Replacing the thermal paste for CPU and GPU, what is best?

I know there are always advances in thermal pastes and as of the time I am writing this post, what is the best stuff?

I heard that Diamond has a good rep and good product, but I have seem some of those graphite thermal compounds also.

So what is the really good stuff right now and also, what is the best way to clean the old factory thermal compound off.

 

For my desktop rig, I used the Gelid GC extreme

 

Hello I recently did my first repasting. I used the Gelid GC extreme on my p170sma. It worked very well! To remove the old paste I unplugged and removed the battery pressing the power button to discharge, then used a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol on both the GPU and CPU. Be patient and it will eventually come off. http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/thermal-compound-charts/-5-CPU-Air-Cooling-Low-Pressure,3365.html

I used the above to make my final decision.

 

>> So what is the really good stuff right now
Honestly, it doesn't matter. Name-brand thermal pastes all perform within a margin of error to each other. Even on the most extreme desktop OC'ing scenarios, you're looking at maybe a 4C temperature difference between the name-brand pastes.

Given a laptop scenario, you're never going to be able to tell the difference between one name brand paste vs. another name-brand paste outside of specifically running Prime95 benchmarks and monitoring temps. Day-to-day use (even gaming), you're not going to be able tell the difference.

So if you have some name-brand stuff lying around, use it (if it is still "fresh"). If you are buying something new, then I wouldn't worry too much about Brand-X vs Brand-Y.


>> and also, what is the best way to clean the old factory thermal compound off.
90% isopropyl alcohol on a lint-free cloth is "the best".
Regular 70% isopropyl alcohol on a paper towel, followed by a blast of air (from compressed air or just using your mouth to blow) is "good enough."

You're not dealing with extreme overclocking, so you don't need to go nuts on perfect discipline when it comes to thermal paste for laptops.

 

I've been seeing Gelid GC Extreme recommended quite often lately. Is it really worth the $15~ for it over IC Diamond? I can get two tubes of IC Diamond for that price. Never used GC myself. For twice the cost, you should get greater durability, and at minimum 5C lower temps than ICD.

 

The two tubes don't bring you further than 0.5g of the more expensive paste. Unless you are re-pasting machines on a daily basis, the smallest tube would serve you for years/until the
paste expires.

 

Yep. I have an old 3.5g tube of Arctic Silver 5 here. Says it will cover 16 square inches at 0.003" thickness. That's about 15 typical paste jobs.

 

CPU Wise, Liquid Ultra is the best choice... GPU wise, gelid GC Extreme is recommended... Gelid can be used for both so get that... it's pretty good

 

I see people freely suggesting Liquid Ultra. Really this should only be used by experienced users and techs because of the risk of shorting your system since the paste is electrically conductive and capacitive. But GC Extreme or IC Diamond are both great options and are electrically neutral and not capacitive.

 

Yeah, agreed with HT. If you're new to re-pasting, don't try Liquid Ultra first... Buy some ICD and learn how to do it properly. A lot of complaints regarding Liquid Ultra are due to its difficulty being removed.

 

Indeed, forgot to point this out.. Something like Gelid GC Extreme might be a better choice then ICD as it won't cause damage when removing unlike IC where there is a chance of doing so..

 

Weird, I had liquid ultra on a m18x r2 for over 9 months going at 100% at 4.4ghz 24/7 running Boinc. When I pieced it out to sell it, the liquid ultra in the processor just came off like a paste. I didnt have to sand it off. I dont know why people say that its hard to come off when I was running at 100% for months. I got it off using a paper towel from the kitchen.

When ever I see people say or post videos on the hardness of taking it off, I know they are lying.

 

Well I think it's just the fact that you were running your system so hard 24/7 for so long that made the liquid ultra dry out... I'm surprised your M18x R2 didn't die doing this 24/7 for so long..

 

hmmm it never dried out. It kept the change temps from the 1st day I applied it.

I dont mind running a laptop that hard for so long. The temps never went over 92C, usually in the 87-90C range. I had the triple pipe heat sink in that laptop. I cant say that with a haswell processor. I cant even do over 3.5ghz without throttling down.

 

IC Diamond is a nice thermal interface, although might be hard to spread\apply esp. for the first time, when you deal with it.))
Gelid Extreme in my experience tends to dry out quite fast (less than a year),
So I would recommend Shin-Etsu X23-7783

 

Shin Etsu isn't know for making excellent pastes... I rather have the GC Extreme paste which dries out in a year then Shin Etsu...

 

For long term, IC diamond is best for "set it and forget it". It just keeps going. Had some on my sister's laptop for three years and temps still same as day 1. I only just replaced it because I had to disassemble her laptop for some other issues.

Otherwise if you plan on replacing it regularly (i.e. 1 or 2 times a year) GC Extreme is a great option.