Absolute best Thermal Compound

So guys, whats the absolute best non conductive thermal compound?

I am using MX 4 and Coolermaster High Performance thermal compound, since I'm getting them for a good price, but sometimes I simply want to reduce the temps even further, now obviously Liquid metal is the way to go, but I can't just go ahead and apply liquid metal into other peoples notebook, since that does require some monitoring and maintance which most of the people don't do.

As far as I could gather so far Kryonaut is up there, are the any other Thermal compounds which are at the same level or maybe even better?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...nd-apply-traditional-and-liquid-metal.806840/
Follow this guide. I use CM Maker Gel nano which is budget friendly and very good paste. Phobya Nanogrease is absolute best.

 

I've been using Geil extreme and I have been satisfied

 

You have to be careful. Some pastes are great but boil out quickly meaing constant reapplication. Some you can put in and years later are as good as the first day.

 

Yeah I noticed this as well, the coolmaster thermal compound I'm using has a VERY long lifetime, while the MX4 has a long lietime as well, but does after around 1.5-2 years start to wear off.

From what I can read from your post these are pretty good:

1. TG Kyronaut 12.5 W/mK
2. Phobya NanoGrease Extreme 16 W/mK { Thanks to @Mr. Fox }
   
3. Gelid Extreme 8.5 W/mK
4. Prolimatech PK3: 11.2 W/mK
5. Cooler Master MasterGel Maker Nano: 11 W/mK

Now my question is, how big is the difference between the gelid extreme and lets say the phobya one?

You seem to have done quite some research on them.

 

I vote Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. The best I ever used, and budget-friendly.

 

For laptops the thicker pastes are a good idea, since often the heat sink is not perfectly flush with the chip.

 

Although I never had an issue it is said ICD 24 can scratch a CPU without careful removal. Maybe this grittiness is why it also does not simply boil out. With my new 1950x and Enermax I will get with it the thermal grizzly so I will get to try that out.

 

I've yet to use it in a build myself, but this is Kryonaut is the one that keeps coming up in every thread, so will probably be what I go with when next I need some.

 

Why do you only offer ICD as a thermal paste upgrade?

 

We're branching out slowly, CoolLaboratory Liquid Ultra is offered on some builds (though that's a LM) and if I like Kryonaut enough in my own rigs, I'll probably start pushing that one.

 

Are you considering looking into Conductonaut as well?

 

All is good. The main difference between Phobya NanoGrease Extreme vs. Gelid Extreme as well some other brands paste ... Phobya is a bit thicker and can handle uneven Heatsink better. As you known often is a problem for laptop heatsink. Gelid is softer and with less viscosity. Will probably pump out faster if heatsink is a bit uneven. People should look more at thermal paste lifespan and how good the paste work on trashy heatsink. They often forget this.

 

Please post repaste and thermal results of TR chip, I'm excited to see it.

Isn't ICD paste made by 3M as said by ICD company rep? Most OEMs don't bother with spreading the paste, so ICD is a wise choice put a blob of paste and screw in the heatsink and you're done. No need to waste time in sanding the heatsink.

 

Also a pretty commonly referenced one, I'll bring it up next opportunity I have.

 

Conductonaut is the best of the best now. I love that stuff. I won't use CLU any more. They changed something in the composition for some weird reason and now it's not very good... but, it used to be the best.

I am totally sold on the Phobya Nanogrease Extreme now. I think it is the only non-metal paste I am going to buy from now on.

I just got a new 7700K for the 16L13 and delidded it. I put Phobya on it because I am planning on taking it apart again soon, and I am shocked that the temps are so good. I have Conductonaut under the IHS and Phobya on top. I did not have a spare Bitspower IHS, so I lapped a stock one from one of my other 7700K CPUs.

In this example I am not even setting the little beast on a cooler. My daily driver clock speed for web browsing, email and playing games is 4.7GHz, and as you can see, the Phobya NanoGrease Extreme is doing a sweet job.

 

The Resellers could take a extra look on Phobya NanoGrease Extreme as a viable option for classic thermal paste. Higher viscosity than Kryonaut (more like ICD in viscosity than many other paste out there) and with good quality. People don't understand why the resellers use ICD. @Donald@HIDevolution @Tanner@XoticPC A paste like ICD is a guarantee if heatsink is not 100%. All know laptops often have not very good heatsink(uneven fit on die /IHS). Why use all to thin thermal paste then? And RMA costs money!! ICD helps keeping RMA cost down!! How difficult must it bee?

 

I agree... they should look into it. It's an excellent product.

 

Added Phobya Nanogrease Extreme to my list as well, thanks.

 

Isn't that heavy on your lap? I can barely handle the BGA laptop on my lap, but I can handle a mid tower PC on my lap, somethings off, maybe my body is slowly succumbing to Heavy Side, I mean LGA.

 

It's a couple years old, but this is one of the best reviews of thermal material options I've run into:

http://overclocking.guide/thermal-p...ted-with-air-cooling-and-liquid-nitrogen-ln2/

For general use, I use Arctic Cooling MX-4 for its $/cooling value. For personal use and any overclocking I currently have the Gelid GC-Extreme because it's the 2nd best after Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut but more affordable.

 

No, not really. But, I am used to it. I use the P870DM3 in my lap like that all the time, and normally with a modded U3 under it on that lap desk. I don't consider about 14 pounds sitting in my lap to be a big deal. That's not heavy to me at all. The P870DM3 easily weighs twice what the 16L13 does and that doesn't bother me in the least. I have been traveling extensively over the years with huge machines in a backpack and using monsterbooks much larger and heavier than the 16L13 in my lap since around 2007... XPS M1730, M17xR2, M18xR1, M18xR2, Alienware 18, P570WM and P870DM-G before the P870DM3. I actually love the size and weight and it took me about 6 months to not be disoriented by the smallness and lightness of the 16L13. It still doesn't feel right because it is extremely lightweight in comparison, but it's no longer a disturbing feeling to me like it was in the beginning.

 

Kryonaut outperformed phobya nanogrease?
Even Gelid did

I guess this is the result of what papusan said.

 

People still DON'T UNDERSTAND!! Don't rely on tests done on test bench or the better cooling in desktops!! Can't use the results 100% for laptops with a hell lot worse heatsink and low pressure on die/IHS.

 

Yes, and it varies by laptop as well. Brand, model, production QC, all can change the results. The best paste is the one that works best for each situation. There is no silver bullet solution. Every person needs to test and find the best for their own product. You can use results from reviews to identify the products that should be ignored, but when you get down to the top 5 or top 10 with only a few degrees difference you need to try those products because one might work great and one may be junk on a laptop.

Very similar to overclocking settings. Sometimes overclock settings work fine on multiple systems, but they never work the same on all even if the machines are identical.

 

When having a rather bad heatsink fit on a notebook, which thermal compounds would you recommend?

 

ICD 24, I have used that in place of heat pads.

 

So I did some reading and I'll give Proliamtech PK3 a try. Apparently this paste is made for bad heatsink fits, since its has some particles that actually do fill in in airgaps and conduct heat even tho the heatsink isn't perfectly on the die.

 

Good luck. I hope it works well. Have you looked into purchasing a new heatsink for it or is the defect in the CPU? New heat sinks are often not that expensive.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

It's just the casual GPU P15x/P17x heatsinks, they are really meh. They simply use a flat copper surface and that's it, which is kinda bad considering that the GPU is surrouned by a metal frame, it basicially also touches the metal frame sometimes preventing it from completely touching the die. Not only that but the way it's mounted is also very suboptimal.

You can read about it here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ems-neglected-by-clevo-solutions-here.676272/

The CPU heatsink is completely fine, it touches the die perfecly, the GPU heatsink is a mess tho.

 

If the fit is hideously poor, nothing but IC Diamond is going to work. I would recommend trying the Phobya NanoGrease Extreme first. It cools better than IC Diamond.

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For those that are still procrastinating about delidding their desktop CPU, here's a video I just uploaded today. Of course, liquid metal is the only right thing to use under the IHS no matter what you preferences might be for the top of the IHS. I have this procedure buried among other content in several videos already, but I made this quick video showing how to use the delid tool and re-lid attachment since I got another 7700K CPU a couple of weeks ago.

 

I am pretty sure the fit could go as hideously poor. So my best option is IC diamond? It's better than the TK3 which claims to do something about the small airgaps?

 

I don't know about TK3. You'd have to try it and see. I've never seen anything plug gaps as well as IC Diamond. That stuff is amazing in conditions where everything else fails.

Heat sink fit is extremely important and it's a shame that most notebook manufacturers do such a half-assed job at it. When heat sink fit is excellent, even comparatively crappy thermal pastes can do a fairly decent job. That's why we see such smaller differences between thermal pastes when desktops are used for testing.

 

According to the TK3 site:

This would suggest that it basicially fills in the gaps like IC diamond, only that the pk3 has a better thermal conductivity (4.5 ICD vs 11.4PK3).

 

The only way to know for sure is to try it. Hopefully, they're not blowing smoke up our butts. Almost every thermal paste (especially those that totally suck) is over-hyped and marketed as if it is God's gift to PC lovers. Sometimes the claims are true, and sometimes they're not, particularly for laptop owners. I've become very skeptical after flushing hundreds of dollars down the toilet over the years testing worthless thermal pastes (including very popular and well-recognized brand names) that were presented as if they had magical cooling powers. If you're going to try it, I look forward to seeing the outcome. Please share it here with us... good or bad.

 

Will do, it will be sta0rt of next month tho. I've never really heard of the PK3 thermal compound, so I'm interested to see how it goes. I've heard about gelid, kryonaut and all the others, but never seen the PK3. I'm probably doing some risky stuff here =D

 

I'm sure you have read several places...Warm up the thermal paste first before the application (will help on the thicker past variants). PK-3

 

Hope I didn't sound like I think I'm an expert in any of this... most of my experience is just building desktops and repairing a few laptops, but that article I quoted was useful to me and seemed relevant. But the comments in this thread have been very educational. Want to thank everybody for their contributions... really good info.

I recently came into possession of a half dozen 1st generation HP z400 workstations (definitely not notebooks) which have water coolers built in and one Dell Precision T5500 workstation which had a lousy aluminum block for a CPU heatsink... now replaced with the copper plate/heat tube/aluminum fin assembly that was the optional better cooler. I used MX4 on the Dell, but this thread got me thinking that I really need to remove the water coolers and reinstall with new thermal compound for better operation... and take the chance to swap the Xeon W3520 with a Xeon X5650, too. Already replaced a Xeon E5503 in the Dell with the X5650. Needs more airflow.

Maybe I'll even try that delidding thing..... that'd be a new thing for me.

Good comment earlier about insufficient pressure on heatsink to die contact... sometimes true even in desktops, at least in OEM coolers.

 

Be sure and verify which CPU's are deliddable and which ones have soldered on IHS's

 

All posts are appreciated +rep

As well Delidding a Xeon X5690 with only a Vice (video)

 

I wouldn't try it on any CPU you care about, but if you're feeling adventurous, it is possible to delid a soldered IHS and have the CPU remain functional. Linus has done it, and will be trying again.

 

I was reading that people were already delidding Ryzen chips at least.

 

Good point. thankfully an X5650 is <$20 now on Ebay, but still, why ruin a perfectly good CPU... I have lots of old C2D to practice on if I want. And I have the worthless E5503 Xeon that I already replaced with a X5650. Then I'll have to reread this thread for LM options that are affordable for the learning curve...

 

Hey Tanner that would be interesting to read about delidding of Ryzen chips. Do you remember where you saw that thread?

 

The followup video:

AMD Ryzen Direct Die Cooling - Improvements?

 

this is awesome thanks guys. Time to nerd out on this ^^

 

i'm using mixture of ICD24, TG Kyronaut, and Phobya NanoGrease Extreme. i tested many brand and it seems any single one can't keep performance after three days, so i tried to use the mixture of them.

 

Fix the Heatsink Nothing will last if HS coldplate is warped/uneven. Or thermal pads is too thick.

 

no thermal pad and coldplate is neither warped nor uneven. it's original M17x R3(i have three of this R3 in my system) with coldplate in perfect shape.