[EOL] Arctic MX-5 is here!!Tests incoming! Completed. Now its MX-6 testing time!

[Shrek]

I do try... I sing the virtues of GD900 but nobody picks up the gauntlet; to be honest for me it's all about longevity and that is never really covered.

 

[lexluthermiester]

this overhang might attract some dust, even if it does not affect the cooling.

Not going to affect performance. You likely won't even be able to see the dust that is attracted.

Come continue your fight on my thread guys

The Official Thermal Interface Material thread

No need for another single thread, let's use this for questions and suggestions. :)

www.techpowerup.com

I hope it doesn't seem like fighting. Not my intention. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression...

 

[Ruru]

I mean we consumers don't see anything else than maybe one C of difference between pastes, as we don't have controlled environmental testing temp etc. when comparing pastes.

Like I said, I like MX4 because it's so easy to apply (and also cleaning it is easy). Still it's known to be one of the best pastes.

I hope it doesn't seem like fighting. Not my intention. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression...

Nah don't take it that literally (and Andy too!)

 

[lexluthermiester]

I sing the virtues of GD900

No worries. I do not doubt that it performs well.

but nobody picks up the gauntlet

I'd test it but from what I've seen it performs very well and on the same general level of many of the rest of the good performers on the TIM market. Earlier this year, I went through all the effort of testing MX-5 because of it's unique characteristics and because is was the new hotness.

to be honest for me it's all about longevity and that is never really covered.

This is tough to test long-term.

 

[Shrek]

This is tough to test long-term.

I agree, we ignore it because it's not easy to test; but I imagine the military have worried about such things and wonder if they have anything.

I hope it doesn't seem like fighting. Not my intention. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression...

I think you actually gave such a good impression she wanted you dueling on her thread...

 

[Ruru]

I agree, we ignore it because it's not easy to test; but I imagine the military have worried about such things and wonder if they have anything.



I think you actually gave such a good impression she wanted you dueling on her thread...

Yo, I'm a he, not a she

 

[fluxc0d3r]

Conductivity ratings are very often hogwash.
The Zezzio thermal pads are rated as 14.8 w/mk but are the exact same temp performance as Gelid Extreme's 12 w/mk pads, on a 3080 FE video card. They were tested both on the exact same card.

I also as I mentioned earlier, have several tubes of SYY-157 and I bought the Zezzio "14.3 w/mk" thermal paste as soon as it appeared on Amazon. It's the exact same as SYY-157, and the temps are exactly 0C different. Also I don't know why I'm the only one who caught it, but Zezzio simply copied TFX's back label *exactly*. Their wording on the back of their packaging is 100% identical to what Thermalright puts on their packaging. Including the "HARMLESS: YES" part. That's why they have it as the same w/mk as TFX. But TFX slightly outperforms both SYY-157 and Zezzio on laptops and GPU's, although they are almost the same on desktop CPU's. It also has the exact same physical properties, when you check by doing a fingerprint spread test. (Compare that to TFX, you will notice that TFX leaves a 'thicker' sheen on your finger, while SYY/Zezzio leaves a thinner sheen. FuzeIce Plus / Alseye T9+ Platinum (which also seem to be identical) leave a much wetter sheen, and of course they are the easiest to spread. All of those pastes are nano-carbon, rather than traditional silicone pastes.

You should try the Nab Cooling Thermal Pads rated at 15W/mK and they are cheaper than the Thermalright 15W "pink" pads that just came out. Although I was getting good temps on my 3070 Ti, they dropped the GDDR6X temps by another 8-10 degrees, thinking of getting thinner ones for my m.2 drive.

It depends how you applied the thermal grease, I applied the line method on my Alder Lake chip. Most people just do the blob in the middle, which I always did and decided to try different methods this time around.

 

[Ruru]

they dropped the GDDR6X temps by another 8-10 degrees

Does all GDDR6X run that hot what they say?

 

[fluxc0d3r]

Does all GDDR6X run that hot what they say?

Yes, GDDR6X do run hot and consume more power. I only got the 3070 Ti because it was $100 cheaper than the cheapest 3070 and I was lucky to get it at MSRP around $600, which was in the same price bracket as many 3060 Ti's. I was going for a budget build because my case has limited airflow and anything more powerful would create too much heat inside the case. At first I was getting 80 degrees on my (triple fan cooler) GPU, 90 degrees on memory and hotspot due to AIO at the front and obstructing airflow when I first built my PC. After settling in and optimizing my fan curves through an app, I was able to drop all temps by 15-20 degrees, while making the whole system a lot more quieter. The new Nab Cooling thermal pads dropped the memory temps again by another 8-10 degrees.

 

[freeagent]

You should try the Nab Cooling Thermal Pads rated at 15W/mK and they are cheaper than the Thermalright 15W "pink" pads that just came out. Although I was getting good temps on my 3070 Ti, they dropped the GDDR6X temps by another 8-10 degrees, thinking of getting thinner ones for my m.2 drive.

It depends how you applied the thermal grease, I applied the line method on my Alder Lake chip. Most people just do the blob in the middle, which I always did and decided to try different methods this time around.

Man... those are awesome results! If you don't mind me asking, what were the thickness of the pads you used? I get good temps with mine too, but lower is always better, and I have been considering doing this for the past couple of months now. My hot spot temp is always 10c higher than my core temp but I have been hesitant on pulling the card apart since stock is all messed up.. But I think it should probably be ok..

If I could knock off even 5c from my mem temps I would be happy.

 

[ryzenmaster]

So what's the conclusion what way best to apply? when SYY comes for my G513QY laptop...

 

[Falkentyne]

You should try the Nab Cooling Thermal Pads rated at 15W/mK and they are cheaper than the Thermalright 15W "pink" pads that just came out. Although I was getting good temps on my 3070 Ti, they dropped the GDDR6X temps by another 8-10 degrees, thinking of getting thinner ones for my m.2 drive.

It depends how you applied the thermal grease, I applied the line method on my Alder Lake chip. Most people just do the blob in the middle, which I always did and decided to try different methods this time around.

These, right?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B095NLM3X4/

The "Nab" cooling pads are rebadged Gelid Ultimates.

I forgot who verified this but it was either on ocuk or reddit.
Keep in mind that Gelid does not make their own pads. They are a reseller, just like Thermalright.
The only company that actually owns their own factories is Halnizye in Shenzhen, who sells to a ton of parties (Alseye is one of their very large OEMs, at least in China).

As far as the TM Valor Odin pads, No idea how they compare to Gelid Ultimates or Fujipoly 17 w/mk pads, but I assume that's who they're going up against. Of course the Fujipoly pads are the apex of highway robbery prices for the tiny little square you get...
They seem to be hard just like Odyssey pads which would make them not ideal on the front side of an Ampere video card since you need good compression on that side to not interfere with Chip Die-cold plate pressure.

 

[Mussels]

I've been suspended from a thread before, so while I would love to; I would not dare...

You need to stay cool under pressure, dont fan the heat...


yeah i'm outta puns now

Edit: "Go drink some coolant" sounds like a threat lol

And Maenad also went by Jill on the forums for a while, too - with the same avatar. could be where you picked that up

 

[Shrek]

Yo, I'm a he, not a she

Honest mistake given your avatar.

 

[Ruru]

Honest mistake given your avatar.

I love Jill Valentine and I've been a Resident Evil fan since the 90s.

 

[looniam]

Honest mistake given your avatar.

woof! woof! ruff ruff, bow wow!

 

[ryzenmaster]

So in my ASUS G513QY laptop case,
you guys saying thin layer on dies of gpu/cpu and chamber side enough, no dots or lines needed on top?

 

[Mussels]

So in my ASUS G513QY laptop case,
you guys saying thin layer on dies of gpu/cpu and chamber side enough, no dots or lines needed on top?

dots and blobs and so on are for when you have uneven surfaces, and you want the pressure to spread the paste

Low pressure, flat environments? spread that shit yourself

 

[Bride]

I just did a quick test between on my HD6850, room temp around 20 degrees, PC case closed, with

Arctic MX-5 (screenshot Gfx009)



and
another unknown Chinese 15W thermal paste (screenshot Gfx008)



looks not a big difference

 

[ryzenmaster]

I just did a quick test between on my HD6850, room temp around 20 degrees, PC case closed, with

Arctic MX-5 (screenshot Gfx009)

View attachment 227830

and
another unknown Chinese 15W thermal paste (screenshot Gfx008)

View attachment 227831

looks not a big difference

Actually Chinese wins....what is the brand of Chinese?

 

[Bride]

Actually Chinese wins....what is the brand of Chinese?

well, are both made in China , but I would like to run more tests... this one is named DHS, 15W on paper... Now i just ordered a 18W, but not sure about the results...
Arctic looks a little bit more sticky and difficult to apply on the surfaces, but not a big deal.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I just did a quick test between on my HD6850, room temp around 20 degrees, PC case closed, with

Arctic MX-5 (screenshot Gfx009)

View attachment 227830

and
another unknown Chinese 15W thermal paste (screenshot Gfx008)

View attachment 227831

looks not a big difference

Yeah, try a CPU benchmark for starters, not a GFX benchmark. Also lets see the products you're testing and the application of the TIM on the surfaces.

 

[ryzenmaster]

I don't know where this graph came from, but it does not agree with information found elsewhere about the performance of TFX. This graph is rubbish and nonsense until properly cited. That said...


...this should work and SYY should provide reasonable performance for your system. Keep in mind that thermal paste is not a magic wonder solution that will solve all your cooling problems. It's just a tool to help make thermal transfer more efficient. The limiting factor for your desired temps is the cooling system employed in that laptop. If that heatsink/fan setup can't drop your temps to levels you desire, you're only realistic solution is to downclock the CPU/GPU so that they don't create as much heat.

This graph is from a reviews/lab site:
https://albestech.com/migliore-pasta-termica-2021/

You can read (with translator) whole work they done to test each paste.

 

[lexluthermiester]

This graph is from a reviews/lab site:
https://albestech.com/migliore-pasta-termica-2021/

You can read (with translator) whole work they done to test each paste.

Actually, I can read Italian well enough to follow along. I question the validity of those conclusions as they are in conflict with testing done elsewhere.

However, even if we assume that the results shown there are acceptable, the fact remains that the differences between the top 20 performers are within 4C of each other. As such, the price/performance ratio is clearly a defining factor. TFX is VERY expensive compared to most of the rest. The 1C difference is not enough to justify the 800% jump in cost per gram.

If you got your SYY for a good price, then you're in for a good run at a solid value.

 

[ryzenmaster]

Actually, I can read Italian well enough to follow along. I question the validity of those conclusions as they are in conflict with testing done elsewhere.

However, even if we assume that the results shown there are acceptable, the fact remains that the differences between the top 20 performers are within 4C of each other. As such, the price/performance ratio is clearly a defining factor. TFX is VERY expensive compared to most of the rest. The 1C difference is not enough to justify the 800% jump in cost per gram.

If you got your SYY for a good price, then you're in for a good run at a solid value.

Sorry for too much information, but maybe this will help you guide me bit better, maybe not...

As earlier mentioned, laptop G513QY from asus, I currently use Gelid GC Extreme and I want try improve temps, would SYY be a good choice to replace gelid gc extrene with? I bought SYY should arrive in 2 weeks to me from US. As backup also bought with SYY, tube of Iceberg Thermal Plus. I really need an opinion here, my laptop barely 2 months old and I had paid computer lab and re-pasted like 7 times already (5-6 myself, trying diff pasting, wasting pastes... like idiot), this time I want make sure I use the right thing so I dont need waste time and money again for next 1-2 years with another repasting. SYY is really going to be better choice and work well? or should I use ICEBERG OR (redo again with) GC Extreme again?

Further on the story, 3 weeks ago I repasted myself using GC Extreme, and dropped temps a bit, as gpu hotspot no longer went 103c and maxed around 95-97c.... then 2 weeks ago i decided take my gc extreme to professional laptops lab, pay them to repaste, see maybe they do better job than me, NO - Now extra few temps on CPU/GPU... so I wait for SYY and iceberg arrive in 2 weeks from US and planning do the best job I can this time so it last for 1-2 years before I need think about repasting again...

Additionally, this time with SYY I am planning also to use washers to improve the mount pressure, similar to how this guy did:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUSROG/comments/qz5snd
So bottom line:
GC Extreme (try again, this time with washers?)
SYY (with or without washers?)
ICEBERG Thermal Plus (with/without washers?)
ThermalRight KingSilver LM (I still have left, dont want use LM, i also removed the LM barriers on both dies...as I dont plan use LM on this laptop again)

I was reading that SYY good for laptops and almost par with TFX, which is why I bought SYY and not TFX..... I live outside US and it takes 2-3 weeks for each order to arrive. Hence why I wait for SYY and Iceberg... I do have some GC Extreme left in extra tube as I bought 3 of them initially thinking I might screw up and need backup (which is what happened lol with me and lab etc..).

Please dont slap me for all this repasting saga, I was bit overwhelmed fixing the temps... fact to mention, stock from ASUS was LM and damn, temps were high, 101-102c gpu hotspot and cpu was around similar highs, when I tried repaste with new LM from ThermalRight LM didn't work well again, 103c hotspot gpu.... then I switched to GC Extreme (my own pasting before going to lab) and hotspot of gpu could be dropped to 95-97c peak zone, so better...than lab pasting (i suspect he didnt put enough or something, or maybe left some little bumps ..not sure) and hotspot gpu temps as high as 99c and cpu throttling at 95-96.5c.

Thanks!