which thermal paste?

[BrainEater]

Originally Posted by bigFOIG

How's the performance compared to other on that stuff? Seems to have good price/gram.

Oh it's not as good (by a tiny amount).MG 860 is commercial grade thermal paste.

Here's the thing about thermal paste ; In any situation that would actually 'need' the 1-2 dergree improvement found by using expensive-high-grade-metal-based TIM's , the thermal solution is garbage anyways.

Thermal paste is to fill microscopic scratches.Not to span 1/64th inch gaps caused by concave surfaces etc..

A properly designed thermal solution should operate in spec without thermal paste.

[great_big_abyss]

I like the white greasy stuff that comes packaged with heat sinks. You apply it once, and it doesn't dry up or crack, so if you have to, you can remove and reinstall your heatsink without reapplying. Really, expensive TIM is only worth a few degrees difference. If you're that worried about cooling, buy a bigger heatsink!

[Your_friendly_gamer]

I would highly recommend IC diamond 7. I started using it last year and have never looked back. I use it for gpu's as well now. Makes a huge difference. I think I have easily lowered my temps 5 degrees plus than what I used to use, I used arctic silver 5.

I say if you are spending a lot of money on your cpu, than fraction of that can be invested in a good thermal paste. it's 30 bucks with taxes and free shipping at hardwarecanucks store. It will probably last you a long while. Mine lasted me a year, but I go through lots of processors.

Yes it's hard to come off. But it's well worth it!

[CroSsFiRe2009]

Not sure why this came back up from the dead but if you want a name brand that's relatively cheap, mx-2 in a 30g tube will last you forever until you lose the tube itself :D
MX-2T-30G, Arctic Cooling, Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound Paste NON-ELECTRICAL Conductive 30 Gram , Computers Canada - Best Deal on Computers, Computer Parts, Laptops, Hard Drives, PC Hardware & Accessories

Wish they brought back ocz freeze though. Cheap, easy to apply and was almost as good as the best pastes out there currently.
As for IC7, it works well but imo it's more akin to a lapping compound :D and I'm not sure if it's just me but it seems to dry out after a while

[trayton]

I still use AS5, and i've heard of IC7 and debated using it but I turn over my computer parts often (to try to stay up to date etc...) With IC7 I'll be having the risk of losing the imprint on the chip and people won't be able to read it etc.. from what I've read and that worries me.

How is the MX-2, is there any cons to using it like the IC7 that I listed above?

Thanks!

[fubar]

Too bad, no one replied to you.

I was going to ask, 'which is better, MX-2 or MX4?' but I think I should just bump this thread in case somebody has anything else to add on thermal paste.

I need to buy some for trying to improve my cpu temps and I think the heat sink I'm using (TRUE) should be doing a better job.

I'm also debating buying a H60 cooler but I think that means I will need to remove the mobo but just trying to re-paste my TRUE connection, I don't have to then, right?

But, if I can't get my temps down to 30 degrees (at least) or lower, I might as well get a new heat sink and I would like to go with the closed loop cooling anyway. But, then it becomes a bit of a project. So, if I buy the H60 and the thermal paste re-application works, I could use the H60 for a new build, right? It's still good?

I just don't want to spend on shipping twice in case new thermal paste doesn't solve the problem. The other thing I could do is just buy whatever is found locally (if it's not too expensive - buying locally usually is, though).

Any advice or suggestions? 'Not sure what to do! :-/

[Adzsask]

MX2, and 4 are pretty close performance wise. MX2 is thicker and not so good at spreading, I prefer MX4 and OCZ freeze because it spreads nicely and doesn't dry up/harden.

[techman95]

wow glad somebody else revived my thread again. but i finally decided to go with mx2 or 4 but just havent gotten it yet. but now im kind of forced to because mes thinks the thermal paste on my h100 is drying out already since in the paste week or so my temps have risen 3-4 degrees after i lowered my clock from 4ghz to 3.7ghz. whoopie freakin do at least im hoping its the thermal paste and thats it cause i really dont want replace my cpu again and having the possibility of having to go 1st gen bulldozer since the hexacores are disappearing fast

[HC1200]

Would be nice if you posted your temps with the new thermal paste, either mx-2 or mx4.

[Mena]

Have you considered IC24? Best stuff out there.