Any recommendations for thermal paste. I’ve seen a lot of things online but would love to hear some real world experiences? I’l be using on a AMD Threadripper Pro 5965WX 24core.
Thanks!
I always just use AS5 because you can get it nice big tubes and its easy to apply
Anything decent will work just as well as anything else
If we’re talking standard TiM and not anything exotic like liquid metal, then Kryonaut Extreme or Kingpin Extreme (KPX) are the top dogs right now. Some will tell you these are only for LN2 OC, but I’ve personally used KryoX on an aircooled 10900K and seen excellent results.
Those are both a little over 14 watts-per-meter-Kelvin [W/(m*K)], but many other pastes are also in the 11-12w/(mK) range such as the standard Kryonaut, Artic MX-4, Noctua NH-T1, etc. What is going to matter more is strong and even mounting pressure and using the least amount of TiM to cover the whole die/IHS.
Since the most optimal performance would be 100% IHS to cold plate contact, but not possible due to tiny imperfections and different flatnesses, you want to get as close to 99.9% contact as anything short of liquid metal is just going to be a thermal barrier. Although we’re talk maybe a 1-2C difference best case, so most wouldn’t and probably shouldn’t bother splitting such hairs.
Tl;dr: Use Kryonaut Extreme or KPX (or anything quality) and spread as thinly as possible across the entire die/IHS. Also proper mounting pressure according to the manufacturer’s standards.
Another thing to consider as that many of the “high end” thermal pastes are very abrasive and will scratch cold plates and wear away IHS markings over time/thermal cycles.
Liquid metal tim will oxidize and perform poorly with extended age.
I just stick to AS5, MX4 or whatever noctua sends me because I know they don’t have problems and perform reasonably.
I wasn’t aware of this issue, but interestingly enough when I went looking I found complaints of a potential bad batch of standard Kryonaut in the past (metal particles not properly ground down), but nothing about KryoX. I would be very surprised if the latter was more abrasive than any of the other popular TiMs.
I’m not sure if the thermal grizzly products were part of this, I do know that awhile back anything marketed as containing diamonds in it had the problem.
I think its sort of a trade off, relatively bigger particle sizes (up to a point) can perform better than smaller particle sizes because the smaller particle sizes need more of the less thermally conductive oil in between the more thermally conductive particles to function; and the bigger particles are more abrasive.
I dont have too much of an opinion other than AVOID cheap / bulk stuff.
I personally have a tube of corsair xtm50. it is fine.
for what my opinion is worth. if you aren’t trying to oc or set records stick to any big brand.
Noctua, corsair, arctic silver, cooler master etc.
Lap it flat and go bare metal. Beats everything else.
unless you get it so flat you can wring the surfaces together (unlikely), you will still need a compound to fill in the microscopic voids. Most people will not be capable of lapping the two surfaces to such a perfect level of precision.
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What? A cooling question?
The answer is Arctic…
It usually is cheaper than most other brands and in many cases better…
Yeah… Arctic… I use MX2 cause this is what I have a large tube of, but you may as well get the newer MX5…
Arctic or Noctua whatever goo, they’re both decidedly “fine” and aren’t too expensive. I’m personally still using up a big tube of AS5 from over a decade ago, so I’d resist the urge to “buy in bulk”.
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MX-5 had issues, so they discontinued it for MX-6.
That said I just picked up a 20 gram tube of MX-4 for $12.xx shipped.
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Well nevermind then… MX4 it is…
I used MX-4 on everything from GPUs to Transistors and power resistors. Worked well for me.
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Thanks all, grabbing some MX-4.
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