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New build arrived, which thermal paste?

F

fng01

Member
I just got my stuff and starting to put my CPU cooler on (Hyper 212).

The Hyper 212 cam with some thermal paste from Coolmaster, but I also have some old paste lefter over I bought at Best Buy. Its Dynex.

Which is better? Been using Dynex in my current build without any trouble.

Thanks.

Having a lot of fun here:
P8Z77
I7-3770K
Hyper 212
Vengance RAM 16GB
660Ti SC 3GB
Corsair 550D
 
The TIM that comes with the Hyper 212 Plus is great stuff. There are better TIMs, of course, but at best you'll get a couple of degrees improvement.
 
I used to believe in AS5 but Prolimatech's PK-1 is catching my eye recently. If you look at aggregated reviews of different thermal pastes, many popular pastes are all very similar in quality. Whichever paste you pick, make sure to read a few reviews on how it should be applied, a far more important factor to consider.

If your heatsink has large pits or is rough and uneven, a thicker paste will fill the gaps better. If the heatsink is more polished and flat, a thinner paste will be better.

Do check out NXIL's links. That guide will help you avoid pastes that are not suited for your use case.
 
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AS5 is worse than MX-2 yet more expensive than MX-2. It's the default recommendation of people who are stuck in time. PK-1, Gelid GC Extreme, Noctua NT-H1, and others are all better than AS5.

Cooler Master's paste they included with 212-style coolers had a great reputation but rumor has it that they changed to a cheaper paste, so I am not sure how true that is anymore. I'm sure it's still pretty decent stuff, though, even if rumors are true.

PK-1 I can vouch for as good stuff. It is a little pricey though so I would use MX-2 if I were on a budget, since MX-2 is not much worse and is much cheaper when on sale (MWave has a lot of MX-2 sales with free shipping, throughout the year). http://skinneelabs.com/2011-thermal-paste-review-comparison/
 
blastingcap, I noticed that skinneelabs and Benchmark Reviews have very different results for AS5. Yet both seem to be detailed reviews with thorough testing. As I said, I am leaning towards PK-1, thanks to your link, but I have trouble believing AS5 is that bad, considering the other link's data.
 
Revolution 11 said:
blastingcap, I noticed that skinneelabs and Benchmark Reviews have very different results for AS5. Yet both seem to be detailed reviews with thorough testing. As I said, I am leaning towards PK-1, thanks to your link, but I have trouble believing AS5 is that bad, considering the other link's data.
Click to expand...

Notice how benchmarkreviews did not even try to standardize mounting pressure or to try multiple mountings. Feel free to look up other TIM roundups beyond skinneelabs and benchmarkreviews, btw. E.g., http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/geek_tested_17_thermal_pastes_face?page=0,1

Also, I'm not saying PK-1 is the best.. in fact if I had to re-buy I'd probably get GC Extreme. Gelid GC Extreme is almost always way the heck up there in any review you can find on the web. It's very good stuff. Very pricey too unfortunately. Note that Gelid GC Extreme is also marketed as Phobya HeGrease Extreme (rebadge).

I never said AS5 is bad! Even in 2012, it is still a good paste, just not the best anymore. It is worse than MX-2 yet somehow priced more than MX-2 (maybe because of the silver content?). MX-2 is dirt cheap (like less than $1 per gram with free shipping during mwave sales). AS5 also takes many days to fully cure, something you don't have to deal with in many other pastes.

Edited to add:

See also:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/thermal-interface-roundup-1_12.html#sect0

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1148/arctic_cooling_mx_2_thermal_paste/index.html
 
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Well, I was considering price when I looked at PK-1 instead of Gelid GC Extreme or other premium TIMs. I do see your point about the mounting pressure and multiple mountings.
 
Revolution 11 said:
Well, I was considering price when I looked at PK-1 instead of Gelid GC Extreme or other premium TIMs. I do see your point about the mounting pressure and multiple mountings.
Click to expand...

Honestly if you don't mind not having the "very best" and being like 1-2C warmer than the "very best," it's very hard to beat MX-2 when it goes on sale. That's got to be one of the top TIMs when it comes to price/performance. On the other hand, TIM in general is pretty darned cheap, and spending an extra couple of bucks to get PK-1 or GC Extreme or whatever, instead of MX-2, isn't exactly a budget-breaker. Imho, it's better to overspend a little on TIM that you can re-use on a lot of future builds, than to overspend a lot on an expensive and massive heatsink that may stress your mobo over time (most mobos weren't designed to hold a kg of weight hanging off the CPU socket!) and only save you a few degrees C. And probably not even come with future-socket mounting brackets for free, though I understand some companies will mail future-socket brackets to you when those future sockets come out.
 
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I am not that concerned with price/performance, I guess. I am willing to pay a little extra for that 2C difference, just not out the nose as I would for Indigo Xtreme, for example. I am sure when I do try to build a new PC (first attempt), my case airflow will be screwed up beyond belief, so every bit of extra insurance helps.

For the OP, the comparisons on Benchmark Reviews is not as detailed as Skinneelabs's so consider the recommendations accordingly. Never used Dynex before, I would stick with the provided paste from Coolmaster if you don't want to buy a new paste.
 
Dynex is the Best Buy generic brand last time I checked. Pretty much across the board I would avoid Dynex products as you get what you pay for.

As for other TIM, doesnt AS5 have a slight capacitance to it? Nothing really detrimental, but if you accidentally get some in a DIMM you could cause an electrical short or system instability if you cant clean it all out. Other pastes outperform AS5 and are not capacitive at all, honestly unless you have a surplus of AS5 there's no reason not to spend an extra dollar or two on better paste.
 
fng01 said:
I just got my stuff and starting to put my CPU cooler on (Hyper 212).

The Hyper 212 cam with some thermal paste from Coolmaster, but I also have some old paste lefter over I bought at Best Buy. Its Dynex.

Which is better? Been using Dynex in my current build without any trouble.

Thanks.

Having a lot of fun here:
P8Z77
I7-3770K
Hyper 212
Vengance RAM 16GB
660Ti SC 3GB
Corsair 550D
Click to expand...

I have the same cooler. I just cheaped out and used the stuff that came with it. It works well enough IMO. I passed Prime95 stable for 4 hours and a weeks worth of usage/gaming with no crashes @4.5Ghz and 1.250 Vcore. Max temps on my 3570K during Prime were 65/73/68/66.

Even though it may go higher and many are running their IBs hotter than that, that's about as far as I want to go and currently am leaving it 4.3Ghz with the Vcore on auto which I like because the MB drops the voltage down to 0.9 at idle or when not heavily loaded.
 
blastingcap said:
I never said AS5 is bad! Even in 2012, it is still a good paste, just not the best anymore. It is worse than MX-2 yet somehow priced more than MX-2 (maybe because of the silver content?). MX-2 is dirt cheap (like less than $1 per gram with free shipping during mwave sales). AS5 also takes many days to fully cure, something you don't have to deal with in many other pastes.
Click to expand...

I'm of the same opinion. AS5 is not a bad TIM by any means, but it is not great either.

And since you can easily acquire better TIM for comparable, or sometimes even lower, price...why would anyone bother buying new/more AS5 at this point?

I didn't mind using up my reserves of AS5, it wasn't like I was going to throw it out. But now that it is all used up I sure as heck am not going to buy more of it when I can spend the same money buying a less finicky TIM that performs slightly better.
 
FYI mwave has 5 pack of 1.5g MX-2 for 3.99 with free shipping right now. That's 7.5g of MX-2 for $4 shipped. Use your favorite cashback site to lower the price a little more 🙂
 
blastingcap said:
AS5 is worse than MX-2 yet more expensive than MX-2. It's the default recommendation of people who are stuck in time.
Click to expand...

And stuck I am! It's nice here.

Actually, in this recent test, it come in third out of 65:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-February-2012/1490/1

I have applied it dozens of times now, always works fine.

I know it's conductive, so, I am just very careful with it.

It's always at or very near the top of thermal paste comparison charts.
Also: the tube of it I have I think will outlast me.

Now excuse me please. President John F Kennedy is speaking soon, and I want to watch on my black and white TV while I enjoy some fondue! 🙂
 
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NXIL said:
And stuck I am! It's nice here.

Actually, in this recent test, it come in third out of 65:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-February-2012/1490/1

I have applied it dozens of times now, always works fine.

I know it's conductive, so, I am just very careful with it.

It's always at or very near the top of thermal paste comparison charts.

Also: the tube of it I have I think will outlast me.

Now excuse me please. President John F Kennedy is speaking soon, and I want to watch on my black and white TV while I enjoy some fondue.
Click to expand...

Feel free to read the entirety of this thread, I love how the AS5 lovers keep citing to one site that can't even standardize its room's control temperatures and does not standardize its mounting pressures. MX-2 beats AS5 in most comparisons online. Not only at the links I already linked to earlier in this thread, but also other places like: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1148/arctic_cooling_mx_2_thermal_paste/index.html

Nobody said AS5 sucks so please don't get defensive about it. It's just outclassed in price/perf by MX-2, and in sheer performance by some of the newer TIMs out there. By all means keep using AS5 till you run out, as it is still good TIM.
 
lol hi blast! No worries! Hmm, the JFK and fondue references were an attempt at humor.....

Ah, reading what I wrote, I see how it can come across as harsh....I will add a smiley face.....sorry!

PS: I always enjoy reading your posts Blastingcap...thank you
 
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NXIL said:
lol hi blast! No worries! Hmm, the JFK and fondue references were an attempt at humor.....

Ah, reading what I wrote, I see how it can come across as harsh....I will add a smiley face.....sorry!
Click to expand...

Nah sorry if i sounded like i was dissing as5 or you. Its still a good paste so keep using it if you already have some. But 4 bucks for 7.5 grams of mx-2 is just a killer price/perf ratio... I just bought some even though i already have about 4g of pk-1 left, lol. I will use it on processors that I don't plan on ocing.
 
I used AS5 for years and I guess it worked okay but this video is what turned me off of using AS again. The stuff is thick and doesn't spread nearly as well. Perhaps over time but the 300 hour break-in or whatever they recommend is just way too long for me. I used the double line method.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXLu1Ms-q4
 
Centered rice grain method, apply lots of pressure but don't overdo it. TIM isn't as good as metal so you want as little of it in-between heat conducting metal plates as possible.

If using 212+ or 212 EVO or similar, it's okay to use a little bit to fill up the cracks first, but again, don't overdo it.
 
I have a tube of AC MX-4 and some Noctua NT-H1 and both work the same. No difference in temps good or bad for my testing.
 
1. Buy every thermal paste mentioned in this thread

2. Mix them together to create ultimate thermal paste!

3. Profit :thumbsup:
 
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