermal-compound-15-gram-p-16605.html

The compound works very well with my Thermalright Ultra 120 cpu heatsink.

To be fair there are other thermal compounds that are very good. For the typical user a temperature drop of a few degrees Centigrade won't make much of a difference. For a hardcore gamer into serious overclocking on a suicidal mission to save the planet from alien invaders it might make a difference.

 

[computernewbie]

now it seems like IC diamond 7 carat is the best in the benchmarks...hmmm. Wonder if i should put thermal paste on my video card? Or is it too much for a newbie

 

[JohnnyLucky]

I also used IC Diamond on the northbridge and southbridge chipsets of my motherboard. I haven't tried it on a gpu yet. If you look at the xbitlabs review you'll see IC Diamond didn't do as well on the gpu. Some of the other compounds did better.

EDIT - I just bought and XFX HD 4770 graphics card. It is a dual slot version that exhausts hot air out one of the rear panel slots. It's also an energy efficient card so I don't know if it would be worth the effort.

 

[yomamafor1]

The best is AC MX-3 actually.

 

[Yoosty]

Here is a very good Review on 80-way Thermal Interface Material Performance Test.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=62

The Review is takes into consideration the Curing time of each Thermal Compound and post them. Here are two examples:

Arctic Silver 5 Polysynthetic Thermal Compound (4)
(4) Arctic Silver 5 Application Instructions (up to 200-hours recommended curing time.

Tuniq TX-3 (0)
(0) No Curing Time or Special Application Suggested.

 

[jeffredo]

OCZ Freeze user here.

It's a wee bit less viscous than AS5 - I dab a 'rice grain' across the spreader with a small dot close on either side of the 'grain' - looks like a semi-colon, sorta - LOL

Very effective, cheap, easy to use and clean up.

 

[Guest]

OCZ freeze extreme, non conductive, easy to use and does a fantastic job at that, no curing time and not very expensive, better than AS5 in my opinion in cooling (2-3 degrees cooler now with it) Just dont use any KAK that comes with any components in small plastic packets, it wont work well...

 

[tmike]

Roughly equivalent to asking someone's religion

I'm currently on Shin-Etsu X23-7762. It lowered my temps slightly, but in fairness I didn't give the AS a full run-in before switching.

 

[computernewbie]

exactly what is curing time?

 

[jsc]

I pretty much use Arctic Silver AS5 and Ceramique. Both times that was what the local Rat Shack had.

I have noticed little difference between the two. I also have not noticed a significant difference in temperatures before and after the AS5 cured.

Curing time - theoretically AS5 needs about 200 hours and several power on-off (heat-cool) cycles to cure, to set, to whatever to deliver optimum performance (maximum cooling).

 

[uncfan_2563]

is it only AS5 that requires curing time? i think 200 hours is a bit much when your computer is in your room and you have to sleep there. it makes it very inconvinient.

 

[werxen]

problems with AS5:

curing time
must be reapplied every few months for best cooling results
is conductive

i used to have temps of 33*C idle now im at 38*C after 6 months. i suppose you might have to do this with all thermal paste but i hear its especially crappy on AS5.

 

[computernewbie]

think imma go with IC diamond 7 carat, no cure time, and it has diamond dust, so it should be pretty good

 

[werxen]

lol look up benchmarks.... seems like a gimmick to me. *oooo diamonds!!* lol...

 

[computernewbie]

its hard to find benchmarks with all paste...cant find benchmarks with MX-3