Need a Tim recommendation

Ceramique 2;IC diamond will erode your IHS..I use Ceramique 2;Gelid extreme is better..(than Ceramique)
but i has 25g tube :D
IC diamond is good..but wat if you have to RMA?
I forgot about mx-4..I liked that stuff, too.
 
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Arctic Silver 5 is an oldie but a goodie. Its been around a while but Ive always had great performance out of it. Don't think there is a "best" really. All the top brands perform really close to each other.
 
ive been using IC diamond and Shin Etsu for awhile now with no complaints. just bought some arctic cooling mx-4 as it seemed to be popular on another thread.
 
I was under the impression that all TIM (of decent origin) performed relatively the same...
 
Yeah all perform good.. On the high brands the major diference could be 1-2degrees.. All with the respective cost... To be honest my prefer its noctua NH-T1 or Shin Etsu (one of the best for my think)by the fact that does not have cure time.. Arctic silver 5 its just horrible the cure time... Also in the ceramique2 its quite decent cure time.. Just 20 hours.. But spread ceramique 2 its painfull my experience with ceramique 2 was bad just for that the spread moment.. Temps was equal to AS5... So i keep my choice as noctua NH-T1 or Shin Etsu but in my country its impossible to find..
 
I know occasionally on slickdeals, one of the budget companies has free Arctic Silver and some other brands of TIM for free.
 
Coollaboratory liquid ultra and pro, is easily the best stuff I've ever used (on ivy die & ihs). But it is conductive, so in this case I'd recommend some prolimatech pk-1.
 
tonyftw said:
Coollaboratory liquid ultra and pro, is easily the best stuff I've ever used (on ivy die & ihs). But it is conductive, so in this case I'd recommend some prolimatech pk-1.
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Im planing to reseat my brother's H70 and a local store have prolimatech pk-1 how much its that vs the noctua NT-H1? If at least could perform equal without cure time i think i can try the pk-1
 
I have not used pk-1 in a while, outside of replacing my video cards tim, but usually its cure time is rather short (a few hours) and it would best my old tim (mx-4), by a couple of degrees. Here's an old review comparing pastes.

Newegg usually sells it for $9.99 (5 gram).
 
MacLeod said:
Arctic Silver 5 is an oldie but a goodie. Its been around a while but Ive always had great performance out of it. Don't think there is a "best" really. All the top brands perform really close to each other.
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No reason to buy AS5 unless you're in a pinch and need to go to Radio Shack. Arctic Cooling MX-* and IC Diamond are better than AS5. By a lot? No. But enough to make buying AS5 a slightly bad idea.
 
I've tried a few different kinds of TIM and my favorite has been the PK-1 I currently have. I've had great results with it.
 
Most new TIM's work very well and are very close to each other. LP is one of the best I have used, and was a good deal better in all cases compared to others I have used. However it really shined really well when using on lapped CPU/HS, as its very very thin TIM and on lapped or high finished CPU's and HS/WB's, I saw a drop of 8C at the worst and 12C on the best core, which is a massive drop for just a TIM change. In normal non lapped cases I rather Ceramique 2 because of how easy it is to apply, it's just the right consistency and it works very well. And the HUGE 22g tube is the price of the micro tubes of other TIM's so it's a win win, I have had the 22g tube for a long time, it really goes far and is well worth the money.
 
I use Ceramique 2's and prefer it over the old AC5 anytime, anyday of the week.

1. Less cure time
2. Easy to clean off
3. Non-conductive
4. You save a few dollars compared to AC5
5. Same thermal performance as the AC5

Best compound have used to date would probably be the IC Diamond paste. But it is also expensive at nearly $20 for a tube here in Aussie.
 
BlueFireIce said:
Most new TIM's work very well and are very close to each other. LP is one of the best I have used, and was a good deal better in all cases compared to others I have used. However it really shined really well when using on lapped CPU/HS, as its very very thin TIM and on lapped or high finished CPU's and HS/WB's, I saw a drop of 8C at the worst and 12C on the best core, which is a massive drop for just a TIM change. In normal non lapped cases I rather Ceramique 2 because of how easy it is to apply, it's just the right consistency and it works very well. And the HUGE 22g tube is the price of the micro tubes of other TIM's so it's a win win, I have had the 22g tube for a long time, it really goes far and is well worth the money.
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Easy to apply the ceramique 2?.. For me its one of the hardest TIM to spread evenly. X_X...

Well i have to say, i tested today the PK-1 over the H70 block with a E8400 OC'd to 3.8GHZ and its excelent.. I was worried about at the first time when i saw temps bit higher than NT-H1 for over 5 degrees... But just a 5 or 6 hours the temps drops and become stable equal to the NT-H1 i'll be updating with the pass of the hours... But i love how easy is to spread and make a very thin and evenly layer... Made it so fast..
 
Araxie said:
Easy to apply the ceramique 2?.. For me its one of the hardest TIM to spread evenly. X_X...

Well i have to say, i tested today the PK-1 over the H70 block with a E8400 OC'd to 3.8GHZ and its excelent.. I was worried about at the first time when i saw temps bit higher than NT-H1 for over 5 degrees... But just a 5 or 6 hours the temps drops and become stable equal to the NT-H1 i'll be updating with the pass of the hours... But i love how easy is to spread and make a very thin and evenly layer... Made it so fast..
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The pressure of the HS spreads the TIM, there is no need to spread it out on your own.
 
The best thermal compound is the one you apply the best. The products don't really have that much difference in them, at least not as much as a good vs. bad mount.



Matthew Kane said:
Best compound have used to date would probably be the IC Diamond paste. But it is also expensive at nearly $20 for a tube here in Aussie.
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Isn't it noted by pretty much everyone to be of average performance quality and cause scratching/scouring of heatsinks/CPUs over time (making it a poor choice)?

TBH it seems more marketing fluff of an average product, than an actual worthwhile product. Not against "risky" products, but prefer they give a significant reward with the risk, (something like Coollaboratory liquid pads).
 
BlueFireIce said:
The pressure of the HS spreads the TIM, there is no need to spread it out on your own.
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If you read a bit over the several methods of apply TIM, the best its the tiny and evenly layer of TIM apply over the Heat sink or directly over the CHIP that offer the best results on TIMs, the small size rice grain on the middle its far away of offer the same results... Most people like the method of the 2 thin lines on the sides of the chip and spread evenly.. I prefer the recomended by corsair, its 1 line in the center of the heat sink or chip and spread very evenly to the center to out...
 
DeathPrincess said:
Isn't it noted by pretty much everyone to be of average performance quality and cause scratching/scouring of heatsinks/CPUs over time (making it a poor choice)?
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Nope never had none of those issues. I only use a small dab in the center of the CPU. Easy to clean off than the cured AC5 crap.
 
Araxie said:
If you read a bit over the several methods of apply TIM, the best its the tiny and evenly layer of TIM apply over the Heat sink or directly over the CHIP that offer the best results on TIMs, the small size rice grain on the middle its far away of offer the same results... Most people like the method of the 2 thin lines on the sides of the chip and spread evenly.. I prefer the recomended by corsair, its 1 line in the center of the heat sink or chip and spread very evenly to the center to out...
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If you care to show proof of this I would be more than happy to read it, however I have never seen any gain from spreading out the TIM and it makes putting the HS back on troublesome as you need to be very careful not to set it down flat or you will trap in air bubbles. I have done tests myself as well as read most of the info out there on the matter and have found that the temps I get are more affected by how well I set the HS more so than TIM type or dot/line/x etc etc.

Matthew Kane said:
Nope never had none of those issues. I only use a small dab in the center of the CPU. Easy to clean off than the cured AC5 crap.
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It does, they even state on their website of the abrasive nature of the TIM and it might void warranty because with repeated applications it can remove the markings on the IHS. And from my testing its not better than the other TIM's out there at an inflated price because it's "diamond", and I would be willing to bet it would work amazing if there was a way to have super fine 100% pure diamond TIM, but there are so many other fillers and vehicles inside of the compound I am sure it negates the higher performance nature of diamond it self. All tests I have seen show all TIM's to be close to 1-2C of each other and as such are well within error range and variance of mounting. Some tests show far larger gaps than this, however you have to take note that in allot of tests the HS either has a really rough base of a mirror finish, as such TIM's of different viscosities will perform different. The thinner ones often doing much better on the fine mirror finishes than the thicker ones, which is the same result I found with LP on lapped IHS's and HS's.
 
Matthew Kane said:
Nope never had none of those issues. I only use a small dab in the center of the CPU. Easy to clean off than the cured AC5 crap.
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Even if dried, you just use whatever TIM cleaning product and wipe it off.

But even AC5 has the additional benefit of being 1/5th of the cost and not scratching up your lapping job with every application possibly voiding warranty on $1000 parts (yet similar performance). :p
 
I use MX-2 on pretty much anything. No need for special tim cleaning stuff, just grab some TP and wipe it off lol.
I can get a 30gram tube of it for 16,90€ :D
For same price I could get a 12g tube of AS5.. Not even mentioning NT-H1 or some similar products where you have to pay 5-10€ for like 2-5g of TIM..
Of course Ceramique 2 is a lot cheaper, 25g for 7,90€ but I prefer MX-2.
MX-2 spreads easier than Ceramique 2 or even MX-4. Damn thick goos those are in my honest opinion.
When I still had my GTX470 and I was overclocking it, I used MX-4, I had to use an insane amount of it just to have an even spread on the huge IHS even when I had very good mounting pressure. With MX-2 I had to use a lot less.
 
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DeathPrincess said:
Even if dried, you just use whatever TIM cleaning product and wipe it off.

But even AC5 has the additional benefit of being 1/5th of the cost and not scratching up your lapping job with every application possibly voiding warranty on $1000 parts (yet similar performance). :p
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AC5 is pretty expensive here as well not 1/5th of the cost of the Diamond TIM, no chance. But hey be realistic here, how many users here constantly re-thermalpaste there HSF's? I certainly don't and that's where my original post was coming in from. Personally I based on experience I like the Diamond TIM for it's performance, NOT value. Ceramique 2 all the way for me, no dried up hard to remove silver conductive gunk AC5 dries up over time to be. Hey, C2 also saves me a few bucks as well. :rolleyes:

Also at those that spread there TIM, why? You guys do know that the proper way of applying thermal paste is using a rice speck sized dot in the middle or a thumbnail length thin line on bigger surface IHS' and the force from the HSF spreads the compound itself. Spreading it yourself will just unbalance the amount of TIM on the IHS, sometimes causing one side of your heatsink to rise off a mm not surface flat.
 
I usually use Artic Silver 5, but if a heatsink comes with TIM pre-applied I'll use that for awhile
 
DeathPrincess said:
The best thermal compound is the one you apply the best. The products don't really have that much difference in them, at least not as much as a good vs. bad mount.
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That is what I've noticed. Now I just stick with MX-2.

Unless you're talking about on die applications with a delidded ivy bridge.




Isn't it noted by pretty much everyone to be of average performance quality and cause scratching/scouring of heatsinks/CPUs over time (making it a poor choice)?
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Yup, thats what I noticed.

TBH it seems more marketing fluff of an average product, than an actual worthwhile product. Not against "risky" products, but prefer they give a significant reward with the risk, (something like Coollaboratory liquid pads).
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Again, I completely agree.

BlueFireIce said:
AC5 is not conductive.
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No but it is capacitive. So it can hold a charge. Its also a pita to clean up.
 
BababooeyHTJ said:
No but it is capacitive. So it can hold a charge. Its also a pita to clean up.
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Almost none, When I was able to get some specs on it a while back the ratings the gave me where just about nil. Clean up I don't think its bad, with goo gone or the AC cleaner kit, however I have seen easier, but nothing as bad as LP.
 
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