Anyone lost interest in performance heatsink paste?

Ice Tea · 10 Mar 2020 at 10:39

Something i've been noticing more recently online are people saying that they will just use what ever paste comes with the cooler for their next build or heatsink remounts?

So wondered if any OCUK users have lost interest in the extra expense?

chroniclard · 10 Mar 2020 at 10:43

Expense is pretty minimal imo. A tube of "decent" stuff generally lasts ages as well. Unless you are changing things often.

Granted the temperature differences are often small but they are there.

Dave Burton · 10 Mar 2020 at 10:55

I'd never use the pre-applied stuff, and always have some thermal grizzly to hand when building or re-building PC's.

Haze · 10 Mar 2020 at 12:15

Would not waste my time unless I was doing hardcore overclocking

pastymuncher · 10 Mar 2020 at 13:30

I use Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut and won't use anything else until something better comes along in paste form. The price is reasonable and considering how long a tube lasts the price isn't worth thinking about.

JRS · 10 Mar 2020 at 16:40

pastymuncher said:
I use Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut and won't use anything else until something better comes along in paste form. The price is reasonable and considering how long a tube lasts the price isn't worth thinking about.

Absolutely this. I had a tube of AS5 that lasted years, a tube of TGK finally replaced it and should see me through another few rebuilds yet.

Psycho Sonny · 10 Mar 2020 at 17:05

pastymuncher said:
I use Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut and won't use anything else until something better comes along in paste form. The price is reasonable and considering how long a tube lasts the price isn't worth thinking about.

I use this but I buy the small tube every time I build a new PC however last time I looked at tests and I noticed I had acquired about 5 different pastes from various coolers, etc. One of them reviewed highly and another 2 did very well and one was okay.

I think in the grand scheme of things if you buy a decent cooler you get decent paste with it.

So from now on I'll just use what comes with it.

Rroff · 10 Mar 2020 at 17:19

It has never really bothered me - properly applied most of the good pastes really aren't within a huge difference of each other and I'd rather use a proven long term paste than the next big shouty thing that manages to shave 1-2C off in a review.

Gray2233 · 10 Mar 2020 at 17:22

It depends.

I'll generally just use whatever paste the heatsink comes with, unless you're trying to solve a temperature problem or overclocking to the max the temp difference is generally irrelevant. Given the tiny amount you get with a HSF however, I end up buying a tube of the stuff at some point simply due to reapplying down the line or upgrading.

Tealc · 10 Mar 2020 at 20:37

I've used all sorts of heatsink compound over the years but only really bought Arctic silver and Ceramique. I no longer worry about it. A degree here or there...doesn't bother me.

Mcnumpty2323 · 10 Mar 2020 at 21:21

Any of you guys tried thermal grizzly
Carbonaut thermal pads?
No worries about what method to apply unlike paste
No mess or need for cleaning cpu
Reusable and doesn't dry out
Probably not ideal for heavy overclocking
And is conductive but shouldn't be applying it with power to the board anyway
But still it looks interesting
Roughly comparable to mx4 from few reviews I read

drakulton · 10 Mar 2020 at 22:35

Mcnumpty2323 said:
Any of you guys tried thermal grizzly
Carbonaut thermal pads?
No worries about what method to apply unlike paste
No mess or need for cleaning cpu
Reusable and doesn't dry out
Probably not ideal for heavy overclocking
And is conductive but shouldn't be applying it with power to the board anyway
But still it looks interesting
Roughly comparable to mx4 from few reviews I read

While the thermal properties can be better than thermal paste, you just cant produce it as thin as applied thermal paste. The amount of pressure required to compress it to match a top end paste would probably snap the board.

wellibob · 11 Mar 2020 at 12:39

I grabbed a mighty tube of paste from China, recommended by Tech Yes City chappy. Works fine and was about £6 for a huge tube. Lost interest absolutely.

SonicSW20 · 11 Mar 2020 at 12:41

drakulton said:
While the thermal properties can be better than thermal paste, you just cant produce it as thin as applied thermal paste. The amount of pressure required to compress it to match a top end paste would probably snap the board.

Could work well with a flattened IHS and cooler I guess.

Minstadave · 11 Mar 2020 at 12:42

No interest here, they're all within a degree or two of each other.

Robzere31 · 11 Mar 2020 at 15:24

I've always used aftermarket thermal compound. However I tend not to upgrade components like I used to.

For example, I watercooled my 1080ti 3 years ago, the block etc hasn't been off since. Temps are the same as when I first applied it.

CPU hasn't been redone for 2 years+

I find as long as it's been applied correctly theres no need to keep replacing it every few months.

krooton · 12 Mar 2020 at 07:35

I have a 2700k that has been sitting with some mx-4 for the past 5 years, oc'd to 4.6ghz and still idles at 30°

Quartz · 12 Mar 2020 at 08:15

Ice Tea said:
So wondered if any OCUK users have lost interest in the extra expense?

I have a tube of Arctic Silver 5 and I see no reason to get anything else until that tube is used up. A degree or two difference isn't worth the trouble. Noise is a different matter...

Deleted member 77746 · 12 Mar 2020 at 08:54

Quartz said:
I have a tube of Arctic Silver 5 and I see no reason to get anything else until that tube is used up. A degree or two difference isn't worth the trouble. Noise is a different matter...

You won’t get noise from thermal paste.

Quartz · 12 Mar 2020 at 09:21

mrbell1984 said:
You won’t get noise from thermal paste.

Precisely.