What's the best thermal grease these days?

[Ken90630]

Hey, Guys,

I haven't had my head in the CPU cooling game for awhile (more than a year, I'd say), and I'm wondering what the consensus is now (if there is one) on what the best thermal grease is.

Arctic Silver 5? Ceramique? Alumina? Shin-Etsu (what #)? Cooler Master HTK?

What's the best and why? Any probs to be aware of with any of them? Any precautions to take?

If it matters, this would apply to AMD Socket A, Socket 939 A64, and maybe Intel Core Duo and or AMD AM2 chips (none overclocked). Heatsinks would be Thermalright and Alpha, and/or maybe a new one in the near future. I'm thinking about upgrading and/or switching some components around in my two machines one of these days, and I figure it wouldn't hurt to replace the thermal grease on my CPUs while I'm at it.

TIA

 

[Atty]

If I recall correctly someone posted a test of all the current Thermal paste types and showed a clear winner. Lemme see if I can find it, or you can search for it.

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: iAtticus
If I recall correctly someone posted a test of all the current Thermal paste types and showed a clear winner. Lemme see if I can find it, or you can search for it.

That would be awesome. I actually Googled "thermal grease comparison" and "thermal grease shootout," and lots of sites came up, but they were all articles done in 2003 or before. So I decided to start this thread, thinking you guys might know what the current best pastes are.

 

[graysky]

Yeah, I remember reading that as well. As I recall, Shin-Etsu X?? was the winner but you have to take what you read on the 'net with a grain of salt. The data is only as good as the person/people collecting it. I think you're probably fine with AS5 and that's speaking from experience. I have an Athlon 3200+ XP overclocked a little (450 MHz FSB or 225 double pumped) that doesn't exceed 55C. I've been using AS5 and it's been so long I can't remember which HS I'm using! Anyway, you probably can't go wrong either of them.

 

[Atty]

Yeah, I tested my AS5 vs the Zalman stock grease and got a noticeable difference. Even left it on for a few weeks to confirm my test. I'd say you're safe with AS5 and I'll keep looking for that thread, I swore I saw it.

 

[Ken90630]

So AS5 doesn't harden over time and need to be cleaned off & re-applied? I'm looking for something I can leave on for a few years if necessary and not have to reapply.

Sorry for the dumb question as I'm sure this has been discussed before. I've just been out of the loop for awhile when it comes to thermal grease & CPU cooling.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Shin Etsu X2-7783D is "the best". Arctic Silver Ceramique is second best. It can be a little hard to see the difference between Ceramique and X23, but if you look at the last three graphs in the post below, it makes more sense:

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware...-Interface-Shootout-ftopict221751.html

If anyone sells it, you could always look for bulk diamond thermal paste which may be better than X23:

http://www.overclockers.com/articles1389/

 

[thilanliyan]

Arctic Cooling MX-1 is pretty good too. I just switched to it from my AS5 and it is cooler by 1-2 celcius, and it hasn't even cured yet.

 

[VinDSL]

AC MX-1 FTW!!!

 

[DrMrLordX]

MX-1 = Shin Etsu G-751 or 761 (not sure which).

Generally held to be a bit worse than X23, though G-751/761 is supposedly useful on relatively rough (i.e. non-lapped, not machined well) surfaces.

Still good stuff overall if you're comfortable working with it.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: DrMrLordX
MX-1 = Shin Etsu G-751 or 761 (not sure which).

Generally held to be a bit worse than X23, though G-751/761 is supposedly useful on relatively rough (i.e. non-lapped, not machined well) surfaces.

Still good stuff overall if you're comfortable working with it.

OMG!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Thought I was the only geek that knew about this -- always gotta defend that statement!

Yes, AC MX-1 = Shin Etsu G-751

And, yes, X23 is easier to spread on lapped/polished surfaces... especially if you're not used to applying MX-1/G-751.

 

[VinDSL]

I've been pushing AC MX-1 on the boards since last year.

Here's yet another reason why:

Thermal Compound show-down. And the winner is...

I agree 100% with this author's list, however...

If you'll notice, at the bottom of the post, you'll see:

Great Thermal Compound
Apus TMG 301 52.5
Gigabyte 52.5
Titan Nano Grease TTG-G30010 52.5
GFC-M1 D90T8-010 52.5
Shin-Etsu MicroSi G-751 52

Best Thermal Compound
Arctic Cooling MX-1 51.5
Shin-Etsu MicroSi MPU-3.7 50.5
Coollaboratory Liquid Pro 50

LoL!

I guess the author doesn't realize AC MX-1 = Shin-Etsu G-751, e.g. AC MX-1 is simply branded/repackaged Shin-Etsu G-751.

Anyway, good read!

 

[graysky]

Originally posted by: Ken90630
So AS5 doesn't harden over time and need to be cleaned off & re-applied? I'm looking for something I can leave on for a few years if necessary and not have to reapply.

I've had AS5 on this machine (Barton Core 3200+) since June of 2004 and it is still as good as it ever was. Don't believe all the "the best paste is..." threads you read.

I don't want to start a flame war in this thread nor do I want to put down anyone/piss on anyone's work, but I didn't see any error bars on the data in DaSickNinja's thread. You can safely assume that a temp spread of 1-2 C is probably within-error of the measurements.

Unless the testers are using some sort of ventilated enclosure to do their temperature measurements and recording the ambient temps along with their CPU temps, a difference of 1-2 C is probably within the error of their measurements. In other words, if they ran each test 3 or 4 times, how tight would the data be? There are also errors associated with the thermal probes generating the readings, etc.

Another factor to consider is the so-called break in period. AS5 for example, has a several week break in period before it reaches a max. heat transfer potential according to the manufacturer; I dunno if DaSickNinja allowed each sample to sit for that period of time before running the experiment. Also, if you over apply any paste, it looses heat transfer efficiency and would therefor give a higher temp. (that's speaking from experience).

 

[idiotekniQues]

shin-etsu is what i have read to be the best.

i have one on its way to me now that i ordered last week to test the hype with.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: VinDSL

OMG!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Thought I was the only geek that knew about this -- always gotta defend that statement!

Yes, AC MX-1 = Shin Etsu G-751

Heh, you're welcome. By the by, do you have any experience with G-761? It's supposed to be better than G-751, though by how much, I do not know.

 

[Antikristuseke]

The best i have used is the coollabs liquid pro stuff and thats the compound im using now nad plan to use in the future, but id still say AS5 is a safe bet and the zalman stuff is great aswell, but other than that i dont have personal experience iwth other thermal compounds.

 

[The-Noid]

I like the Zalman paste it is easy to apply like nail polish.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Yoxxy
I like the Zalman paste it is easy to apply like nail polish.

How do you know how easy nail polish is to apply, Yoxxy?:laugh:

 

[adairusmc]

We have some of the zalman stuff at work, I think I am gonna give it a try on my new core2duo. I just used the plain white stuff that came with my CNPS9500, and hopefully I can shave a couple of degrees on the idle and load temps.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: Yoxxy
I like the Zalman paste it is easy to apply like nail polish.

The little brush is dead handy, really easy.

I use Artic Silver but really as long as you use something decent, usually other than the generic stuff, you should be fine.

 

[TurtleBlue]

I used that Zalman's nail polish that came with my new Zalman CNPS9700LED and found it quite easier to apply than Arctic Silver's I have applied in the past.

Am setting up a budget box using a DOA Athlon 1.0ghz Thunderbird that I built for my nephew some years ago. Reusing the Inwin 500 Miditower, floppy, a Plextor 716 burner I had laying around, an Antec 20 pin power supply, Windows XP O/S and a round Primary/Secondary IDE cable.

New budget items to complete the build:
Zalman CNPS9700LED
ASRock AM2NF6g-VSTA mobo
AMD 1.9ghz brisbane AM2 cpu
Seagate 80 gig Sata2 perpendicular drive
and a Crucial Ballistix DDR2 PC2-6400 1gig kit (512MBx2) {Still waiting for this since UPS tried 1st attempt yesterday - :evil: }

And yes, myocardia i do know how easy it is to apply nail polish (tho it must have been in some drug-induced haze

BTW, after locking down the Zalman onto the mobo the cooler will slightly move if i give it a good twist - hope I didn't put on too much nail polish, tho I followed the video instructions as depicted on Zalman's web site - will post a followup after starting up this beast.

 

[adairusmc]

I just applied some of the Zalman stuff tonight, and my idle temps dropped 10C over the plain white stuff I was using, on my e6600. I am gonna load the cores a little later and see what the load temps are.

The other stuff was just the plain stuff that came with the Zalman CNPS9500 cooler I bought for this system.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: DrMrLordX
...do you have any experience with G-761? It's supposed to be better than G-751...

Never heard of G-761...

 

[DrMrLordX]

woops, its G-765:

http://www.silicone.jp/e/products/oil/grease.shtml

and G-751 would be better than that stuff, at least according to their own chart

 

[KMKTEXAN]

Does anyone know if AS Ceramique has an expiration date? I have some at home that I bought 2 years ago and was wondering if I should use it on a new build or buy some more?