The Official Thermal Interface Material thread

[Sithaer]

My bad I've totally forgot about this topic.
I've repasted my 3060 Ti recently with MX 6 over the GD 900 I've had on it since early 2023 or so. 'the original first edition of GD 900 from Aliexpress, my bro bought it years ago'
It was working perfectly well and it had good temps so it wasn't necessary so I did it out of curiosity. 'card has no warranty left on it anyway, its a second hand GPU'
Thumbnails:

This is how the 7+ months old GD 900 looked:



After cleaning it up/I've also cleaned the cooler's side just no pic of it.


I don't have pics of the applied MX 6 but I prefer the thin layer spread method on both of my CPU and GPU. Tho I will say this MX 6 is a bit more difficult to apply/spread than MX 4 or GD 900. 'those 2 are very similar in that regard'
This card is quite easy to work with and it has spring loaded screws so the pressure should be about the same as before. 'can't really overtighten it'

And the results are, well around 1-2 celsius lower on both the core and hotspot temps.
Yeah well that was worth it right, anyway at least it will give me a peace of mind cause idk about GD 900's longevity but it looked good enough to me.

Other than that for a second hand GPU I would say this thing is in a good condition from the look of it, pads are all good and I couldn't find anything weird on the PCB.
I've bought this card in 2022 September on my usual go to second hand marketplace/forum in my country, the factory paste did dry out on me after a few months and thats when I've applied the GD 900 on it. Apparently I've found someone else who had the factory paste completely dry out on this model in a gaming system so idk maybe Asus had a bad batch or something on these cards, other than that its been working issue free and hopefully it will stay that way for a while since idk when I'm upgrading my GPU again.

I've also applied MX 6 on my CPU but no real change there tho its just a 12100 so that was to be expected, before I've had ID's paste on it that came with my cooler.

 

[freeagent]

I haven't needed to take my 3070 Ti apart yet.. its been good. Spent a lot of time folding with it.

R.I.P. EVGA

 

[Sithaer]

I haven't needed to take my 3070 Ti apart yet.. its been good. Spent a lot of time folding with it.

R.I.P. EVGA

Yea this card was the first I had to take apart and repaste cause over the span of 3-4 months the temps just kept rising to the point of borderline overheating and fans spinning like mad which wasn't normal for this TuF model at all. 'I also have the card undervolted so I was fairly positive its the paste thats gone bad'
Bad is an understatement, it literally had no moisture left just a thin layer of dust which took me some effort to clean off.
When I've repasted it first with GD 900 the core temps went down by 11 celsius and like 20 on the hotspot and also the fan rpm lowered by 500 or so and thats when the card was working again as it should.

I've had a ex miner Gigabyte RX 570 before and I've used that card for almost 3 years with no paste issues so I really don't know what happened to this one's factory paste but like I mentioned I've found someone else with the same issue with this exact model.
This 3060 Ti still had the screw sticker on it when I've first opened it so no one tinkered with it before either.
My bro also has an ancient Gigabyte Xtreme GTX 970 and he never took that thing apart and it still works fine and he already bought that second hand ages ago.

 

[lexluthermiester]

its 2023, might wanna try Mx6, not 4

MX4 is still fine. MX6 is excellent, an I've tested this. But if anyone has or buys MX4, they're going to be well served by it. At this point in time only extreme OCing needs to worry about super-spec Thermal pastes.

R.I.P. EVGA

Right! At least they went out on a high note! They were the best in the world!

Cheers EVGA! In the end you rocked! We'll miss you!

 

[de.das.dude]

i dont know what i did wrong but i didnt see good gains with MX-4

i use a coolermaster one before that.

 

[maxfly]

i dont know what i did wrong but i didnt see good gains with MX-4

i use a coolermaster one before that.

Was it their master gel or the like? If so, that's probably why. You generally wont see much if any improvements going from one quality tim to another. Your application method will end up being the bigger factor. E.G. going from, MX-4 to Prolimatech pk3 only netted me about a 4c or 5c improvement. Despite pk3 being one of the very best tim available. You didn't do anything wrong, it's just the nature of the beast.

 

[Shrek]

My bad I've totally forgot about this topic.
I've repasted my 3060 Ti recently with MX 6 over the GD 900 I've had on it since early 2023 or so. 'the original first edition of GD 900 from Aliexpress, my bro bought it years ago'
It was working perfectly well and it had good temps so it wasn't necessary so I did it out of curiosity. 'card has no warranty left on it anyway, its a second hand GPU'
Thumbnails:

This is how the 7+ months old GD 900 looked:
View attachment 304944
View attachment 304945

After cleaning it up/I've also cleaned the cooler's side just no pic of it.
View attachment 304946

I don't have pics of the applied MX 6 but I prefer the thin layer spread method on both of my CPU and GPU. Tho I will say this MX 6 is a bit more difficult to apply/spread than MX 4 or GD 900. 'those 2 are very similar in that regard'
This card is quite easy to work with and it has spring loaded screws so the pressure should be about the same as before. 'can't really overtighten it'

And the results are, well around 1-2 celsius lower on both the core and hotspot temps.
Yeah well that was worth it right, anyway at least it will give me a peace of mind cause idk about GD 900's longevity but it looked good enough to me.

Other than that for a second hand GPU I would say this thing is in a good condition from the look of it, pads are all good and I couldn't find anything weird on the PCB.
I've bought this card in 2022 September on my usual go to second hand marketplace/forum in my country, the factory paste did dry out on me after a few months and thats when I've applied the GD 900 on it. Apparently I've found someone else who had the factory paste completely dry out on this model in a gaming system so idk maybe Asus had a bad batch or something on these cards, other than that its been working issue free and hopefully it will stay that way for a while since idk when I'm upgrading my GPU again.

I've also applied MX 6 on my CPU but no real change there tho its just a 12100 so that was to be expected, before I've had ID's paste on it that came with my cooler.

Long live GD900

 

[Waldorf]

@Bones
where/when did i say that?
its their recent addition, and not everyone knows about it.
and for some, non MX4 might be easier to get (certain markets).

there are enough things that do not match either (work/not working).
i can drive with a flat tire, that doesnt mean its "working" (as it should), but definitely not a "doesnt work" condition

 

[freeagent]

You guys should try out SYY-157. It is super cheap. Just follow their directions.. spread as thin as you can, let sit for 15 mins, plant your cooler down

 

[maxfly]

Long live GD900

I admire your giant bucket o paste but it just reminds me of the old gray concrete pastes they used to use on GPUs.

 

[Bones]

@gQx
its 2023, might wanna try Mx6, not 4

@Fry178 Right here with the implication (By how it's worded) since it's now 2023, MX4 is not suitable for use anymore because it's "Old".
That's how it came across to me.

I did note the smiley though so I'm taking it as a bit of chain-jerking but at the same time I do take things like this seriously to avoid misinformation being spread around, so I said what I said.
MX4 is good TIM and doesn't equal a flat tire by any means.

Speaking of MX6, it's been covered in many places, used by many builders and so on with good results and I seriously doubt it's a little known product by now.

 

[tabascosauz]

You guys should try out SYY-157. It is super cheap. Just follow their directions.. spread as thin as you can, let sit for 15 mins, plant your cooler down

You're assuming I can get past this stage:

spread as thin as you can

I think my wo syy tubes are still sitting in a box somewhere. Probably long since turned into concrete by now. If CPU I'll just use NT-H2, if laptop I'll use PTM7950, if GPU I think I'll just get some GD900 or KPX.

 

[DR4G00N]

You guys should try out SYY-157. It is super cheap. Just follow their directions.. spread as thin as you can, let sit for 15 mins, plant your cooler down

Yes it actually works very well. My previous bad experience was due to a bad waterblock mount, once I fixed the mounting it's been performing very well on my Vega card.
Now it runs around 40c core/55c hotspot @ 1600/1050MHz 1.05V ~200-230W (264W limit).

I use it on most of my stuff now instead of GD900.

 

[Waldorf]

@Bones
again, never said anything about old/dont use, nor was it meant that way, or i would have said it that way.
its about the fact that were not in 2010 anymore, limited to one product (from Arctic)
nor is the MX4 "perfect" for "every" use, so when ppl not familiar with things like most here (are),
read it, i prefer it would mention other options available (from same brand).

e.g. i like the MX5 best, as its easiest to apply, and temps fall in same range,
cant directly compare it to MX4, as i used LM prior for about 3y.

 

[Shrek]

A video from Gamers Nexus about misleading W/mK marketing:

Facinating is Der8auer's observation that the finer one grinds the base metal/oxide, the worse the thermal conductivity; makes me realize that surfaces play a very important role.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I admire your giant bucket o paste but it just reminds me of the old gray concrete pastes they used to use on GPUs.

Me too!

 

[sLowEnd]

@Bones
again, never said anything about old/dont use, nor was it meant that way, or i would have said it that way.
its about the fact that were not in 2010 anymore, limited to one product (from Arctic)
nor is the MX4 "perfect" for "every" use, so when ppl not familiar with things like most here (are),
read it, i prefer it would mention other options available (from same brand).

e.g. i like the MX5 best, as its easiest to apply, and temps fall in same range,
cant directly compare it to MX4, as i used LM prior for about 3y.

MX-5 was discontinued after an issue with bad batches. MX-6 is the direct successor.

 

[lexluthermiester]

e.g. i like the MX5 best, as its easiest to apply, and temps fall in same range

Right there with you! It performed better than MX4 by a small margin but was easy to work with. MX6 is very good too and is on-par performance wise to MX5.

 

[Waldorf]

@sLowEnd
never said anything to the contrary.

@lexluthermiester
i started using bowl with warm water to get MX4 to be a little easier to apply.

 

[lexluthermiester]

@lexluthermiester
i started using bowl with warm water to get MX4 to be a little easier to apply.

Really? Never had a problem with MX4..

 

[Waldorf]

@lexluthermiester
might be partially cause of the low room temps i had in the room (AC)

 

[lexluthermiester]

@lexluthermiester
might be partially cause of the low room temps i had in the room (AC)

That could do it.

 

[lexluthermiester]

This happened!

Arctic MX-4 vs MX-5 vs MX-6 Thermal Paste Review

www.ocinside.de

Was a very interesting read! That testing strongly suggests that anyone who has MX4 can just keep using it as it's still an excellent TIM.

The stand-out information was the seperation of the MX5(which I'd never seen before) and likely effected the performance(which was still very good even in the separated state).

 

[Space Lynx]

This happened!

Arctic MX-4 vs MX-5 vs MX-6 Thermal Paste Review

www.ocinside.de

Was a very interesting read! That testing strongly suggests that anyone who has MX4 can just keep using it as it's still an excellent TIM.

The stand-out information was the seperation of the MX5(which I'd never seen before) and likely effected the performance(which was still very good even in the separated state).

MX-6 on my rig, I doubt I change it out for 5+ years honestly (or whenever i upgrade fully). I will never understand peoples fascination with thermal paste. lol

 

[lexluthermiester]

I will never understand peoples fascination with thermal paste. lol

It's mostly a thing with Overclockers and people who frequently work on PCs.