thermal paste Which Thermal Paste to buy and apply (Traditional and Liquid Metal)

[Rofa1234]

4 hours ago, raptorddd said:

he pad is only available in 0.25 mm thickness, while many imitators rely on 0.2 mm. However, this is NOT an original PTM7950.

 

would be insteresting to see the difference between fake and original pad.

 

Honeywell also offers 0.2mm thickness: https://www.caplinq.com/ptm7950-most-thermally-conductive-phase-change-pad-with-very-low-thermal-impedance-that-works-in-vertical-applications-ptm7950.html

[kojack]

I still swear by my old NH-T2 paste. I have had mine on for 2 years on my XPS workstation and it's not increased in temps etc since application. My notebook had a crap BIOS update that ran the fan ALOT.  I thought it was because the paste broken down, but that wasn't the case. I did re apply and it didn't change things until the next bios update came through. 

[Papusan]

Roundup: Thermalright TF4, TF7, TF8, TF9 and TFX in the test – thermal paste from flowing screed to bunker concrete igorslab
 

[raptorddd]

On 8/25/2024 at 4:02 PM, Rofa1234 said:

 

Honeywell also offers 0.2mm thickness: https://www.caplinq.com/ptm7950-most-thermally-conductive-phase-change-pad-with-very-low-thermal-impedance-that-works-in-vertical-applications-ptm7950.html

they should have it sold officaly to a certain stores.its hard to guess when you order online.

[Papusan]

 

Roundup: Cooler Master CryoFuze 7, CryoFuze 5 Violet, MasterGel Maker and Pro V2 in the test – thermal paste from grey to colourful igorslab.de

Conclusion

Looking at the entire portfolio, I would recommend the Cooler Master MasterGel Maker, which is still easy to process, or the slightly more viscous (and better) CryoFuze 7. Beginners are better off using the Cooler Master MasterGel Pro V2 for quick success. The CryoFuze 5 Violet, on the other hand, is a liquid soup that bleeds and is pumped out faster than you can say pug. That's it for now and we're done.

[Vasudev]

It seems Zen 4 and 5 APUs SMDs are electrically conductive even with using insulation tape and I found it the hard way after I talked to Juan/judal57 who said it was electrically conductive when measuring the dimensions of APU and noticed a shock and spark due to ESD when I touched memory shielding frame of my new thinkpad P14s Gen 5 (Ryzen Pro 8840HS 30-40W TDP) with soldered network card (damn) NFA725 Qualcomm. Added a thermal pad to SSD, Wifi card and CPU. Upgraded memory to 24GB from 16GB as I was running out of 16GB with just VSCode, Zoom and MS teams in background at work.

Didn't see much changes as CPU pushed through 96C before and after repaste.

I used IC graphite pad with a little bit of thermal paste made by cooler master maker gel nano. Before the fans spin the CPU hits 96C and then temps drop to below 90C's otherwise it was running close to 100C out of the box. Had to disable lenovo power driver service as it was boosting CPU unnecessarily based on workload and battery life tanked to under 2hrs just like alienware and the reason to upgrade was better battery life due to heavy rains or power cuts. After tweaks I got 6hrs but still there's lot to improve.

 

I'll add the images if anybody needs it. Here is link to HWBot: https://hwbot.org/submission/5635947

Another thing was Bitlocker Encrypted drive was not able to be unlocked within Macrium PE and I got that dreaded Bitlocker recovery Screen after fresh install. Disabled device encryption and BDE. I don't want new headaches. It is a mess to boot ventoy without secure boot and only Wimboot was working as expected.

[Papusan]

On 8/26/2024 at 11:24 AM, kojack said:

I still swear by my old NH-T2 paste. I have had mine on for 2 years on my XPS workstation and it's not increased in temps etc since application. My notebook had a crap BIOS update that ran the fan ALOT.  I thought it was because the paste broken down, but that wasn't the case. I did re apply and it didn't change things until the next bios update came through. 

 

Summary and conclusion

Actually, I could have spent the weekend more usefully, but when questions come from the community about products and follow-up tests, then of course that has a certain priority for me. Since two out of three samples from 2024 delivered better test values and are more similar to the sample from 2023, I naturally adjusted the Noctua NT-H2 values in the database. However, even after all these tests, I still stand by the fact that the NT-H2 is a rather mediocre product that has seen better days, even if the follow-up measurements turned out a little better.

 

Noctua NT-H2 thermal paste in follow-up test: Comparison of 2023 and 2024 – Detailed investigations into series variation and aging igorslab.de

 

[Vasudev]

6 hours ago, Papusan said:

 

Summary and conclusion

Actually, I could have spent the weekend more usefully, but when questions come from the community about products and follow-up tests, then of course that has a certain priority for me. Since two out of three samples from 2024 delivered better test values and are more similar to the sample from 2023, I naturally adjusted the Noctua NT-H2 values in the database. However, even after all these tests, I still stand by the fact that the NT-H2 is a rather mediocre product that has seen better days, even if the follow-up measurements turned out a little better.

 

Noctua NT-H2 thermal paste in follow-up test: Comparison of 2023 and 2024 – Detailed investigations into series variation and aging igorslab.de

 

Should I add this paste to the list? Anyone has reviews of TG Phase Change Pastes?

[Papusan]

1 hour ago, Vasudev said:

Should I add this paste to the list? Anyone has reviews of TG Phase Change Pastes?

 

If you talk about Noctua NT-H2. Nope. As well remove Noctua NT-H1 from the list in OP. Thanks

[kojack]

My results are very different than a "mediocre" paste. 

[Papusan]

8 hours ago, kojack said:

My results are very different than a "mediocre" paste. 

 

Depends on what Cpu and Gpu you have. Modern unlocked Intel chips can pull 400W and GPUs up to +666 W as my 4090 HOF graphics card. Lower powered hardware can come away with "mediocre" or less performing thermal paste. But even those can get an advantage using better thermal paste/or better cooling combined with better thermal paste. 

 

@Vasudev could You please add in Thermalright TF8: 13.8 W/mK on first page. Thanks

[JeanLegi]

Hey lads and gents,

 

i know it's been a while but i have a question if i rember correct some of you use One Enjoy TFX.

Did you have the same experience like i have it now that the TFX was not on the complete CPU DIE after a few month of using? I'm not sure but for me it looks like it tries to escape from the heat 😅 if you can imagin what i mean.

 

I used Paint to make it a bit more visual for you i forgot to take some pictures.

 

I would try it once again with the GE78 if i can replicate it. a mate of me had the same thing with a GE77 and/or GE76.

[Rofa1234]

TFX has poor longevity, better avoid it. It is a good example that simply putting in a huge amount of filler won't work. It has great initial performance that's for sure. The devil comes in the longer-term. When I tested this a long time ago I wasn't aware, I noticed it later.

 

Quote

If you add too much filler, you risk making the thermal paste too hard to spread, resulting in thick, uneven layers which result in poorer real-life performance. And because of the lack of base, high-filler thermal pastes will also degrade significantly faster when put through real use which will quickly result in poorer performance.

https://koolingmonster.com/insights/what-is-thermal-conductivity-and-is-it-always-good-for-thermal-paste

 

Best paste in the market right now is certainly TC-5960 from Dow Chemical. The older ones TC-5550 and TC-5888 are great as well. Others I would recommend are Koolingmonster Kold-01 and Aerocool Fuzion. All of them are hard to buy unortunately.

[JeanLegi]

And none of the pastes you named are currently to buy if i search for them on some german shops. that is sometime really annoying 🫠😁

[Rofa1234]

That is true at the moment I know. Dowsil TC-5550 and TC-5960 will be available under a different brand in Germany later this year or early next year for TC-5960.

[JeanLegi]

Ok, who want to check this from Igor?

Die weltweit erste interaktive Wärmeleitpasten-Datenbank - Echte Messdaten, Materialanalyse und objektiver Faktencheck! | igor´sLAB

 

English Version as well:

The world’s first interactive thermal paste database - real measurement data, material analysis and objective fact check! | igor´sLAB

[Papusan]

 

Be aware of the fancy EX naming. Avoid this so called "new" thermal paste from Thermalright. Overpriced and a worse product.

 

Thermalright TF8 EX thermal paste in test – Same price, smaller quantity, poor performance and low durability than the TF8

 

They have simply added an “EX” appendix to the product name (which could even imply progress) and are selling this much worse paste at a significantly higher price. Whereas 2 grams were available at the time for 4.99 euros (priced at a stable level for a long time), you can now get 1.5 grams for 6.99 euros and the much worse product is also available. I hope that Thermalright, as a pure distributor, will not change its business model for other products in this way and now buy cheaper and then sell them at an even higher price.