The Official Thermal Interface Material thread

[Pictus]

The PTM-7950 comes packaged similarly to a new thermal pad, sandwiched between two thin layers of plastic film. It was a real PITA to get that plastic peel off of both sides and apply it to the Vega die and HBM. Had to use a razor blade to slowly peel it apart, and once I got enough of a chunk of the plastic peeling off it became a lot easier to rip off the rest. Took about 10 minutes of nervous finagaling.

The trick is to place the PTM7950 in the freezer before peeling.

 

[DR4G00N]

I bought the Honeywell PTM-7950 off a seller on Aliexpress so hopefully it is actually legit, lol, but it seems to be working well so far.

I might have to try one of those on mine.

Picked up some SYY-157 to try on my vega but it doesn't seem to hold up over time just like GD900. Starts good with a 10-15c hotspot delta but now after a couple of weeks it's around 30c @ 220W (50c core, 80c hotspot).

 

[Shrek]

Glad I invested in GD900

 

[delshay]

I just bought some Honeywell PTM7950. It will arrive in one week. .If anyone has experience with this pads please post.

 

[Athlonite]

I just bought some Honeywell PTM7960. It will arrive in one week. .If anyone has experience with this pads please post.

Apparently if want an easy install it's supposed to help by putting it in the freezer first

 

[delshay]

Apparently if want an easy install it's supposed to help by putting it in the freezer first

Just this very moment downloaded the PDF from Honeywell.

 

[P4-630]

I'm using Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme, having good temps with my i7 12700K.

 

[Suspenders]

The trick is to place the PTM7950 in the freezer before peeling.

I just bought some Honeywell PTM7950. It will arrive in one week. .If anyone has experience with this pads please post.

I neglected to add in my post that I put my PTM7950 into the fridge before I used it, and it was still very annoying to install onto the GPU die as it sticks very stubbornly to the plastic backing. I pried the plastic backing off with a razor blade and a toothpick, going very patiently and very slowly. I will definitely try the freezer trick next time, if it helps at all it would be worth it.

I might have to try one of those on mine.

Picked up some SYY-157 to try on my vega but it doesn't seem to hold up over time just like GD900. Starts good with a 10-15c hotspot delta but now after a couple of weeks it's around 30c @ 220W (50c core, 80c hotspot).

One of the supposed benefits of this stuff is that it suffers very little from pumping-out effect other thermal greases have. Time will tell, but I will try and update the thread in a few months if I notice any problems. I did a few benchmark runs @230W power on my Vega 64 with this result:

10C delta between GPU temp and hotspot temps on a crappy reference blower. If it stays that way it would be pretty nice

 

[delshay]

Honeywell PTM7950 has just arrive currently in my portable tiny fridge. I hope this stuff is better than graphite pad.

 

[delshay]

View attachment 300904

I bought the Honeywell PTM-7950 off a seller on Aliexpress so hopefully it is actually legit, lol, but it seems to be working well so far.

Maybe if you got some sandpaper you could lap that big bump out. ..oh wait, that may create a Lunar Crater

Joking aside, I'v also got some Honeywell PTM7950. These pads are the real deal unlike graphite pads which I dislike due to higher idle temp. These pads are so good I started to look who this company is.
To my amazement this company is one of the top 15 company's in the world in the aerospace industry.

Anyway the pads are fantastic. My Vega Nano set all-time new clock speed with minimum voltage (800mv) & 1v. ..Idle temperature is also lower than before.

 

[gQx]

Maybe if you got some sandpaper you could lap that big bump out. ..oh wait, that may create a Lunar Crater

Joking aside, I'v also got some Honeywell PTM7950. These pads are the real deal unlike graphite pads which I dislike due to higher idle temp. These pads are so good I started to look who this company is.
To my amazement this company is one of the top 15 company's in the world in the aerospace industry.

Anyway the pads are fantastic. My Vega Nano set all-time new clock speed with minimum voltage (800mv) & 1v. ..Idle temperature is also lower than before.

yeah I don't get why people still suggests mx-4 etc which pumps out. Maybe it's a marketting thing since these pads are one apply and leave it for the rest of the device's lifespan. I'm glad I ordered from way over china temps still great after 2 months and I won't have to apply it again

 

[AusWolf]

Probably a stupid question to chiplet Ryzen owners... how do you guys apply thermal paste? Does the good old blob method make it spread out enough to cover the area above the chiplets?

Edit: I'm currently struggling to cool my 7800X3D with a 280 mm AIO, and I'm looking for every small detail that could've gone wrong.

 

[freeagent]

Probably a stupid question to chiplet Ryzen owners... how do you guys apply thermal paste? Does the good old blob method make it spread out enough to cover the area above the chiplets?

Edit: I'm currently struggling to cool my 7800X3D with a 280 mm AIO, and I'm looking for every small detail that could've gone wrong.

I draw a thin line down the side, barely enough.. and I pull it across working the TIM in each direction uniformly until the IHS is covered evenly. Then I let it sit for about 10 minutes before I plant my cooler.

 

[delshay]

yeah I don't get why people still suggests mx-4 etc which pumps out. Maybe it's a marketting thing since these pads are one apply and leave it for the rest of the device's lifespan. I'm glad I ordered from way over china temps still great after 2 months and I won't have to apply it again

If you want the best thermal solution then you have to look at the "aerospace industry" something I missed. I think these company's know a lot more than other company's because they pride them-self on safety where human life is at risk. If all the paste on the market we currently use in our computers are that good, then I have to ask myself where do you find them being used in the aerospace industry.

PTM7950 is so good I will be removing LM from my other GFX cards. I will be moving to thermal solution from "aerospace industry only" & abandoning all other thermal solution apart from Fujipoly 17W m/k thermal pads that's required for "DirectFet" Mosfet. ...I also ordered PTM7958 for "experiments only".


EDIT: Here's a good interesting read of all thermal solution Pros & Cons

Click Here Thermal Management - Aerospace Manufacturing and Design

 

[Bones]

yeah I don't get why people still suggests mx-4 etc which pumps out. Maybe it's a marketting thing since these pads are one apply and leave it for the rest of the device's lifespan. I'm glad I ordered from way over china temps still great after 2 months and I won't have to apply it again

Any TIM can "Pump Out" so it's not a matter of it being MX-4, Ceramique, Noctua NT-H1 or any other TIM.
Also, TIM won't pump out until it's all gone, it simply keeps spreading until the pressure from thermal expansion and contraction along with pressure from the cooler stops making it do that and it includes having some of it to come out.

I covered this in an older thread and it may help you to understand what this effect really is.

"Pump-out Effect" Is it real or is it nonsense? Let's discuss...

@plastisch Can you point me to thermal paste that have 18W m/k?

www.techpowerup.com

 

[gQx]

Any TIM can "Pump Out" so it's not a matter of it being MX-4, Ceramique, Noctua NT-H1 or any other TIM.
Also, TIM won't pump out until it's all gone, it simply keeps spreading until the pressure from thermal expansion and contraction along with pressure from the cooler stops making it do that and it includes having some of it to come out.

I covered this in an older thread and it may help you to understand what this effect really is.

"Pump-out Effect" Is it real or is it nonsense? Let's discuss...

@plastisch Can you point me to thermal paste that have 18W m/k?

www.techpowerup.com

if you are gonna call 2 things with same name can't argue with you there one of those seems to be happening way sooner with other brands

 

[Shrek]

I still wonder about surfactants to encourage the TIM to creep back into the interface.

 

[Bones]

if you are gonna call 2 things with same name can't argue with you there one of those seems to be happening way sooner with other brands

Explain your meaning please.
It's all the same thing for the reasons I gave.
If calling thermal expansion/contraction and pump out two different things they are not so much since thermal expansion/contraction helps to cause it, not that it actually IS pump out.

In short, thermal expansion/contraction is most of the "Driving Force" behind it but at the same time, the actual effect (What pump out IS/what you see) is TIM coming out.

 

[Athlonite]

Probably a stupid question to chiplet Ryzen owners... how do you guys apply thermal paste? Does the good old blob method make it spread out enough to cover the area above the chiplets?

Edit: I'm currently struggling to cool my 7800X3D with a 280 mm AIO, and I'm looking for every small detail that could've gone wrong.

I go with spread it thinly over to IHS as you don't need a shitton never had a problem doing it that way

 

[Borc]

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

 

[Waldorf]

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

Arctic MX-6

i can use it on my /friends/familie pc's just fine, as im not so lazy to feel the need to leave it on for years (without checking),
ignoring that i usually upgrade/replace parts way before it ever became an issue.

i replaced the paste from a 560ti in 2012 when i mounted a silent artic cooler.
never touched it since then, just end of last year did it go "bad" (MX4).

@delshay
multiple examples i can name showing the complete opposite, starting with the shuttles that are gone,
all from preventable accidents because ppl weren't following rules and/or not doing their job.
i rather would rely on mil (grade) stuff. when was the last time a gov/mil AC went down with someone very important onboard (that everyone would know from name/tv)?

 

[delshay]

@delshay
multiple examples i can name showing the complete opposite, starting with the shuttles that are gone,
all from preventable accidents because ppl weren't following rules and/or not doing their job.
i rather would rely on mil (grade) stuff. when was the last time a gov/mil AC went down with someone very important onboard (that everyone would know from name/tv)?

Yeah, there will always be someone cutting corners to meet timescale.

Anyway I have Honeywell pads & I just conducted my first experiment with it yesterday. This stuff if you make a mistake just roll it all together in a ball refit cooler "do not tighten cooler all the way down" do this later when pads have melted. If I remove the cooler I will have almost a perfect circle with perfect coverage of the die. Temperature difference between multiple dies is much closer to each other including hotspot. ....Strange installing the the pads this way seems better. I can take the spare card apart & post a photo if user(s) are interested.

 

[gQx]

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

Arctic MX-6

i can use it on my /friends/familie pc's just fine, as im not so lazy to feel the need to leave it on for years (without checking),
ignoring that i usually upgrade/replace parts way before it ever became an issue.

i replaced the paste from a 560ti in 2012 when i mounted a silent artic cooler.
never touched it since then, just end of last year did it go "bad" (MX4).

Yeah it's probably a laptop thing I should've mentioned since mounts are less strong and mx-4(mx-6) is probably one of the best choices with desktops. And calling one apply product lazy is a child's argument

 

[Shrek]

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

We need to stop driving the market by buying pastes with 'high' thermal conductivities.

Finally people are discussing longevity.

 

[Bones]

We need to stop driving the market by buying pastes with 'high' thermal conductivities.

Finally people are discussing longevity.

Many do this because the stuff is overhyped like Kryonaut for example.
While it does work, it's not worth the extreme cost per gram vs other TIM's that have good performance as well for the usage most are using it for, which is daily/gaming use.

Kryonaut was made for and is formulated for sub-zero use but to many, that translates into "Better" performance all around regardless of use, which is not always true.

What I'm getting at is there is no need to use a TIM made for extreme performance under sub-zero conditions for the system to perform with the useage type so many have for a system. In my case it would be an acceptable situation BUT at the same time there are other TIM's that do about as well for much less per gram, even for that kind of use too - And I have the results to back it up with runs done with MX4.

If having a net gain of 1 to 2c is worth all the extra cost to you, of course you can go for it but in truth it's not worth the extra cost and another thing to consider is how long does the stuff really last before it has to be reapplied.

MX4 is still good TIM even now - MX2 still works rather well too and is suitable for daily/gaming useage machines because the stuff with a good cooler/AIO/Custom water cooling setup just works and does so for a long time, plus it's cost per gram is way lower than others like Kryonaut for example.
It's the exact TIM in use with this machine and no problems to even mention about it.

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

What year it happens to be currently does not determine if a given TIM is actually good or not.
Either it works or it doesn't.