Selecting the most effective thermal paste might sound easy, however a dizzying array of choices can flip this seemingly simple selection right into a time-consuming job. Thermal paste is designed to reduce microscopic air gaps and irregularities between the floor of the cooler and the CPU’s IHS (built-in warmth spreader), the piece of metallic which is constructed into the highest of the processor.
Good thermal paste can have a profound impression in your efficiency, as a result of it should enable your processor to switch extra of its waste warmth to your cooler, conserving your processor operating cool. Selecting the most effective thermal paste can be vital should you plan on overclocking your rig to its fullest. Even the greatest CPUs for gaming can usually hit barely larger CPU overclocks in the event that they’re paired with a great thermal paste.Â
Efficiency fans usually swear by a favourite model of paste, however new recipes crop up once in a while. We have performed in depth testing of a number of the high thermal pastes in the marketplace, and should you’re on the hunt for extra unique pastes which can be off the crushed path, we even have loads of historic information beneath overlaying 90 totally different pastes (and sure, we have even examined toothpaste).
Thermal paste can go by many names, reminiscent of “thermal compound,” “thermal grease,” or “TIM” (Thermal Interface Materials). Most pastes are comprised of ceramic or metallic supplies suspended inside a proprietary binder which permits for simple utility and unfold in addition to easy cleanup.Â
These thermal pastes will be electrically conductive or non-conductive, relying on their particular components. Electrically conductive thermal pastes can carry present between two factors, that means that if the paste squeezes out onto different parts, it might probably trigger harm to motherboards and CPUs while you change on the ability. A single drop misplaced can result in a lifeless PC, so additional care is crucial.Â
Liquid metallic compounds are nearly all the time electrically conductive, so whereas these compounds present higher efficiency than their paste counterparts, they require extra focus and a spotlight throughout utility. They’re very laborious to take away should you get some within the improper place, which might fry your system.
In distinction, conventional thermal paste compounds are comparatively easy for each expertise stage. Most, however not all, conventional pastes are electrically non-conductive.
Regardless that there are a dizzying array of various thermal pastes obtainable — some blends have been round for longer than a decade — new formulations nonetheless come to market at a shocking tempo. The truth is, long-time PC cooler-maker NZXT simply entered the market with its first paste, the not-very-excitingly named NZXT Excessive-Efficiency Thermal Paste. Lengthy-time TIM-maker Cooler Grasp additionally simply launched a brand new purple CryoFuze, and Alphacool additionally not too long ago launched its Apex thermal paste, displaying that the TIM market continues to be thriving. Each of those new pastes will make it to our take a look at bench quickly, however now we have loads of examined pastes in your perusal.
As new pastes arrive, older pastes additionally get retired. We not too long ago discovered that Arctic will retire its ever-popular MX-5 paste, one of many staples in our suggestions beneath, because it makes manner for the brand new MX-6. We’ll preserve the MX-5 listed, however bear in mind that when the present inventory is gone, this favourite will now not be obtainable. We’ll even have MX-6 in for testing quickly.Â
Listed below are the most effective thermal pastes, together with our full take a look at outcomes. Remember the fact that you do not all the time get what you pay for as some price range pastes come awfully near or overtake their more-expensive rivals.
Greatest Premium (Customary) Thermal Paste
Usually hanging near, however not overtaking, liquid metallic compounds in our exams, PromilaTech PK-3 Nano Aluminum paste is a reasonably viscous thermal compound built-in with aluminum and zinc oxide. The paste supplies good stability, making it simple to use to all surfaces in addition to easy to scrub up. You actually cannot go improper with this paste — it’s ample for many CPU functions.
Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut is a mildly viscous thermal compound with good stability, making it easy to work with whereas additionally resisting drips and runs. This paste could be very simple to use and clear up, making it a favourite amongst system builders.
 A compound with conventional thermal compound attributes reminiscent of thick, pliable viscosity and good stability upon utility.  MasterGel Professional v2 is straightforward to work with, easy to use and cleans up effectively.  Technical spec sheets don’t record particular person substances.Â
MX-5 is a brand new compound which doesn’t instantly substitute their standard MX-4 however is a brand new formulation for fanatic use based mostly on carbon micro-particulates in what’s assumed to be a silicon or silicone base. Â The slight-blue tint and easy, viscous compound has a bit extra fluid consistency very similar to skinny toothpaste making it simple to use and cleanup which lends to very easy and quick spreading throughout cooler stress, however may also be susceptible to dripping and operating if utilized on vertical surfaces.
This paste is being retired as Arctic brings its new MX-6 to market, so it should solely be obtainable till provides run out.Â
NB Max Professional is a easy, creamy non-conductive paste that flows effectively throughout tensioning. Â This paste has a easy utility and cleanup paired with a great value and worth/efficiency per gram.Â
Greatest Price range Thermal Paste
Noctua’s NH-H1 is a comparatively viscous and secure compound that applies simply and permits for simple clean-up. A screw-on cap syringe maintains compound longevity to stop drying and is priced as a pretty paste for these on a price range. You actually cannot go improper with this paste — it’s ample for almost all of builds.
Gelid GC-Excessive is a reasonably viscous compound, making it very secure throughout utility and it spreads persistently, though it requires gradual constant strain on the syringe plunger for proper placement. This TIM is comparatively simple to make use of and easy to scrub up.
A compound with comparatively ‘regular’ viscosity recognized to thermal paste utility in addition to good stability throughout utility.  Whereas recognized and listed to being electrically non-conductive, most technical information sheets seek advice from the chemical make-up which incorporates heat-conductive metallic oxides suspended in what is probably going a silicone base. Â
This thick, viscous non-conductive compound has an excessive amount of plasticity, giving it slower spreading properties. In consequence, heatsink set up would require further focus to use even stress to make sure correct unfold.  The compound’s components mentions the usage of carbon particles in its composition.Â
The NTE 303A paste is an industrial silicone thermal compound designed for diodes and transistors in business and residential digital gear. NTE 303A is silky easy and spreads very simply. Â The big, 1oz (28.35g) syringe supplies an unbelievably low worth per gram, so it could be a favourite for system builders or {hardware} testers who apply compound usually.Â
Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metallic thermal compound has a really skinny, runny consistency and is utilized to the CPU built-in warmth spreader with a syringe supply system and capillary needle applicator tip. Extra materials will be siphoned off utilizing a particular extraction tip (by pulling the syringe plunger to withdraw extra liquid metallic).
CoolLaboratory Liquid Professional is a liquid metallic compound that’s utilized with a syringe and capillary tip to the CPU built-in warmth spreader, and it ships with a scouring pad and alcohol swab for prep and cleanup.Â
Software and spreading of the liquid metallic are made simpler with cotton swabs and beneficiant strain for even distribution. Liquid metallic may cause reactions with some metals, reminiscent of aluminum, and a few experiences of reactions with copper are additionally documented by end-users.
For a compound that prices lower than half as a lot as main rivals , Phobya’s Liquid Metallic Compound LM presents spectacular efficiency, usually besting the the CoolLaboratory Liquid Professional or Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut in our exams.
Liquid Metallic Compound LM ships as a syringe with a capillary applicator tip. Spreading the compound is made simpler with cotton swabs and beneficiant strain to develop a constant coating on the CPU IHS. Could cause reactions with aluminum and different metals.
Thermal Paste Efficiency Rankings
This is a breakdown of our latest testing, and we’ll be including new pastes to this record over the approaching weeks and months. A bit additional down, you may discover our authentic spherical of testing with 85 totally different pastes, a few of which we have revisited on this new efficiency hierarchy. That ought to offer you a good suggestion of how different pastes that we have not retested but would evaluate to the newer pastes.Â
We’ll go into our breakdown of how we take a look at these thermal pastes beneath, however the important thing takeaway right here is {that a} single thermal compound can carry out otherwise based mostly upon a number of variables, reminiscent of what kind of cooler and mount you employ. To cowl all of the bases, we have examined each thermal paste with three variables:Â
- Low-tension Noctua NH-D15 mounting to mannequin an air cooler with out a backplate (like an Intel inventory cooler, or push-pin coolers)
- Excessive-tension Noctua NH-D15 mounting to mannequin higher-end air coolers with a backplate
- Excessive-tension mounting with an all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler
Beneath you may discover the temperatures we measured on our standardized take a look at bench, and as all the time, decrease temperatures are higher. We have additionally included worth charts within the album beneath as effectively.Â
Picture 1 of 6
Thermal Paste Check Outcomes
As proven within the slides above, the result of the totally different testing eventualities resulted in some attention-grabbing comparisons among the many compounds. We’ll have a look at the general thermal load averages for every, in addition to the relative efficiency worth of every by way of price-per-gram.
Air Cooling – Low Pressure Mount
Liquid metallic compounds make their method to the highest of the temperature chart with barely cooler values than the standard pastes. Curiously, the distinction between the highest and backside of this chart is lower than 4C.
After we have a look at every compound by way of unit cost-per-gram, liquid metallic compounds are typically extra pricey, making their general efficiency worth extra of a luxurious than a necessity. Nevertheless, Phobya LM bucks this development because it exhibits you will get good liquid metallic compound efficiency at discount pricing.Â
Air Cooling – Excessive Pressure Mount
Liquid metals are once more on the high of the record, and once more, there’s a comparatively small 4C delta between the highest and backside of the record. Only some minor modifications to the pecking order have occurred, and these simply fall inside the tight margins of ordinary deviation.
Small variations in temperatures jostle the chart a bit, however general the extra budget-friendly compounds present way more promising efficiency worth as a result of comparatively shut load ranges. We see a development that almost all good and nice thermal compounds carry out very equally, however could be worlds aside in worth per gram.
All In One (AIO) Liquid Cooler – Excessive Pressure Mount
It’s no shock that the liquid metallic compounds as soon as once more sit atop the thermal comparability. Nonetheless, a 6C distinction between all 15 thermal compounds examined exhibits there isn’t a whole lot of variation, even with a 360 all-in-one cooler with a push+pull fan setup for efficiency.Â
The efficiency worth chart exhibits many of the liquid metallic compounds with a poor value-per-gram ranking, however as soon as once more, Phobya LM proves to be the outlier for that sub-category with its price range price ticket.
We’re additionally seeing the development of bigger gram-per-package for thermal pastes (2-5g syringes) together with cheaper price proving to be stiff competitors in opposition to the dearer liquid metals (0.5-1.0g syringes) that value upwards of twice as a lot, or extra.Â
Key Takeaways
Thermal compounds would possibly all the time be in contrast and debated over, however the easy reality stays: PC system constructing wants thermal compounds to successfully dissipate thermal hundreds. With out them, our beloved gaming and content-producing machines would wrestle to maintain parts cool throughout heated frag classes, heavy workstation computations, or simply merely shopping the online.Â
Not each system will want the costliest compound, so even probably the most budget-minded system builders can relaxation simple figuring out that even lower-cost pastes can nonetheless show very efficient. You possibly can see our historic testing outcomes with way more pastes after the take a look at setup.Â
Check System Configuration and Testing Strategies
| CPU | Intel i9-10850k LGA1200 (Comet Lake), all 10 cores: 4.6Ghz @ 1.190v |
| Motherboard | MSI Z490 MEG Godlike (BIOS ver. 7C70v12) |
| Reminiscence | Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB, 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3600 |
| Storage | Corsair MP600 M.2 2280 NVMe, 500GB |
| Graphics | Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050Ti |
| Energy Provide | be quiet! Darkish Energy Pro11 1200w |
| Chassis | Corsair Graphite 760T |
| Monitoring | CrystalFontz CFA-633-TMI-KU, 4x Dallas One Wire WR-DOW-Y17 sensors |
| Fan Management | Corsair Commander Professional, 100%/50% PWM Velocity profiles (liquid cooling pump all the time @100%, if relevant) |
| OS | Home windows 10 Professional 64bit |
For our thermal compound exams, we use the identical {hardware}, CPU overclock, and configuration for every take a look at to reduce atmosphere variables in our testing.Â
We examined every thermal paste with a low-tension air cooler mount, high-tension air cooler mount, and a high-tension AIO liquid cooler mount. Every utility was given a 1-hour burn-in utilizing Prime95 with ten load and cooling cycles over the course of the hour; six minutes every with a ten-second cool-down between. Every testing load session was then executed for a one-hour load interval, once more utilizing Prime95.Â
For the air cooling low- and high-tension exams, we used a big Noctua NH-D15 air cooler. We created the low stress mount atmosphere by torquing the mounting screws to 1.13 Nm (10 in/lbs).Â
The low stress mounting exams assist simulate cooler installs that may not use a backplate (like push-pin coolers) or these that don’t enable excessive stress and compression throughout the CPU built-in warmth spreader. Additionally, repeated exams usually are not persistently doable with push-pin mounted coolers: Â The pins can degrade after a number of mount cycles, which meant we wanted to simulate these to keep up constant take a look at outcomes.
Our high-tension air cooler mount concerned tightening the mounting screws totally to the mounting plate and exhibits thermal paste efficiency with air coolers with backplates that enable for tighter mounting.
We used the EK-AIO Elite 360 D-RGB for the liquid cooling exams with all followers in a push+pull configuration. We carried out these exams with the AIO pump block totally tensioned (tightened). We did not take a look at the AIO with a low-tension mount as a result of liquid coolers nearly all the time make use of a backplate that enables a high-tension mount.
Total, every compound was evaluated and harassed over a routine cycle overlaying six hours with two totally different coolers and totally different mounting tensions, making for at least 90 hours of compound testing for our preliminary spherical of exams.Â
Legacy Thermal Paste Testing – 85 Pastes Examined
Picture 1 of 5
This is our legacy thermal paste testing chart that we generated again in 2017. As you may discover, most of the similar standard pastes in 2017 are nonetheless in the marketplace, making it into our new spherical of 2021 testing.Â
We do have new testing gear for our up to date exams, reminiscent of a extra fashionable CPU, motherboard, and coolers for our exams, however we adhered to the identical take a look at methodology employed in these prior exams. That signifies that you should use these legacy exams as an honest approximation of how the newer pastes evaluate to the older pastes, too.Â
We’ll be including extra thermal pastes to our new hierarchy; keep tuned.Â
