The Official Thermal Interface Material thread

FoulOnWhite · Nov 20, 2023

I tried putting tim on my CPU, but he fought and i ended up with a black eye

Shrek · Nov 20, 2023

That's because you didn't use the apple scented kind...

Apple-Scented Thermal Paste Launches in Japan

Smells like a new build.

www.tomshardware.com

freeagent · Nov 20, 2023

Apple scented wtf.

I would rather smell Apple Cinnamon.

I was thinking about trying some ultra cheap TIM to see how it really compares. I see people say only 1-3c between TIMs, I have to question if they are applying this stuff like they are making a peanut butter sandwich? I tend to stay away from products that the mainstream flock to, such as Arctic MX, but maybe I will try that too. I don't think I have if I am honest.

ThrashZone · Nov 20, 2023

Hi,
Sure you must try mx6 hell it's only 10.us for 8grams

Amazon.com

I just bought another since I can't find my other one plus a bunch of other stuff.

maxfly · Nov 20, 2023

I'm never buying another tube of tim for the rest of MY life!!!

Because the 100 or so grams of random tim I already have is more than I can use in a lifetime!!!

I lie, I'm running low on pk3...so yeah.

Shrek · Nov 20, 2023

I got 120g of GD900, so I'm in the same situation.

maxfly · Nov 20, 2023

Shrek said:
I got 120g of GD900, so I'm in the same situation.

I remember seeing your "enough for the whole forum", giant tub o tim.

lexluthermiester · Nov 20, 2023

Slightly offtopic, I am so glad we all can joke like this with each other and no one takes offense. It is a refreshing departure from "other" places on the net.

Bagerklestyne · Nov 28, 2023

Did I miss the kryosheet portion of the chat ?

Borc · Nov 29, 2023

Toplamp TL-A40 is not that good on my i7-1165G7. Same for Honeywell PTM7950-SP - much worse than the pad version. I will try out KryoSheet next time and some Thermal Hero paste.

A good paste for direct die chips might be Shin-Etsu 7868:

Borc · Nov 30, 2023

I noticed that DOWSIL TC-5888 and Koolingmonster Kold-01 have exactly the same specs, even the unusual low thermal conductivity of 5.2W/mK is exactly the same. Maybe Kold-01 is a rebrand of TC-5888? Industrial compounds usually have a low thermal conductivity, same with Shin-Etsu and even Honeywell is quite low with only 8.5W. More or less meaningless of course.

Borc · Dec 2, 2023

KryoSheet doesn't work for me, 100 degrees after a few seconds. Looks like there is no contact, it's too thin for my subpar Dell cooler. There is only a 0.2mm version, I can't even choose a thicker version. I tried EC360 Graphite which is even thinner with the same bad result. I think it's not worth the hassle on an uneven laptop cooler or subpar cooler in general, PTM7950 does the job.

That's why many pastes doesn't work great either on my laptop. Some pastes can fill out bigger gaps, lower viscous pastes have no chance. I have read DOWSIL TC-5888 can fill gaps of up to 0.5mm.

Thermal Hero has some Graphite pads listed with a thickness of 0.3mm, maybe I will try this out next year.

AMF · Dec 2, 2023

ARCTIC MX-6 HERE

R-T-B · Dec 2, 2023

jayjr1105 said:
View attachment 322391

It's not a lie if you believe it... but I agree with the plausibility of the statement lol.

sLowEnd · Dec 9, 2023

Anyone heard about this stuff? Seems pretty cheap on Amazon, but I want to see if there's any discussion about this stuff anywhere.

8618 - Ultra Thermal Paste, 6 W/(m·K)

8618 silicone-free thermal grease is a heat sink paste with very high thermal conductivity and exceptional wetting properties.

mgchemicals.com

Shrek · Dec 9, 2023

Genuine question: why would one want silicone free?

The above link gives:
"Silicone-free, will not contaminate surfaces"

ShrimpBrime · Dec 9, 2023

freeagent said:
Apple scented wtf.

I would rather smell Apple Cinnamon.

I was thinking about trying some ultra cheap TIM to see how it really compares. I see people say only 1-3c between TIMs, I have to question if they are applying this stuff like they are making a peanut butter sandwich? I tend to stay away from products that the mainstream flock to, such as Arctic MX, but maybe I will try that too. I don't think I have if I am honest.

You don't want to try ultra cheap pastes, let me save you the troubles.

TG7 is horrible. 3.3m/mk as an example. Had grabbed some for TEC cooling and it was super horrible transfer.

This is similar to TM30 corsair paste. 3.8w/mk, also horrible thermal transfer. These pastes maybe ok for chipset or cpus that are like 45w. 65w max.... maybe.

Comparing to my go to Formula 7, nano-diamond, these cheap pastes are easily 10c difference from a good paste with 8w/mk and up.

LM is similar to being soldered having over 75w/mk.

Copper is 390w/mk.

The paste between 2 plates of copper is a major thermal transfer slow down.

Yeah, sure the majority of pastes are around 8w/mk. Some are like 5 and some maybe as high as 12w/mk.

The weakest link is the thermal paste. Don't spend money on cheap pastes.

freeagent · Dec 9, 2023

Awesome, thanks! I will save myself some bucks and just keep using what I am using

ShrimpBrime · Dec 9, 2023

freeagent said:
Awesome, thanks! I will save myself some bucks and just keep using what I am using

For sure. I mean 6 bucks ain't a lot of money, Just don't want you to bake any 180w+ chips. Even with chilling, very poor performance.

68Olds · Dec 9, 2023

I've been using JLJ TP-133 thermal paste between my AMD CPU & block and it seems to be working fine. Very affordable in 6G & up quantities too.

ShrimpBrime · Dec 9, 2023

68Olds said:
I've been using JLJ TP-133 thermal paste between my AMD CPU & block and it seems to be working fine. Very affordable in 6G & up quantities too.

13.9w/mk. That's really high for a paste! Grizzly I think is 12 or more. Nice. Might have to order me a tube! Yes, I think I'm going to!

InVasMani · Dec 9, 2023

I ended up selecting the Thermalright TIM out of a selection of Rosewill, Thermalright, and ID-Cooler to pick from and I have no idea how well it's doing in comparison to the others nor any other pastes on the market, but I'll still getting between about 25c to 35c at idle depending on ambient temps and/or a little bit with the MB settings. It probably starts to be more noticeable at load between pastes, but still mostly negligible at least when initially applied. The better pastes might not dry out and lose some of their cooling performance quite as quickly.

I don't feel it's anything to be hyper fixated on in general, but if trying to break a benchmark record or like a system for harsh environments maybe it's something to look at more closely. It's not something someone on a budget CPU or GPU should lose sleep over.

sLowEnd · Dec 9, 2023

ShrimpBrime said:
13.9w/mk. That's really high for a paste! Grizzly I think is 12 or more. Nice. Might have to order me a tube! Yes, I think I'm going to!

I wouldn't really put any faith in manufacturer-provided thermal conductivity values. There's no industry standard testing methodology for it, so it's about as useless as manufacturer-provided dba values for fans.

ShrimpBrime · Dec 9, 2023

sLowEnd said:
I wouldn't really put any faith in manufacturer-provided thermal conductivity values. There's no industry standard testing methodology for it, so it's about as useless as manufacturer-provided dba values for fans.

They would use the same standard of testing that would be used for any other tested material out there. Why would it need to be different with thermal paste? Please explain.

oiawshboiwsahnoidaws · Dec 10, 2023

Neither thermal grizzly nor arctic give out thermal conductivity values for their traditional pastes afaik
I also found that PTM7950/7958 with "only" 8.5W/mK performs better than the pastes that i had with 15+W/mK for example (to be fair difference is quite small, ~2°C but it's there)

System Name	BigRed
Processor	I7 12700k
Motherboard	Asus Rog Strix z690-A WiFi D4
Cooling	Noctua D15S chromax black/MX6
Memory	TEAM GROUP 32GB DDR4 4000C16 B die
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 3080 Gaming Trio X 10GB
Storage	M.2 drives WD SN850X 1TB 4x4 BOOT/WD SN850X 4TB 4x4 STEAM/USB3 4TB OTHER
Display(s)	Dell s3422dwg 34" 3440x1440p 144hz ultrawide
Case	Corsair 7000D
Audio Device(s)	Logitech Z5450/KEF uniQ speakers/Bowers and Wilkins P7 Headphones
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x 80% gold
Mouse	Logitech G604 lightspeed wireless
Keyboard	Logitech G915 TKL lightspeed wireless
Software	Windows 10 Pro X64
Benchmark Scores	Who cares

System Name	CyberPowerPC ET8070
Processor	Intel Core i5-10400F
Motherboard	Gigabyte B460M DS3H AC-Y1
Memory	2 x Crucial Ballistix 8GB DDR4-3000
Video Card(s)	MSI Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super
Storage	Boot: Intel OPTANE SSD P1600X Series 118GB M.2 PCIE
Display(s)	Dell P2416D (2560 x 1440)
Power Supply	EVGA 500W1 (modified to have two bridge rectifiers)
Software	Windows 11 Home

Processor	AMD R7 5800X3D
Motherboard	Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
Cooling	Thermalright Frozen Edge 360, 3x TL-B12 V2, 2x TL-B12 V1
Memory	2x8 G.Skill Trident Z Royal 3200C14, 2x8GB G.Skill Trident Z Black and White 3200 C14
Video Card(s)	Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC
Storage	WD SN850 1TB, SN850X 2TB, SN770 1TB
Display(s)	LG 50UP7100
Case	Fractal Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s)	JBL Bar 700
Power Supply	Seasonic Vertex GX-1000, Monster HDP1800
Mouse	Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard	Logitech G213
VR HMD	Oculus 3
Software	Yes
Benchmark Scores	Yes

System Name	Ghetto Rigs z490\|x99\|Acer 17 Nitro 7840hs/ 5600c40-2x16/ 4060/ 1tb acer stock m.2/ 4tb sn850x
Processor	10900k w/Optimus Foundation \| 5930k w/Black Noctua D15
Motherboard	z490 Maximus XII Apex \| x99 Sabertooth
Cooling	oCool D5 res-combo/280 GTX/ Optimus Foundation/ gpu water block \| Blk D15
Memory	Trident-Z Royal 4000c16 2x16gb \| Trident-Z 3200c14 4x8gb
Video Card(s)	Titan Xp-water \| evga 980ti gaming-w/ air
Storage	970evo+500gb & sn850x 4tb \| 860 pro 256gb \| Acer m.2 1tb/ sn850x 4tb\| Many2.5" sata's ssd 3.5hdd's
Display(s)	1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24"/ 3rd LG 43" series
Case	D450 \| Cherry Entertainment center on Test bench
Audio Device(s)	Built in Realtek x2 with 2-Insignia 2.0 sound bars & 1-LG sound bar
Power Supply	EVGA 1000P2 with APC AX1500 \| 850P2 with CyberPower-GX1325U
Mouse	Redragon 901 Perdition x3
Keyboard	G710+x3
Software	Win-7 pro x3 and win-10 & 11pro x3
Benchmark Scores	Are in the benchmark section

System Name	DadsBadAss
Processor	I7 13700k w/ HEATKILLER IV PRO Copper Nickel
Motherboard	MSI Z790 Tomahawk Wifi DDR4
Cooling	BarrowCH Boxfish 200mm-HWLabs SR2 420/GTX&GTS 360-BP Dual D5 MOD TOP- 2x Koolance PMP 450S
Memory	4x8gb HyperX Predator RGB DDR4 4000
Video Card(s)	Asrock 6800xt PG D w/ Byski A-AR6900XT-X
Storage	WD SN850x 1TB NVME M.2/Adata XPG SX8200 PRO 1TB NVMe M.2
Display(s)	Acer XG270HU
Case	ThermalTake X71 w/5 Noctua NF-A14 2000 IP67 PWM/3 Noctua NF-F12 2000 IP67 PWM/3 CorsairML120 Pro RGB
Audio Device(s)	Klipsch Promedia 2.1
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus PX-850 w/CableMod PRO ModMesh RT-Series Black/Blue
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Black Aluminun Mechanical Clicky Thing With Blue LEDs, hows that for a name?!
Software	Win11pro

The Official Thermal Interface Material thread

FoulOnWhite

Shrek

Apple-Scented Thermal Paste Launches in Japan

freeagent

Moderator

ThrashZone

maxfly

Shrek

maxfly

lexluthermiester

Bagerklestyne

Borc

Borc

Borc

AMF

R-T-B

sLowEnd

8618 - Ultra Thermal Paste, 6 W/(m·K)

Shrek

ShrimpBrime

freeagent

Moderator

ShrimpBrime

68Olds

ShrimpBrime

InVasMani

sLowEnd

ShrimpBrime

oiawshboiwsahnoidaws

System Name	Blytzen
Processor	Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	ASRock B650E Taichi Lite
Cooling	Deepcool LS520 (240mm)
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30
Video Card(s)	Powercolor 6800XT Red Dragon (16 gig)
Storage	2TB Crucial P5 Plus SSD, 80TB spinning rust in a NAS
Display(s)	MSI MPG321URX QD-OLED (32", 4k, 240hz), Samsung 32" 4k
Case	Coolermaster HAF 500
Audio Device(s)	Logitech G733 and a Z5500 running in a 2.1 config (I yeeted the mid and 2 satellites)
Power Supply	Corsair HX850
Mouse	Logitech G502X lightspeed
Keyboard	Logitech G915 TKL tactile
Benchmark Scores	Squats and calf raises

System Name	MR T System price 2280$
Processor	Ryzen 9 3900x 325 $4.7Ghz boost pbo +50 +50 enhance - offset auto voltage -.1875 offset soc
Motherboard	ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming 125 $ open box
Cooling	280mm ARCTIC FREEZER II idle temps 25c cpu 28c cpu diode 20c vrm 25c motherboard b stock 60$
Memory	2x 16GB Dual rank G Skill Trident Z Neo F4-3600C16-16GTZNC @3800 1.395v 16-19-16-20-38-58-1T $96
Video Card(s)	Asrock RX 6950XT Oc formula Oc edition 705$ 2700 2800 boost 1090v 2476 mem 19GB/s
Storage	500 GB WD SN850 PCI-E 4.0x4 85$ pcie16x4
Display(s)	V505-J09 Vizio 4k HDR 299$ oc 5hz
Case	Cougar Panzer Max G Full Tower Tempered Glass 150$
Audio Device(s)	TV junk ewww
Power Supply	Seasonic SS-1250XM2 Bought in 2013 350$ 11 y/o hasnt lost any voltage or watts
Mouse	Logitech ERGO Trackball 35$
Keyboard	Corsair K57 50$
VR HMD	Dont give a damn about vr
Software	win 11 pro modded by me no ai no remote connections free hehe
Benchmark Scores	8188 multi 540 single cinebench r20

System Name	Pioneer
Processor	Ryzen R9 9950X
Motherboard	GIGABYTE Aorus Elite X670 AX
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15 + A whole lotta Sunon and Corsair Maglev blower fans...
Memory	64GB (4x 16GB) G.Skill Flare X5 @ DDR5-6000 CL30
Video Card(s)	XFX RX 7900 XTX Speedster Merc 310
Storage	Intel 905p Optane 960GB boot, +2x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs
Display(s)	55" LG 55" B9 OLED 4K Display
Case	Thermaltake Core X31
Audio Device(s)	TOSLINK->Schiit Modi MB->Asgard 2 DAC Amp->AKG Pro K712 Headphones or HDMI->B9 OLED
Power Supply	FSP Hydro Ti Pro 850W
Mouse	Logitech G305 Lightspeed Wireless
Keyboard	WASD Code v3 with Cherry Green keyswitches + PBT DS keycaps
Software	Gentoo Linux x64 / Windows 11 Enterprise IoT 2024

System Name	I don't name my rig
Processor	14700K
Motherboard	Asus TUF Z790
Cooling	Air/water/DryIce
Memory	DDR5 G.Skill Z5 RGB 6000mhz C36
Video Card(s)	RTX 4070 Super
Storage	980 Pro
Display(s)	Some LED 1080P TV
Case	Open bench
Audio Device(s)	Some Old Sherwood stereo and old cabinet speakers
Power Supply	Corsair 1050w HX series
Mouse	Razor Mamba Tournament Edition
Keyboard	Logitech G910
VR HMD	Quest 2
Software	Windows
Benchmark Scores	Max Freq 13700K 6.7ghz DryIce Max Freq 14700K 7.0ghz DryIce Max all time Freq FX-8300 7685mhz LN2

System Name	Gamer
Processor	Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard	Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite WIFI
Cooling	Apogee XL, MCR360, MCP655, Micro-rez
Memory	2x16GB G.Skill DDR4-3600 CL16
Video Card(s)	Red Dragon RX 6800 XT
Storage	WD SN850 1TB & SN750 1TB
Display(s)	LG 32GK650F-B 32" 1440p 144Hz
Case	Rocketfish (Lian Li) e-ATX
Audio Device(s)	Harman Kardon HK695 2.1
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus GM-750
Mouse	HP Gaming wired
Keyboard	Logitech G110 wired
VR HMD	HP WMR 1440^2
Software	Win10 Pro 64bit