Thermal Paste - The Debate.

[SavageAUS]

Ok so I built my skylake rig around December 2015, I was a bit slack when I built it as I left the stock thermal paste on the corsair H110i GT AIO liquid cooler. As it coming up to 2 years old... i would like to know peoples opinions on thermal paste.

 

1. Should I have replaced it with an aftermarket from the get go?

2. What would be the "best" compound type to use?

Arctic Silver 5 is what I have.

3. How often do you renew your thermal paste?

4. Which method do you use to apply your thermal paste? BB size dot, cross or lines?

 

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[Sherlocks]

I used gelid extreme thermal paste on my system.

It shown best result for me.

 

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[Cyberdevs]

Ok so I built my skylake rig around December 2015, I was a bit slack when I built it as I left the stock thermal paste on the corsair H110i GT AIO liquid cooler. As it coming up to 2 years old... i would like to know peoples opinions on thermal paste.

 

1. Should I have replaced it with an aftermarket from the get go?

2. What would be the "best" compound type to use?

Arctic Silver 5 is what I have.

3. How often do you renew your thermal paste?

4. Which method do you use to apply your thermal paste? BB size dot, cross or lines?

 

I guess we both built our rigs about the same time, give or take.

I used the thermal paste that came with my CoolerMaster Liquid Cooler. Arctic Silver 5 is one of the best selling vendors and they are ok. I recently removed the old thermal paste, one sign for replacing the thermal paste is that the CPU won't work as cool as it supposed to, although there are other factors that might make the CPU and the whole PC work hotter such as the case air flow, the GPU, the overall system load.

The other factor that I take into account is the humidity and the temperature of the environment that the case is in.

 

I usually replace the paste whenever I see the temps are acting up but in general after 2 or 3 years the paste will harden and needs to be replaced (That's my opinion)

 

In my view it doesn't matter that much how you apply the paste as long as it covers the whole CPU's lid. I usually use the Criss-Cross or the dots to apply the paste.

 

If the paste has a runny oily substance when you apply it usually means that the paste is going bad or never was a good paste to begin with.

[SavageAUS]

I just did the paste on my haswell laptop (Getting old) and i saw about a 9 degree drop straight away. At boot it would settle around 48 now its around 39. Will have to experiment with different compounds i think. Using Arctic Silver 5 now. Old paste was factory and hard.

 

Can anyone else with a Haswell laptop or similar please post temps?

[Brumbaer]

When overclocking I use Liquid Metal  from Coollaboratory or Thermal Grizzly. Temperatures are between 10 and 20 degrees Celsius lower than with ordinary pastes. 

When not overclocking it usually doesn't matter much. Having said that I like the paste from Noctua - sold with their coolers, but also available separately.

My rigs are in use rarely longer than 12 months, so I can't comment on longterm stability.

 

With Liquid Metal you use very small amounts and spread it out. You do not want to use so much that it starts running off the heat spreader.

With ordinary paste I do a thin cross. If in doubt or to check a method install and deinstall the cooler and look at the contact areas, whether the paste is spread evenly and the paste looks a bit like dough torn apart.

[fallen00sniper]

Ok so I built my skylake rig around December 2015, I was a bit slack when I built it as I left the stock thermal paste on the corsair H110i GT AIO liquid cooler. As it coming up to 2 years old... i would like to know peoples opinions on thermal paste.

 

1. Should I have replaced it with an aftermarket from the get go?

2. What would be the "best" compound type to use?

Arctic Silver 5 is what I have.

3. How often do you renew your thermal paste?

4. Which method do you use to apply your thermal paste? BB size dot, cross or lines?

 

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Replace when temps aren't at normal levels or 1-2 years if you want to be really picky about it.

 

I have the H100i V1 and idle 24c with Noctua HT-N1, first time using it and I am impressed with how easily it spread without being soupy and the temps I am getting, lowest I've ever had.

 

A pea sized drop and an even coat on the cpu top will do, I add a little extra thin line in the center when cleaning the plastic from the packaging off just to let it have some to spread out if it needs to evenly.

 

Didn't go over 42c running prime95 after my system had been on for a few hours and I let it run about 15 minutes.

[SavageAUS]

Replace when temps aren't at normal levels or 1-2 years if you want to be really picky about it.

 

I have the H100i V1 and idle 24c with Noctua HT-N1, first time using it and I am impressed with how easily it spread without being soupy and the temps I am getting, lowest I've ever had.

 

A pea sized drop and an even coat on the cpu top will do, I add a little extra thin line in the center when cleaning the plastic from the packaging off just to let it have some to spread out if it needs to evenly.

 

Didn't go over 42c running prime95 after my system had been on for a few hours and I let it run about 15 minutes.

I have the stock corsair fans on my h110i might replace them first. Suggestions?

 

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[fallen00sniper]

I have the stock corsair fans on my h110i might replace them first. Suggestions?

 

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I’m using the stock fans and can’t complain, anything that has good reviews and pressure rating should be fine, jaystwocents is a pretty good source for liquid cooling on YouTube, he likes to push his hardware to the max, likely the fans he uses would be great though I would compare the specifications to the stock fans before buying anything.