Arctic MX-6 shelf life is just a couple months?

[maxfly]

I bought some mx-6 a week or so after it released. Used it on my 9900kf and rtx2070 shortly after that. Temps were solid on both. Pulled them a couple of months ago to go back to water. Temps never changed, paste was just as viscous as the day I applied it. No complaints. I must be lucky Still have the tube in my drawer waiting to get used up along with the mx-4 20g tube and mx-5. Have to stop using up all of my PK3 first dangit.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I've had zero issues with MX-6. It works perfectly. Just like MX-5 and MX-4 did before it.

 

[freeagent]

I have probably used close to 80-100g of TIM since I moved to AM4.. just playing with CPUs, and coolers.. and boards lol..

My favorite so far is probably SYY-157. I just bought my first 40g tube of it. I think its the old formula too because it is a bit thicker than what I am used to.

Perfection imo

 

[Scooby24]

Back to confirm, my issue with MX-6 was absolutely a pump out issue. The NT-H2 I replaced the MX-6 with had performance degradation in a couple weeks. I replaced it with Thermal Grizzly Phasesheet and could visibly see a center point on the die where a dry fractal pattern emerged in the paste where it got squeezed out.

I think OP was referencing an issue with GPU application as well - I would conclude that MX-6 may not have any concerns for CPU usage but is going to be inappropriate for a GPU install....along with a whole lot of other thermal pastes that would be in the same boat.

On unrelated news - Kooling Monster KOLD-01 outperformed NT-H2 on my 9800x3d/Arctic Freezer III 360 combo by 5c under load on CPU package reading. (86c max to 81c max).

 

[lexluthermiester]

squeezed out

Key phrase.

 

[mkppo]

I have probably used close to 80-100g of TIM since I moved to AM4.. just playing with CPUs, and coolers.. and boards lol..

My favorite so far is probably SYY-157. I just bought my first 40g tube of it. I think its the old formula too because it is a bit thicker than what I am used to.

Perfection imo

View attachment 377763

Is that your favourite because of thermal performance or general ease of application/longevity?

I've used various pastes with no real pump out effect (mastergel maker, mastergel pro, kryonaut, KPx) and these are all supposed to be high performance pastes with a real possibility of pump out so I guess I can just continue to use them. I've heard kryonaut extreme is worse in this regard which makes me think there's an inverse relationship between longevity and thermal conductivity for non-conductive pastes. I've moved to PTM for the GPU and going to go direct die for the 9950X so I suppose I have no need for a paste on my main rig but for the other ones if this SYY is any good i'm going to get a tube.

 

[freeagent]

Is that your favourite because of thermal performance or general ease of application/longevity?

Yes, both. It is a sort of cheap, no name TIM.. but dam..

I haven't played a game yet.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Yes, both.

You're not the only person who's stated that. I still haven't tried it out yet, but I've been interested.

 

[AusWolf]

I've had zero issues with MX-6. It works perfectly. Just like MX-5 and MX-4 did before it.

I had a tube of MX-5 that was bad right from day one. It was separated into a watery liquid and a chewing gum like solid part and was a nightmare to apply. Threw it away without using it. Never again.

I haven't tried the MX-6... just went back to the trusty old MX-4. As I tend to say, if it's not broken, don't fix it.

 

[freeagent]

TBH I have never held a strong opinion of Arctic. I was more of an AS5 kinda guy

 

[ShrimpBrime]

I haven't tried the MX-6... just went back to the trusty old MX-4. As I tend to say, if it's not broken, don't fix it.

That's exactly why I've always stuck with nano-diamond pastes despite the draw backs. It always seems to work well, pretty much from the couple few brands I've used.

But you know, they try to improve a product, give it a new part number and try to boost sales. So MX-6 is born with little change from MX-4 as far as temps go on average.

 

[gasolin]

1 year 11 month mx-6, never had a problem

 

[maxfly]

That's exactly why I've always stuck with nano-diamond pastes despite the draw backs. It always seems to work well, pretty much from the couple few brands I've used.

But you know, they try to improve a product, give it a new part number and try to boost sales. So MX-6 is born with little change from MX-4 as far as temps go on average.

You can still get diamond pastes? I haven't seen it for sale since...aw hell I cant remember the name of the wcing shop that used to carry it (for shame). Yeah, it's been a long ass time lol.
I know this forum in particular had quite the negative reaction to the giveaway long ago (never really bothered digging into that)but personally, I had a really solid experience with it (most of the guys at OCF agreed from what I remember). Sure it scratched up the ihs of the 3070 I used it on but the temps were solid and the scratches weren't very bad at all. I didn't use it on my main CPU until I'd tested it out first so I knew what I was getting.

 

[gasolin]

Arctic Freezer 36 is what i use and is the best low budget cooler, so easy and fast to mount the fans, not like a be quiet dark rock pro 4

NT-H1 10g october 2022, instead of mx-6 early also works fine, 1c lower temps

 

[ShrimpBrime]

You can still get diamond pastes? I haven't seen it for sale since...aw hell I cant remember the name of the wcing shop that used to carry it (for shame). Yeah, it's been a long ass time lol.
I know this forum in particular had quite the negative reaction to the giveaway long ago (never really bothered digging into that)but personally, I had a really solid experience with it (most of the guys at OCF agreed from what I remember). Sure it scratched up the ihs of the 3070 I used it on but the temps were solid and the scratches weren't very bad at all. I didn't use it on my main CPU until I'd tested it out first so I knew what I was getting.

Antec Formula 6 and Formula 7 are diamond nano pastes that I really liked. But discontinued.

IC Diamond is probably what you where thinking of where the owner of the company had some issues with people questioning his paste. It was a thing a long time ago. He even made law suit threats.... but it was about the paste damaging processors, removing the lazer etching. Also discontinued I believe.

Anyways, I had received like 10 tubes for free from a friend and I've about used it all up in just a few years.

It is difficult to find diamond nano, but PCCooler has some called GM-6 you can find on Amazon, and a couple other no name brands too.

The trick is when you remove the paste to wipe as little as possible and use some rubbing alcohol. Then the etching doesn't come right off.

The paste is like a 2000 grit abrasive, and what would people expect?? It was like people went into shock they couldn't see the etching under the cooler. Can't see it anyways lol.

But yeah. I've used nano diamond on bare die since about 2008-2010 when I started de-lidding soldered AMD processors. Never had an issue. And there's no etching to remove once de-lidded. Good stuff.