"Stock" Noctua Paste: Good?

[jseymour]

Was talking to a friend of mine who's built a system or two. He suggested I take care in thermal paste selection, because some are better than others. I had just assumed the paste included with the Noctua NH-U12S cooler I bought for the build would be adequate. Yes? No? Other?

Going to be on an Intel i5 4570S (65W), on an Asus Z87-A mobo, in a Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl case, if that matters.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[freeagent]

I like it

I use as5 myself, that noctua stuff is pretty decent tho

 

[ATMINSIDE]

If its NT-H1 then its better than most thermal pastes.

 

[jseymour]

Thanks, freeagent & ATMINSIDE.

"NT-H1"... I think that's what I saw printed on the syringe in the cooler's box of miscellaneous accessories. I'll check when I get home this evening.

Jim

 

[ATMINSIDE]

It should be, that's also enough paste to last you quite a few applications.

Also, here's a result chart from TPU doing thermal paste testing:

 

[RnRollie]

^^^this
the most important thing to note is that the test results are all almost within error margin as far as i am concerned. If you dont take into account the liquid metals and the silly toothpaste, mayo, peanutbutter, ... results.. then a $0.50 doesn't perform that much different from a $2.50 TIM.

Most performance is gained from lapping & the correct seating & pressure & (lastly) the correct application.

What is important thou is
-availability: must be available around the corner so to speak, it doesn't make sense to pay $120 "airmail" to order some TIM from the otehr side of the world
-ease of use: the less elaborate or conditional in application the better
-little to no curing time: what are we, the 1980's ?

iow the thermal heat transfer importance of TIM is overrated