The Official Thermal Interface Material thread

[wNotyarD]

I have ptm on my 12700k and it works great but don't expect miracles with an IHS, i saw 2-3°C improvement compared to best paste i had on hand (which granted is pretty cool already)

The bigger difference in my case would be the laptop cooling solution mounting pressure. When comparing to a pretty definite mounting when in a desktop, laptops can be... sketchy, I'd say. Also, there's the GTX 1050 to cover too.

@FreedomEclipse I just used PTM as an umbrella term for the tech, not to say I'll actually get Honeywell's.

 

[Nordic]

I decided to test the kryosheet with my 6750xt out of curiosity more than need. With the MPT tool I sometimes have set my 6750xt to use upto 300w which can make the gpu run rather hot. With the kryosheet I have achieved a new personal record with the furmark 1440p benchmark. At least in my testing the kryosheet has exceeded the performance of kryonaught extreme, artic mx-4, and ptm7950. Although results were repeatable, the performance gained is minimal with 2.7% more performance than artic mx-4. There is only so much I can ask from my low end dual slot heatsink.

Given my lackluster results with PTM7950 I wonder if I got fake stuff. I bought it from MODDIY rather than EBUY because every comment I saw was certain MODDIY had the real stuff. Kryosheet is good stuff though.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I decided to test the kryosheet with my 6750xt out of curiosity more than need. With the MPT tool I sometimes have set my 6750xt to use upto 300w which can make the gpu run rather hot. With the kryosheet I have achieved a new personal record with the furmark 1440p benchmark. At least in my testing the kryosheet has exceeded the performance of kryonaught extreme, artic mx-4, and ptm7950. Although results were repeatable, the performance gained is minimal with 2.7% more performance than artic mx-4. There is only so much I can ask from my low end dual slot heatsink.

Given my lackluster results with PTM7950 I wonder if I got fake stuff. I bought it from MODDIY rather than EBUY because every comment I saw was certain MODDIY had the real stuff. Kryosheet is good stuff though.

Did you let the PTM have its curing time? If not thats probably where you might have gone wrong.

 

[Nordic]

Did you let the PTM have its curing time? If not thats probably where you might have gone wrong.

I absolutely did. I did at least 8 hours of cycling between 1% and 100% load with OCCT. I would let it heat for 3 minutes and cool for 3 minutes. I also gamed daily with PTM7950 installed for months. Curing did improve temps significantly.

Even then, the difference between multiple TIM's is as much as 2.7% in my testing. Everything is marginal.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

Even then, the difference between multiple TIM's is as much as 2.7% in my testing. Everything is marginal.

We've been at this point for awhile. Thermal-transfer-wise, the "good" TIMs have been within spitting distance of each other for, what, five years at least? The differentiating characteristics are in applicability, compatibility and longevity. Heck, how many folks are still using AS5 for IHS applications* because it's good enough and remains effective for literal years?

*I would be, but ran out and have been either using stuff included with heatsinks or experimenting with others out of mere curiosity.

 

[Caring1]

Heck, how many folks are still using AS5 for IHS applications* because it's good enough and remains effective for literal years?

*I would be, but ran out and have been either using stuff included with heatsinks or experimenting with others out of mere curiosity.

I just used the last of my AS5 yesterday so I'm using whatever I have at hand now.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Here are my thoughts on the Thermalright Heilos so far....

I have noticed when I boot my laptop up after a while. Idle temps run a little high at 55'c and as high as 63'c if its doing something in the background like a small Antivirus update. -- this massively confused me and I immediately thought there was something wrong with the Heilos as I had seen the temps idle around 35-38'c on previous occasions.

I ran some guildwars 2 about a few days ago to give it some burn in time and temps maxed out around 74-85'c around that time but we were in a midst of a heatwave which had ambient temps between 27-31'c.

So The Heilos being a phase change pad and noticing the idle temps were higher than usual, I decided to start the laptop up this afternoon and put a little heat through it by loading up GW2 again. Temps averaged out at 62-65'c while the highest was 72'c while in game which proved to me that the Heilos was fine and still doing its job. It needs a bit of heat before it will do its best work. (current ambient temp is 21'c)

Quit out of the game and started using the laptop for some web browsing and youtube etc. temps are back to idling as low as 34'c but averaging around 36-37'c. I had never seen the laptop idle at 34'c with MasterGel Maker.


Im not sure if the Heilos is currently at its peak or it still needs more curing but its worked great for me so far.


::EDIT::

Yes. I can confirm that idle temps are higher If the laptop is left turned off for any amount of time where its allowed to completely cool off. I booted my laptop up to double check the idle temps and test some headphones that I found. idle temps are back to being 40-48'c. So its confirmed that PTM needs some heat before it does its best work.

Phase-change materials are not so great for bare-die applications where space and cooling is limited. For laptops, Carbon & Indium pads seem to perform the best and are the most stable. KPx is another great TIM, but pads are the premium option outside of liquid metal.

I just used the last of my AS5 yesterday so I'm using whatever I have at hand now.

They still make Arctic Silver 5. You can find it on most etail platforms, and it's still inexpensive.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Phase-change materials are not so great for bare-die applications where space and cooling is limited. For laptops, Carbon & Indium pads seem to perform the best and are the most stable. KPx is another great TIM, but pads are the premium option outside of liquid metal.

On the contrary, It works great when it gets some heat. If im just surfing then temps will start to fall after around 15mins. Its given me some great load temps. 10-15'c difference from the old paste. Old paste was also fairly fresh since it was applied roughly about a month ago.

::EDIT::

21'c ambient and its idling at 30-32'c. Hit 50'c idle at start up but 30'ish after 15mins of just sitting on desktop.

 

[lexluthermiester]

On the contrary, It works great when it gets some heat. If im just surfing then temps will start to fall after around 15mins. Its given me some great load temps. 10-15'c difference from the old paste. Old paste was also fairly fresh since it was applied roughly about a month ago.

::EDIT::

21'c ambient and its idling at 30-32'c. Hit 50'c idle at start up but 30'ish after 15mins of just sitting on desktop.

If your happy with that performance, far be it for me to steer you away.

 

[Frick]

Ok, you do you.

To be fair the chips today are very different than they were a decade ago. Mayhap some pastes don't handle the crazy shifting in power and temperature.

Phase-change materials are not so great for bare-die applications where space and cooling is limited. For laptops, Carbon & Indium pads seem to perform the best and are the most stable. KPx is another great TIM, but pads are the premium option outside of liquid metal.

I got the PTM7950 for the laptop in sig (Dell 7490/i5 8350m) and the difference was absolutely bonkers. 20C easy.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

I got the PTM7950 for the laptop in sig (Dell 7490/i5 8350m) and the difference was absolutely bonkers. 20C easy.

20c drop is impressive!

Delidding and repaste 8700K was about the same. Saw at least 15c drop just going to As5!

 

[Caring1]

20c drop is impressive!

Delidding and repaste 8700K was about the same. Saw at least 15c drop just going to As5!

I read that AS5 was slightly conductive still, any issues when delidding?

 

[wNotyarD]

I read that AS5 was slightly conductive still, any issues when delidding?

Isn't the issue with the current AS5 it being capacitive?

 

[Caring1]

I'll wait for someone with a lot more knowledge to answer that one

 

[freeagent]

It is capacitive, slightly. I slapped that stuff on hammered more than a few times.

You can probably finger paint with it, probably not a good plan though.

It is still decent stuff, just everyone thinks its junk because they saw a graph at Toms

It is easy to put too much, or not enough AS5 on, it takes practice to get a perfect mount.

I used it for more than a decade before I discovered online shopping

 

[lexluthermiester]

To be fair the chips today are very different than they were a decade ago. Mayhap some pastes don't handle the crazy shifting in power and temperature.

True, but I'm talking about modern systems.

I got the PTM7950 for the laptop in sig (Dell 7490/i5 8350m) and the difference was absolutely bonkers. 20C easy.

I believe you. Most aftermarket TIMs will do better, sometimes MUCH better, than factory TIMs.

Isn't the issue with the current AS5 it being capacitive?

It is, but as always, apply it carefully and only use what you need(to avoid excess dripping) and all is well. AS5 still tests very well and unlike other TIMs(looking at you Noctua), once set and cured it last for many, many years.

 

[Caring1]

To be fair to Noctua I believe they only had an issue with their NH1 paste and the NH2 is meant to be much better.
I have use the latter and found it comparable to AS5 and some others.

 

[Frick]

True, but I'm talking about modern systems.

Yeah so do I, hence the degration or "pump-out".

 

[lexluthermiester]

Yeah so do I, hence the degradation or "pump-out".

Except that it's very unlikely to be "pump-out".

 

[freeagent]

AS5 does not pump out. Don’t recall any TIM that I used pump out. Must be the ultra budget stuff that does?

 

[Athlonite]

I'll wait for someone with a lot more knowledge to answer that one

It's not conductive people keep saying it is because it contains silver but it's not it is however ever so slightly capacitive and that is straight from Arctics website so don't be putting enough on there so it'll spooge out the sides and touch something it aute not to a 3.5g syringe is enough to cover 20 CPU IHS's in a sufficient enough amount to work perfectly

 

[lexluthermiester]

Must be the ultra budget stuff that does?

I doubt even that is happening.

 

[freeagent]

I doubt even that is happening.

Me too.

I have seen TIM break down in the past, maybe that is what they are seeing.. but I am reaching waaay back.

 

[Bones]

Yeah so do I, hence the degration or "pump-out".

Degregation (Breakdown) of the TIM and pump-out (TIM squeezing out from under the cooler/block) are two different things/effects.

I did something today I haven't had to do for a long time and that was to order more TIM.
Of course I went with the stuff I've been using for awhile now (MX-4) and got enough coming in I shoudn't have to worry about running low again for sometime to come (I hope).
Has to be good for both daily and sub-zero use and also perform too in my case so that's why I use it.

On a cost per gram basis, it's about the best value I've found too BUT you have to shop around for the best deal, regardless of where you get it from.

 

[Caring1]

I decided to test the kryosheet with my 6750xt out of curiosity more than need. With the MPT tool I sometimes have set my 6750xt to use upto 300w which can make the gpu run rather hot. With the kryosheet I have achieved a new personal record with the furmark 1440p benchmark. At least in my testing the kryosheet has exceeded the performance of kryonaught extreme, artic mx-4, and ptm7950. Although results were repeatable, the performance gained is minimal with 2.7% more performance than artic mx-4. There is only so much I can ask from my low end dual slot heatsink.

Given my lackluster results with PTM7950 I wonder if I got fake stuff. I bought it from MODDIY rather than EBUY because every comment I saw was certain MODDIY had the real stuff. Kryosheet is good stuff though.

When I was looking at the PTM last night I noticed it's Thermal Conductivity wasn't that great, sure it was around 8 somethingW/mK but I've seen pastes that are higher in the 13 and 14 range.
Thermalright even make some and are reasonably priced.