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

Close but not quite actually.
The problem is with heatsinks that don't fit well and have very low pressure, combined with warped heatsinks (convex, etc).
What happens is, if you have a core temp difference more than 2C, at low watts (like, less than 50 watts), then there is a pressure imbalance on the cores, and since Liquid Metal is so thin, this difference is obvious. Although with regular paste, in most cases it will be even higher!
But with the lower pressure on the hotter cores, the paste will "oxidize" and be absorbed more and thus harden, because there is insufficient pressure, and then you get 'runaway cores' basically.

On a well fitted heatsink, there will be some oxidation, but LM will still remain liquid on the core, and the hardening of the part coated on the heatsink will not hurt the temps (in some cases it can improve by a grade, as it did for @judal57 .

In 1 year, he had no degradation on his laptop.

tl;dr: sand down your heatsinks to make them perfectly flat, then apply a generous layer of LM (its better to apply a little too much than too little, so that some can be absorbed by the copper and still remain on the chip), and make sure you 1) apply a full even layer, 2) press down EVENLY on the heatsink firmly and keep firm even pressure while screwing down (this prevents LM from moving and collecting on one side when screwing down heatsinks) and then do small turns in criss cross pattern while still pressing down.

If you get your core temps to 2C delta or less (1C is pretty much perfect) and after moving the laptop around for a few days, you keep 1-2C and it doesnt get worse, it should last for months or longer.

 

Well I didn't sand my heatsink, nor did I apply a lot of pressure, nor did I press down evenly on the heatsink, nor did I keep firm pressure while screwing down, nor do small turns in a criss cross pattern whilst still pressing down. That's my issue.

It may also be I applied the bare minimum to cover the core. Eek. IIRC there were some mirrorish parts but not much.

Not sure what you mean by 'low watts' but for me limiting the CPU power consumption to 15W results in core temperatures within 2-3C of each other. On idle they are all the same. It's only when I double the wattage output my heatsink was rated for that the differences become more noticeable. I expect by the 90s I'll have Cores 0 and 2 at 99C and 1 and 3 at 90C.

But who runs Prime95 24/7 anyway. The load is so unrealistic on my laptop and my use cases.

I'll try to do it in the next few weeks, but as long as the temperatures don't shoot up uncontrollably I can live.

 

Run Cinebench R15 3-4 times with max clocks in a row and follow core temp difference. If it’s ok let it be as it is. If you regularly run AVX load just test 10-20 min with Stress FPU in Aida64. You normally don’t tax your system harder than this anyway.

 

Lol I bought this for giggles

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/282812329810

I already have a 60g tube of supposedly silicone adhesive, but the adhesion is really strong. I have a 2000s Pentium D cooler stuck directly (with no mounting or anything) onto a C2D E7400, and it works fine. Last time I tried to get it off I ahd to use a screwdriver and force it under the cooler. I accidently snapped a capacitor off the motherboard, but at least I have a soldering iron

Though I am curious as to the thermal performance of both, I'm going to use it on my previous Aspire V Nitro. Now to wait 1 month for Chinese shipping. In the meanwhile would my logic work? The current adhesive forms a strong bond between any surfaces, so I presume I'm not going to experience pump out...

 

Have been testing Nanogrease extreme past month.

I used IC diamond 7 in the past almost exclusively, went to Kryonaut after, but because Kryonaut tends to degrade fairly fast I chose based on recommendation from a lot of users here to use Nanogrease extreme. I also have mastergel maker nano laying around but after testing I found out that initially the temps where 2c worse than Nanogrease. Anyway going to repad my system this week to fix the possible core temp difference, probably will use Mastergel instead. Nanogrease is just **** in my opinion. Worst degradation out of all paste that I tested.

Well that the viscosity is higher would make you think it doesnt pump out. Well actually it does, it does more quickly than Kryonaut. My core temp differential is 9c/10c now. Because slowly the 2 hottest cores are drying the paste out. My usual pattern just after repasting was under full load with GPU in use 81c, 82c, 79c, 78c all in all decent temperatures.

Now they are 84c, 89c, 79c, 79c.granted this is with a 24c room vs 22c room in the Netherlands. But that wouldnt cause the sudden enormous temperature core difference.

 

so wait, lemme get this straight: mastergel maker nano is 2C worse than nanogrease. but nanogrease pumps out much faster than kryonaut? so basically both suck?

 

Well kryonaut did better than nanogrease in my experience. Mastergel is very stable just slightly higher temps. So yeah pick your poison haha. But going to repad my system for vetter heatsink oressure. Hopefully that helps.

 

Did you test Kryonaut and nanogrease after lapping the heatsink?

 

What are some thermal pastes that have good longevity and are able to survive in low mounting pressure heatsink?

 

IC diamond,Cooler master maker gel, gelid extreme, phobya.
If using Kryonaut make sure,the heatsink has proper contact and isn't warped in any way. Failing that, the temps will be worse than stock OEM paste.

 

Would Noctua h1-t1 still be on that list of recommended TIM's?? Well that's what I'm using on my laptop i7 7700HQ and gtx 1070.

 

Yes you can. If you do find other paste with similar price I'd recommend to get them. At the max. you'll see 2C-3C difference between each other.
If you use spread method then I guess you'll notice no difference at all. You can check Coolermaster's website or this image here:

Follow spread method on most pastes incl. Notcua too.

 

TG Kyronaut: 12.5 W/mK
Gelid Extreme: 8.5 W/mK
Phobya NanoGrease Extreme: 16 W/mK

Can this apply for laptop, and with heatsink like this?

Code:

https://youtu.be/ht_ppe5WngM?t=3m53s

 

Yes, no problem

 

Tkvm, will buy Gelid GC Extreme, hope its dry out slowly, 2-3 years like MX-2.

 

It will last as it doesnt bleed out. Very good paste. I'm getting mid 70's and early 80's while gaming, highly recommended.

 

Thermalright TF8 claims to have 13.8 W/mK. 2 grams cost $7.22 and 5.8 grams cost $18.81. Right now it's only released in Asia but people say that it's better than Kyronaut.

 

Wow, I've been a fan of ThermalRight forever, and I didn't know they had a new paste, thanks for the heads up and posting info.

I also like the spreader that comes with the package:
http://thermalright.com/product/tf8-thermal-paste-5-8g/
http://thermalright.com/product/tf8-thermal-paste-2g/

Has anyone here tried ThermalRight TF8 yet?

 

From the images it looks like Coolermaster MasterGel Maker with a little refined paste and temps will be 1-2C cooler at best case.

 

It may last longer than Kyronaut. I wonder if its a thicker paste ideal for flimsy laptop heatsinks and longevity?

 

There's Thermalright TFX with 14.3W/mK, 2 grams cost $10.87. I'm plaining to test TF8 ($7.17 for 2 grams tube) but I have to find bigger copper shim as I have uneven heatsink and copper shim helps me fix that problem.

 

Please keep us all updated on how the Thermalright TF8 performs against Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut

 

I only have Mastergel Nano now so I will compare with it instead.
Placed an order and it will arrive in next 1-2 days.

 

Here are two tests from chinese forum chiphell.
https://www.chiphell.com/thread-1892412-1-1.html
https://www.chiphell.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1884137&page=4#pid39813068

These two are tests including Shin-Etsu 7921. People claims that the TF series (TF3,6,8) are based on 7921. The problem is that it is difficult to find genuine 7921.
https://www.chiphell.com/portal.php?mod=view&aid=19813&page=31 (This one is done by the owner of the forum.)
https://www.chiphell.com/thread-1892412-1-1.html

I have TF8 on my desk but I don't have time to do any repaste. Also my 6700HQ+1060 laptop isn't the best platform to test TIM.

 

I got the TF8 yesterday but don't have time to do any repaste due to final exams and projects in the next 4 days. After that I will repaste and test the paste.

 

Look forward to seeing better temps with TF8 hopefully. Thanks

 

I repasted with TF8 and saw no major difference between this paste and Cooler Mastergel Nano. May be 1-2*C difference.
This paste is much thicker compare to Nano.

 

interesting, looks almost like ICD, especially if its viscous.

 

TF X is not listed on the official website but it is for sale in official store. From the review it is indeed better than TF8 but I don't think it's worth the premium.

 

This is on GPU. There won't be the big differences used on Gpu. But what with the Cpu?

 

The pic was just show how thick the paste is.
There's not much difference between these 2 pastes when apply to cpu. Only 1-2°C cooler on cpu with TF8 and same temp on gpu.
Same ambient temp 26°C and I put copper shim between cpu die and heatsink due to heatsink unbalance.

 

I think thicker is better for laptops overall... I wonder how it compares with Kryonaut? Is it better than Kryonaut on gaming temps..

 

thats what would interest me as well. TFX vs. TF8 vs. Kryonaut.

judging from the posted results id say TF8 could be on par with kryonaut with TFX taking the lead by 2C. That would be quite the feat for a non metal paste!

Sent from my Xiaomi Mi Max 2 (Oxygen) using Tapatalk

 

I think I'm going to order 2 Grams of TFX I think. If its thicker it should outlast Kryonaut on any application whether it being on a laptop or desktop CPU/GPU. Are you saying it is most likely the best non-metal/non-conductive TIM available beating Kryonaut??

 

Your kryonaut paste is working fine. You'll need to invest in BIOS chip programmer for BIOS mods and set the fan curve there.

 

well i cant say "most likely" yet, we need hard data to back up this "suggestion"

i was just going by the previously posted data where TF8 was around 1-2C better than GC Extreme, thus TF8 being on par with Kryonaut. TFX beats TF8 by another 2C, so in theory it could potentially be better than Kryonaut

 

Can anyone translate?
The data on screen is in English though.

 

holy crap, 3.5 hours video?!

 

Yeah, that's what I said, but in reality that is right since it takes a few days normally

 

Deleted

 

What happened to fan speed's post of TFx and CM Nano?

 

It's not really accurate as after I posted that, I played Zelda and the fans spinned at max speed same as Nano but I noticed that the cpu temp is 4-5°C lower than CM Nano (core 1 at low 70 and 3 other cores at high 60).

 

Let it cure for a week or so doing normal stuff and don't bench for few days. You can play games w/o any issue.

 

Just saw new thermal paste: Batman ZF-12, 12wmk and only 4$/4g tube. Only saw on one VietNam website and I can't find any more info about this paste. The paste is as thick as Mastergel Nano.

 

Any of those pastes are thicker than gc-gelid extreme?

 

Noctua introduces new thermal compounds and cleaning wipes
Guru3d.com | 01/29/2019 12:47 PM

Noctua today introduced NT-H2, the further improved second generation hybrid thermal compound. Combining the iconic NT-H1’s proven features, superb ease of use and renowned long-term stability with a novel, fine-tuned formula of microparticles for even better thermal performance, NT-H2 is an enthusiast-grade paste for the highest demands.

Not worth the price increase!!

• NT-H2 3.5g: 12.90 EUR/USD
• NT-H2 10g: 24.90 EUR/USD
• NT-H1 3.5g: 7.90 EUR/USD
• NT-H1 10g: 14.90 EUR /USD

https://noctua.at/en/products/thermal-grease

 

I thought second gen NT-H2 would be cheaper than H1.

 

Someone tested the new Batman ZF-12. The image below is in Vietnamese so I will traslate it for you.
He tested with I7-3820 @1.52V, VCCSA @1.32V, Kraken x72 with 1 12cm fan: Kryonaut - 76*C, MX-4 - 78-79*C, ZF12 - 66*C (peak 70*C at max). I think I will order one tube and keep you posted.

 

say WHAT! are we talking about LM or regular paste here? either way these results would be insane!

 

Please post a link of where we can buy this Batman ZF-12 thermal paste?? I looked on eBay and Aliexpress but unable to find it anywhere I'm eager to try it if it's better than Kryonaut from Thermal Grizzly. Thanks