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Looking at a new thermal paste for my liquid cooling setup

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AS5 is CAPACITIVE, not conductive.

As far as what is the best thermal paste, here is a review. Please check it out. Also pay attention to the cost for each product as .5C isn't worth x3 the price of something else. You are likely not chasing records so every degree doesn't count for you. MX2/MX4 are very good bang for the buck pastes.

Agree.
 
Thanks for all the input! I ended up going with Gelid GC Extreme, but I also talked with a company how makes a paste called "Thermene" which is a graphene based paste (Graphene has insanely good thermal conductivity ratings, ratings that completely blow away copper, silver, and even diamond) and they are sending me a tube of their paste for me to review. They said it would be a few weeks before I get it but when I do I will put together a good review and share it with you guys in case it ends up being really good stuff!
 
Enjoy your Gelid GC Extreme it works really well for me on CPU's and GPU's did reduce the Temps overall. Yeah let the members know about the new TIM when you get the delivery.

Ajay.
 
+1

Make sure you do several mounts and thermal paste applications. Be sure you are empirical about.your testing. If you need any help about a proper process, pm me. :)
 
Thanks for all the input! I ended up going with Gelid GC Extreme, but I also talked with a company how makes a paste called "Thermene" which is a graphene based paste (Graphene has insanely good thermal conductivity ratings, ratings that completely blow away copper, silver, and even diamond) and they are sending me a tube of their paste for me to review. They said it would be a few weeks before I get it but when I do I will put together a good review and share it with you guys in case it ends up being really good stuff!

Never heard of graphene, I'd like to see a review too! :thup:
 
Pay attention to actual thermal conductivity values. "graphene" is no longer "graphene" when its mixed up in a compound. It has some interesting applications for batteries, but as a thermal compound... not so much.


Now, paying attention to their claimed value of 11.11 (a far cry from the 4200 haha), arctic silver 5 is 8.7, tx-2 is 4.4, the average thermal paste is between the 5 and 7 range. Now, upon initial application, with equal coverage, equal mounting technique, proper fit of the cooler to the cpu... etc the higher the conductivity, the better performance will be. Thats not debateable. The problem, graphite disperses in volatile compounds, which means they will evaporate over time. As it evaporates, it will create voids of air, which has a conductivity of .015.... Naturally thats a problem.

My 2 cents on this? proceed with caution, and monitor temps over time. I'm willing to bet the "thermene" will kick butt at first, then get progressively worse over time as the glycerol base evaporates out of solution. How long? I'd like to see that myself honestly.

edit: Fwiw, AS5 is oil based, not alcohol based.
 
I ordered me some gelid GC extreme, would got coolaboratorys liquid metal which is best along with indigo but since they are not compatible with aluminum, only copper. My mating point has both aluminum and copper so I cant use that. But if your all copper give it a try.
 
Last I recall, it was only aluminum they tell you not to use it with...and that was the Ultra stuff, not the liquid metal (which I didn't see any warnings on).

I find it hard to believe that copper would be on that list considering A LOT of heatsinks have copper bases...
 
That's correct, its only aluminum for the ultra, not copper. The liquid metal didn't carry such a warning in that article, nor could I find one on their website either. However the Ultra does state aluminum. So I think its only the Ultra and aluminum that have these concerns, not the liquid metal product with aluminum and copper as originally stated...

Ultra (warning for aluminum) -
Warning: Please note that you can’t use the Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra with a contact area of
aluminum, as it corrodes aluminum. The heatspreader of actual processors consists of nickel-plated
copper, not of aluminum. Advice: The application on copper surfaces is a bit easier than on nickelplated
ones, but possible is both.
http://www.coollaboratory.com/pdf/manual_liquid_ultra_englisch.pdf

Liquid Metal (No warning at all) - http://www.coollaboratory.com/pdf/manual_liquid_metalpad_englisch.pdf

Oh, and Indigo extreme is good for both copper and aluminum too -
Fully compatible with copper and aluminum surfaces
http://indigo-xtreme.com/page-bab.shtml
 
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That's correct, its only aluminum for the ultra, not copper. The liquid metal didn't carry such a warning in that article, nor could I find one on their website either. However the Ultra does state aluminum. So I think its only the Ultra and aluminum that have these concerns, not the liquid metal product with aluminum and copper as originally stated...

Ultra (warning for aluminum) -
http://www.coollaboratory.com/pdf/manual_liquid_ultra_englisch.pdf

Liquid Metal (No warning at all) - http://www.coollaboratory.com/pdf/manual_liquid_metalpad_englisch.pdf

Oh, and Indigo extreme is good for both copper and aluminum too -
http://indigo-xtreme.com/page-bab.shtml

Problem with indigo is the reflow process on FXs. When you disable fans or waterflow and CPU heats up a lot of mobos you cant turn off the power off feature, this makes the reflow not perform correctly for that you have to let it get real hot first then shutdown. Then power on and run idle. Its like a reflow curing process thats to much a PITA. But It does work the best temperaturewise compared to anything else. But if any of the metal it has drips cause of a bad reflow on to the PCB of board your screwed.
 
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