Which Thermal Paste to buy and apply (Traditional and Liquid Metal)

Testing SYY-157, FUZEIce Plus and Maxtor CTG8 today (this was really good on Saturday but it was a bit warmer).

SYY-157 first application: 71/80/72/76
SYY-157 second application with more paste: 71/77/73/75
FuzeIce Plus: 71/76/72/75
Maxtor CTG8: 72/79/73/76

SYY-157 is extremely good, however all of these three are really good. Possibly as good as TFX on my laptop but I have to double check, I mean the FuzeIce Plus performed better on core 1 than initially and now it's on TFX level or better overall. I would need to retest TFX as well but not now. I can also confirm SYY is much easier to spread than TFX and of course a lot cheaper. Consistency of FuzeIce Plus and SYY-157 is somehow similar, not much difference. From the colour both are the same.

Maxtor CTG8 seems to be a bit behind SYY and FuzeIce Plus but still interesting, Maxtor released a higher rated paste called CTG9 a few weeks ago which isn't even listed on their homepage yet. This and also Deepcool Z10 and EX750 could be interesting but they are too new, have to wait until they are really available.

Oh and by the way my package of the SYY paste looks different compared to Falkentyne.

 

Looks like that's beta packaging.
The min temperature range is the same as TFX on that one (-250C), and the w/mk is missing.

If you're bored, take a very small amount of SYY and smear it tightly on a finger (using your finger on your other hand to compress and spread it on the first finger).
It should form a coat that sticks to your finger a lot like paint and tries to remain there even when you touch it (once it's fully spread).

Do the same for FuzeIce Plus.
Do you get identical properties on your finger when doing this with these two pastes?

BTW TFX does the same thing, except it ends up as a thicker, more putty/clay type layer, rather than thin, like a paint type layer.

 

Package design and specification looks very similar to this:

http://www.halnziye.net/news/3.html

Specification could be a placeholder though, also they might have the same package supplier. They are all from Shenzhen.

 

Idk, that's weird.
My package says "Make your cooling life" exactly like the halnziye package says, although the specs (viscosity, gravity, etc) are different. Yours doesn't say that at all.

 

On a different note, I'm buying all my Thermalright paste from a seller on Amazon called 1 Happy/One enjoy, he is also the seller of FuzeIce Plus, coincidence? The paste might come all from the same factory, I wouldn't be surprised. And he also sells the HY-P13 which basically uses the same package as my SYY-157. Maybe it's the same paste, who knows.

 

I have asked a CTG9 seller, in roughly 2 weeks CTG9 paste will be available on Amazon which I will try out, makes sense then to order HY-P13 as well to check out if it's the same as SYY-157. And even if it isn't the same maybe it's a good paste who knows. Based on this test would you say it's different @Falkentyne?

 

0% chance HY-P13 is the same as SYY-157.
You can just look at it in the video and see it's a lot more fluid than SYY-157.

Also the specs of HY-P13: Viscosity @ 1rpm (Pa s): 90 (90,000 m.Pa s)
http://www.halnziye.net/product/198.html

SYY-157: 200.000 CPS (Centipoise?)(= 200,000?), assuming that's 200 mPa's
Your package shows 130-170 "pas" though. But still definitely not the same.

From looking at the video The halnizye paste looks more similar in viscosity to MX-5, possibly a bit thicker.
When I tried to spread SYY on my GTX 1070, it was nothing like that in the video. (it felt exactly like a thinner TFX that didn't stick as much to the spatula).

 

I'm pretty sure HY-P13 is the same paste as IONZ IZP14 which I have already tested, exact same specs and package. This paste was more runny like in this video, wasn't that bad but not a top performer on my laptop. Actually it performed quite good given how runny it was, a lot better than MX4. Even though G-MOTIONS GM-850 might be the better runny paste.

 

@Falkentyne and @Rooter1234 Any thermal paste which I missed in OP. I will be glad to add them.

 

From my testing and on my device the best performer for me are Thermalright TFX, FUZEIce Plus, SYY-157. And based on the good results from Deepcool G40 and Maxtor CTG8 I do believe the improved Maxtor CTG9 and Deepcool Z10/EX750 could match the best.

Interesting to note that beside Thermalright TFX all of them have been launched between H2 2020 and H1 2021, it's like a new generation of paste came into the market. They are easy to spread unlike TFX and therefore probably a better choice for heatspreader CPUs. Also some of them might be based on the same paste (FUZEIce Plus/SYY-157), just a different brand.

 

@Falkentyne can you watch the application video from Maxtor CTG9 from here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002593930333.html

Would you say the spreading viscosity is similar to SYY-157?

 

Seems like it considering how much stuck to the spatula.
Hard to tell since you can't see the pressure he's using but the way it behaved looks the same.

 

Just a little test:

Maxtor CTG8
73/80/74/77

Deepcool G40
73/80/74/77

Zalman STC9
81/93/85/90

Coolermaster MasterGel Maker
73/81/75/78

 

So I guess CTG9, FuzeIce Plus and SYY-157 are the exact same paste.
I can't stand the coolermaster gel maker nano. Even though I bought mine in (Feb 2018, it's sticky as hell when you rub it on your fingers, nothing like the properties of SYY-157 (which feels more like a less annoying TFX))

 

The Coolermaster is sticky and a lot more difficult to spread old and new tube, I can confirm. To me G40, CTG8, FuzeIce Plus, SYY-157 are really similar. Not necessarily identical, I mean there might be just a 0.5 degrees difference between CTG8 and CTG9 without any consistency change, in such a case I wouldn't be able to spot a difference despite both are not exactly the same. Same for G40 and the newer Z10/EX750. So it's hard to tell if CTG9, FuzeIce Plus and SYY-157 are the exact same, hopefully I can try out CTG9 this month. I wouldn't be surprised if ALSEYE T9+ Platinum Edition is similar as well because ALSEYE is Shenzhen located. I found that Deepcool has a factory in Shenzhen as well according to their webpage, only the headquarter is located in Beijing.

 

In late feb/early march i got my omen 15 2018 repasted with TFX... and even if the GPU runs nice and cool-ish, the CPU doesn't, maybe it got even worse than the stock crap compound. What advice would you give to a utter noob wanting to repaste it by himself with fuzeice plus? Expecially on how much compound i'll need, the only seller i found on amazon has 3.5g syringes, is one enough?

 

What CPU is this? Are you sure you evenly spread it and it's not too thin? If it's worse than the stock paste it sounds like there is not enough paste on the chip.

SYY-157 is the cheapest, you should try this. The main advantage is that it spreads really easy which is a big plus. Of course you can also try FuzeIce Plus, Maxtor CTG8, Deepccol G40.

 

regaring syy...can't find it here (italy). That's why i was set more on the fuzeice, i found it directly on amazon.it
the CPU is a i7 8750h (if needed, laptop code is dc1041nl), and currently to keep it in check i have to undervolt AND underclock it to 3 ghz. Regarding the spread, i had a shop do it, and all i can say is that a had absolutely no issue until a couple weeks ago. I could run it at 3.5 ghz with undervolt, and it'd stay under 80

 

Ok then go with FuzeIce Plus I would say. Is this the One enjoy seller? On a further note if the shop is doing the application we can never know what they did, TFX is really hard to spread or maybe they didn't spread it.

 

Yes, that's it. Bought the TFX from them too. The shop part... well it would make sense, let's be honest. That's why i want to do it myself this time, and stop gifting them money

 

Maybe they struggled with this paste who knows. Let us know about your FuzeIce Plus result. If you don't like the funky FuzeIce applicator you can use a spatula if you have, or credit card etc.

 

Wow wish I seen this thread a few days ago...I just did my first paste job and it turned into a week long trial\error experiment where 3 out of 6 cores almost got roasted...
I'm using this stuff from bestbuy Corsair XTM50,it's working good for me so I'm cool with it,just took me awhile to find that right amount to spread along with enough mounting pressure to keep everything evenly lined up..At first everything would look good after I got it mounted back on and booted up,barely seen it go past 55c at startup then settle back down in the 30c's...Then I stressed it haha and I've never seen them numbers shoot to 100c that fast,but I think I got it now.After some readjustments then a few stress tests im not seeing the uneven core temps anymore and cpu/gpu temps are definitely lower..

 

SYY 4 grams for about 6€ on US Amazon, this is such a good deal. On German Amazon there is another good deal: Xynetic CTG8 20g for only 18€. Xynetic CTG8 is a different branded Maxtor CTG8 (pretty sure, exactly same specs).

On Amazon it says SYY manufacturer: Shenzhen Tensan Co,.Ltd which I believe it is. Nuomi Chemical seems to be office based only, there is no separate factory address and nothing about a factory on their site. And this Shenzhen Tensan Co,.Ltd is huge with a daily production of 50 tons according to them, they must have a lot of customers.

 

IC diamond is the best...non metal that is

 

IC Diamond 24 was second best behind TFX earlier this year for me. The newer ones like SYY-157, FuzeIce Plus should match or slightly beat this considering that they are basically a match for TFX, possibly also Deepcool G40 and Matrox CTG8 which were close behind. I might give it a try against the newer ones. IC Diamond is a really scratchy paste when I spread it, I'm worried about my CPU and cooler. This is not something I would like to use or recommend if I can get a (cheaper) paste without this scratchy consistency. Performance is really good though.

 

About Deepcool Z10 and EX750....according to this spec sheet EX750 is the more viscous paste and therefore might be the better laptop paste between the two.

 

what are you using on liquid metal cooled 8 core intel cpu (from I9 9980HK to 10th gen 8 core with the metal trim) to prevent LM from speading inside the laptop ? iirc when I did bought a QQLS for desktop there was like a thickness between the die/metal trim and the heatsink of about one to two layer of kapton.
I believe my supposedly Noctua NT-H1 has already failed and thermal are already way up, now I wanna try the LM a friend made.

 

Just a little test.

Maxtor CTG8
80/87/81/85


SYY-157
76/83/79/82

Ambient temperature was several degrees higher than in previous tests. SYY-157 can deal with it a lot better, this paste is slightly thicker than Maxtor CTG8. I also would say Deepcool G40 is less viscous than SYY-157, so they are not the same.

 

Another SYY run with three other pastes. Ambient temperature was almost the same as earlier today. Kryonaut Extreme struggled in the last minute of my Prime95 run and really good from Noctua NT-HT2 as well with a perfect application. This is a good reference since Kryonaut Extreme and the Noctua NT-HT2 were one of the best behind Thermalright TFX in my big comparison earlier this year.

SYY-157 and FuzeIce Plus basically with the same performance once again (the 78C on core 0 from SYY-157 was a short spike, 76C from earlier today is more realistic in context to the others) . We can see from this that SYY-157 and FuzeIce Plus are really good, and they are easy to spread and much cheaper than the Thermalright TFX. I wonder how good they are on a heatspreader CPU, in theory they should have a better chance than the hard spreading TFX.

SYY-157
78/83/79/81

FuzeIce Plus
76/83/79/81

Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme
78/87/81/85

Noctua NT-HT2
76/85/79/82

 

Cryorig CP5 is also a really good notebook paste, it's slightly more viscous than FuzeIce Plus/SYY-157. (ambient temperature 2 degrees higher than on Friday in this test today)


Noctua NT-HT2
80/88/82/84

Cryorig CP5
81/87/83/84

IC Diamond 24
80/87/81/84

SYY-157
80/87/82/84

G-MOTIONS GM-850
81/91/84/85

Antec Formula X
86/93/87/90

FuzeIce Plus
80/85/82/83

 

SYY-157 vs Fuzeice Plus. Prime95 30.3 small FFT, AVX disabled
i9 9900k @ 5 ghz@ 1.30v bios set (I think), 1.25v load. Heatsink: NH-D15, 2x Silent Wings 140mm fans max RPM

First: two week old SYY-157 application
91/87/93/88/94/92/89/91 after 10 minutes. Reached 94C max core close to the end.

FuzeIce Plus (full spread):
91/88/93/90/95/93/88/92. Reached 95C after 5 minutes

FuzeIce Plus (X pattern+dots in quadrants) Attempt #2
91/88/93/89/95/92/88/91

SYY-157 (new application, X pattern + dots)
90/87/92/88/94/91/87/91

SYY-157 wins this. Thicker than FuzeIce Plus (Fuzeice feels more like Gel Maker Nano, while SYY-157 feels like an easier to spread TFX), and better temps (1C).

 

Currrently there is a really good SYY-157 deal on Amazon.de, 8g for only 7€.

2g 4€
4g 6€
8g 7€

 

If it can be of interest, it's available on amazon.it too
2g 7 €, 8g for 9 €

 

I decided to switch out the corsair with another bestbuy paste called thermaltake tg7 I believe it's called..I did the line method this time and let the heat sink spread it...So far temps are looking great,no uneven cores..TS bench/cinebench both haven't reached over 87c,and it took awhile for temps to build up that high..Where as with the corsair xtm50 I had really low idle temps but soon as the cpu was under any load,temps would immediately skyrocket to 90c+.No building up from 70's,80,s etc just streaight to the 90c's...
This time it's taking awhile for cores to even reach 80c...It's nice to not have to worry about thermals,atleast for the time being haha..

Hopefully this is the final paste job or I'll be ordering some liquid metal .Probably will order anyway jor hit up microcenter ust to see how low I can get these temps.

 

Corsair XTM50 is a watery paste which isn't the best choice for a laptop. I wonder if you could gain even more with a traditional paste like SYY-157, FuzeIce Plus, Cryorig CP5.

 

That's weird because the tube I have is actually pretty thick and I made sure it was spread on the entire die before I put the heat sink on..Still wouldn't recommend it though.
I'm definitely hitting up microcenter when I get paid this week to grab a bunch of different sized thermal pads to test out so I'll grab some quality paste or liquid metal to.

 

I am torn between TFX and SYY-157 because durability of SYY-157 in laptops is unknown.
I am going to re-paste my Asus SCAR with 3080 and don't want to re-open it within at least 6 months (because of Liquid Metal on CPU)
I think I'll choose TFX but keep post SYY-157 results after some time of usage

BTW. I think I will put TFX tube in warm (like 70*C water) cup before applying (for at least 15 minutes) and then put 2 lines (on the end and middle of chip length) and spread them like shown at this post:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...and-liquid-metal.806840/page-51#post-11092211
That was my strategy for applying CoolerMaster Maker Nano in Legion Y540 and it was working flawlessly (I was drawing only 1 line on the end!)
I'll order TFX from aliexpress.

 

Dunking TFX syringes in 70C water for like 15 minutes works extremely well.

 

Speaking of TFX, I've managed to degrade mine by 5C in 6 months of 24/7 mining, it started out at 66C now it's 71C. I'll be repasting it today.

Seems like it's not as immune to degradation as we hoped.

 

Hi Seanwee.

Were you using TFX proper or ZF-EX?

Does a paste even exist that isn't immune to degradation if you're putting it under load 24/7 for 6 months though, especially directly on a die like that, that isn't carefully applied Liquid Metal?
Also do you know if the paste would have stabilized or the temps would have kept getting worse?

TFX lasted for a year without a temp change on my 10900k, but I sure wasn't running Prime95 24/7. Just short 15-30 minute FMA3 tests and some 30 minute runs of Realbench 2.56 (averaging 86C) which I did pretty often.

On desktops, one key to look for in degrading paste are core temp delta spread (with stabilized ambients). If your core temp delta remains constant then most likely the paste is stable.
I think on Ampere video cards, you can look at the core to core hotspot delta in HWinfo64 or GPU-Z to see if that delta increases over time or not. Unfortunately on Pascal, that's an fixed value so it's useless. Not sure about Turing.

 

Its TFX.

Never checked the gpu average/hotspot delta but I have TFX on two machines, one is a 1660ti zephyrus G and it has not degraded yet after 6 months, it goes through two-three heating-cooling cycles from gaming every day.

Also liquid metal tends to shift over time and pool and dry in some areas causing hotspot thermal throttling after 3-6 months on large gpu dies like on my 2080 so I switched to paste.

 

I just ordered one of these.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B092YNNG5Q/

 

I wonder if this is a good laptop paste, it's from Greece and available on Amazon.

https://www.facebook.com/computersystemsgr/posts/1656280694562900

I will try it out in late July or early August when I'm two weeks off from work. The few other potentially good laptop pastes left are unavailable such as ALSEYE T9+ Platinum, Deepcool EX750, Maxtor CTG9 or I would have to rely on aliexpress or the likes which I don't like.

 

This looks suspiciously like the TFX / SYY-157 family of pastes. (TFX and ZF-EX stand out due to their almost rubbery consistency). I'd like to see this but I'm not spending any more money on pastes.
Meanwhile you and @seanwee should try this.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092YNNG5Q

The key is to make sure it's 0.2-0.3mm thickness, not 0.15mm.
I ordered one but I don't expect great results.

https://hardforum.com/threads/arctic-mx-5-vs-indium-foil-diy-thermal-pad.2011670/

 

Nice, i bought the 8g for 7 Euros, i will try it with my next repaste

 

I also bought 2x4g last week because it's so cheap. The package from this purchase differs from my first SYY purchase, it's the same package from Falkentyne, the label from the tube differs as well.

 

Do you have air conditioner? You sure the increase isnt due to the weather?

 

I'm 100% sure TFX doesn't "degrade" like something awful like MX-4, in that it doesn't separate.
It turns extremely dry and very putty/clay like, which is it settling, but it doesn't turn into soup like MX-4.
It would be much easier to see if it were on a CPU, so you can see the individual die temps.
On an Ampere video card, this gets tricky because ampere dies are known to be even more convex than CPU's. I already had Kryonaut Extreme degrade by 5C in one week on an Ampere due to too stiff thermal pads. But I have no temp to hotspot delta information as this was before that was available.

@seanwee would need to continue testing to see if the temps stop changing, OR if the temps get worse than stock paste (which he may not have results from) but such patience is beyond mere mortals.

 

Yes i have receveid the same one as you

 

Yeah tested in a 24C room

I've already repasted with TFX lol