VOGONS


First post, by Sphere478

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I got some kryonaut and have been using it, it seems fine and all, but like instantly dries out. Seems undesirable.

What’s the best paste that doesn’t dry out?

What is that white stuff that is used on mosfets in many electronics. Does it have a name? That just generic white thermal paste… probably the same generic stuff we get with processors and heatsinks all the time right? It seems to stay wet for years. Makes it seem like it would be viable for longer?

Anyway, I’m trying to figure out the best paste for k6-3+ mods didn’t pentium 4s use some sort of artic silver 5? That seemed to work out well..

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Reply 1 of 24, by paradigital

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I think the white stuff is typically referred to as “thermal compound”, “thermal grease” or “heat sink compound” (typically metal oxide), it’s available from places like RS components and Farnell’s, likely all the major component suppliers.

I don’t find the generic white stuff to be all that great, still dries out and has worse performance than the more specialised compounds.

Finally, drying out doesn’t necessarily mean “not working”, as long as you’ve applied the right amount, and all it is doing is filling in the uneven surfaces (rather than acting as a barrier with too much applied), it’ll be working “dry” as much as it was working wet. The only downside to dried out is usually removal.

Most modern Intel CPUs used directly soldered IHS to provide the utmost in heat transfer from die to spreader, but when delidding you would favour liquid metal based TIM as it has the best performance besides soldering. One has to be VERY careful with metal mixes when using liquid metal though.

Reply 2 of 24, by chiveicrook

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Just use any regular cpu thermal paste from known manufacturers. Avoid "high performance" or "enthusiast" pastes as they tend to require repasting every couple years. Gold standard for price to performance ratio are mentioned Arctic Cooling products (Arctic MX-2 in particular, even better than good old Silver).
Generic silicon paste for electronics is not really suitable for computers IMHO.

Reply 3 of 24, by wiretap

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I pulled apart my old X58 rig not too long ago. The waterblock had been on the CPU for over 10 years with Arctic Silver 5. It was not dried out.

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Reply 4 of 24, by PcBytes

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I've had MX4 stay wet for a solid 4 years or even more.

As for that white garbage thermal bag that's included with most GPU and CPU heatsinks, no. I wouldn't use that for anything else besides maybe improving the thermals of a heatsinked MOSFET (MVP3 boards are the biggest contenders to this, I have a LuckyTech P5MVP3 &K6-II+ 500MH zat home eagerly waiting for a dab of the paste I got with my Deepcool V50 cooler (which hopefully might be enough to cool down a 9700 Pro, I hope.) while I use MX4 for CPUs.

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Reply 5 of 24, by Intel486dx33

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I use MX4 too. But DON’T buy that CHEAP stuff on eBay. You know those BIG BULK tubes of generic thermal paste.
That stuff is NOT good and will LEAK all over your motherboard and get into your CPU socket before it dries up.
NOT GOOD. It will ruin your motherboard. You might able to clean it out with electronics contact cleaner.

MX4 has an 8 year durability.

Don’t “Go Cheap” on thermal paste. Get MX4 or Artic Silver or some other good name brand with proven success and warranty.

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Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2022-05-19, 11:38. Edited 3 times in total.

Reply 6 of 24, by TrashPanda

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I just use Noctua paste H1 for normal applications and H2 for special OC stuff.

Never had issues with drying out or pumping out.

Never used Artic MX myself but hear good things about it, I do use Kryonaught but not for retro builds due to how expensive it is.

Reply 7 of 24, by PcBytes

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Intel486dx33 wrote on 2022-05-19, 11:07:
I use MX4 too. But DON’T buy that CHEAP stuff on eBay. You know those BIG BULK tubes of generic thermal paste. That stuff is N […]
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I use MX4 too. But DON’T buy that CHEAP stuff on eBay. You know those BIG BULK tubes of generic thermal paste.
That stuff is NOT good and will LEAK all over your motherboard and get into your CPU socket before it dries up.
NOT GOOD. It will ruin your motherboard. You might able to clean it out with electronics contact cleaner.

MX4 has an 8 year durability.

Don’t “Go Cheap” on thermal paste. Get MX4 or Artic Silver or some other good name brand with proven success and warranty.

The ones I find in here actually come from Arctic (at least the 4 grams tube, but mostly any of their thermal paste boxes have that QR code), they went as far as having a scannable QR code on their packaging so you can find out if you've been scammed or not.

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Reply 9 of 24, by Intel486dx33

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ptr1ck wrote on 2022-05-19, 17:19:

MX-5 is supposed to be lower viscosity than MX-4. It may stay moist (hehe) longer.

Yes “Viscosity”. That’s the word I was looking for. Those Cheap thermal paste on eBay will degrade and the compound will divide and
Separate the liquid from the solid and the liquid will leak all over your motherboard and get into the Socket.

And I hate working on CPU’s and Heatsinks with thermal paste and having to clean it all up.
So I try to do it right and once so I don’t have to do it again.
It’s just not worth it to go cheap on thermal paste.
You don’t want to have to keep messing around with that sticky stuff. It gets everywhere and makes a mess.
Its like working with peanut butter it just makes a mess.

Reply 10 of 24, by swaaye

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I think they will all separate to some degree. They will also pump out of the gap over time due to thermal cycles causing expansion and contraction. This is something the wax-like phase change materials try to prevent.

The pastes that I've seen dry up are only the cheapest most generic white goop. Whatever the base "oil" is must break down and evaporate. I remember radio shack stuff doing that ages ago. Like 486/Pentium era.

I've seen decade old applications of Arctic Silver 5 and Arctic Ceramique that stayed ok and adequately effective. I don't know of anything else I've seen long term like that though. Aside from OEM applications I suppose.

Reply 11 of 24, by stanwebber

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i can't stand using metal impregnated thermal pastes. a long time ago i got a big syringe of ceramique and i expect it to last me several lifetimes. it's high performance and has the exact same working properties as regular white compound. i believe it was manufactured by the same company as arctic silver. after being removed 10+ years later it is as workable as the day it was applied.

if it's discontinued look for old stock of ceramique or ceramique 2 (i used a small tube of this and couldn't tell the difference).

btw, i have a tube of the old recipe radio shack thermal paste before they changed it to the runny yellowy stuff. it also held up perfectly well after being removed from a northbridge 10+ years later.

Reply 12 of 24, by pentiumspeed

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MX-5 is less viscosity when freshly deposited and spread on. When clamped and put into use for one or twice, checked the viscosity get higher but still moist. Perfect type.

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Reply 13 of 24, by Tetrium

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pentiumspeed wrote on 2022-05-20, 00:59:

MX-5 is less viscosity when freshly deposited and spread on. When clamped and put into use for one or twice, checked the viscosity get higher but still moist. Perfect type.

Cheers,

I'd reckon the newer pastes could perhaps be somewhat better suited for CPUs with IHSs where the TIMs with higher viscosity could perhaps be better suited for bare dies like Athlon XP and certain GPUs?

stanwebber wrote on 2022-05-19, 19:34:

i can't stand using metal impregnated thermal pastes. a long time ago i got a big syringe of ceramique and i expect it to last me several lifetimes. it's high performance and has the exact same working properties as regular white compound. i believe it was manufactured by the same company as arctic silver. after being removed 10+ years later it is as workable as the day it was applied.

if it's discontinued look for old stock of ceramique or ceramique 2 (i used a small tube of this and couldn't tell the difference).

btw, i have a tube of the old recipe radio shack thermal paste before they changed it to the runny yellowy stuff. it also held up perfectly well after being removed from a northbridge 10+ years later.

I never even heard of this TIM before. I think I might order a tube of this TIM since I happen to be wanting to order some new medium speed 12cm case fans anyway.

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Reply 14 of 24, by ptr1ck

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Ceramique was always my choice when Artic Silver 5 couldn't be trusted due to it's conductivity capacitance. Supposedly the Artic Silver 5 gets left in the dust these days compared to the likes of MX-5 and others. Ceramique didn't perform as well as AS5.

That being said, you're probably better off getting some MX-4 or MX-5.

Last edited by ptr1ck on 2022-05-20, 20:02. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 15 of 24, by The Serpent Rider

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It all boils down (ha, get it) to operating temperatures. Continuous high temperatures will gradually will reduce any regular thermal paste efficiency.

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Reply 16 of 24, by cyclone3d

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I have never seen AS5 dry out

Same for Arctic Silver Ceramique.

Arctic MX-5 is my current choice of easy to apply and will most likely never dry out compound.

The person that said that the paste works after it dries out has apparently never had to work on computers with overheating CPUs due to the compound separating and then drying out. Replace the compound and you get an instant 20c+ drop in temperatures.

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Reply 17 of 24, by Tetrium

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ptr1ck wrote on 2022-05-20, 12:47:

Ceramique was always my choice when Artic Silver 5 couldn't be trusted due to it's conductivity. Supposedly the Artic Silver 5 gets left in the dust these days compared to the likes of MX-5 and others. Ceramique didn't perform as well as AS5.

That being said, you're probably better off getting some MX-4 or MX-5.

I really dislike AS5. Always hated having to clean up the mess more so than than the crusty ol' TIM I'd often find on other parts (except perhaps for the stuff that had cooked up so hard it's very hard to remove without damaging the component or the print, like on certain 486 CPUs).

I've always found MX-2 more than sufficient for my needs.

That said, I did notice that AS5 often was not completely dried up. I don't remember if I ever seen it dried up completely but it still being 'moist' is one of the reasons why I always found it a bad trip having to clean up that mess (especially on AXPs and worse if any AS5 somehow made it into the socket or onto the motherboard).

I think it's highly unlikely I'll ever find myself using AS5 even if it were the best TIM in the world.

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Reply 18 of 24, by pentiumspeed

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AS5 has a way that is excellent on bare die but have to be careful of spilling onto anything else that is electronic components, there was one confirmed issue due to electrical conductive contained in the AS5 which I resolved by cleaning off the spills. The manual for the AS5 warns about this before.

I used AS5 (note the caution), Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut, MX-5, NT-H1 and 2 with excellent results on bare die as well. Used them since I repair consoles for a living and they are all bare die designs. none came back for thermal issues.

Except for AS5 meets high w/mk but is electrically conductive, all listed are above 8w/mk mark and electrically non-conductive.

I only use these on consoles since they are hot running and need the best paste is a must.

Cheers,

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Reply 19 of 24, by swaaye

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AS5 isn't conductive. It is said to be very slightly capacitive. If you stick multimeter probes in it you will not get any continuity. However it has the potential to cause undesired behavior in a circuit because it is capacitive so you should try not to make a mess. I slathered it all over the top of an Athlon XP out of curiosity long ago (all over the conductive bridges) and it didn't appear to cause any problems.

On the other hand, the liquid metal pastes out there like Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra definitely conduct electricity and can fry things if you aren't careful. But if you can safely use it this stuff is by far the most effective TIM out there. I have had some on delidded 7600K and 8600K for years now without issue. I wouldn't use it on bare copper though and definitely not near aluminum.