New build - advice welcome!

[MitchV]

Hello,

It's been nearly 12 years since I built my current machine and I'm thinking that it's time to upgrade. My i5-2500K has performed admirably!

Goals:

1. Quiet!! I have an aversion to noisy machines
2. Audio/Video encoding and Plex transcoding (this puts me in the Intel camp... I've had my share of AMD builds, so no disrespect!)
3. Raid 1 for storage drives - probably
4. 2X monitor support - I have a nice pair but I may update eventually
5. I no longer game.... I like the idea of gaming, but I never have time these days. I like knowing that I can run most any game with reasonable performance.
6. I'm no longer the enthusiast I used to be, but it wouldn't feel right if I didn't try to squeeze some extra performance from my machine. Nothing too extreme.

Here's the current list I've selected:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($389.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver - 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5 g Thermal Paste ($6.39 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG MAXIMUS XI HERO (WI-FI) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($273.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Red 8 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($249.80 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital - Red 8 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($249.80 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB GAMING AMP Video Card ($769.99 @ Amazon)
Case: be quiet! - DARK BASE PRO 900 | BLACK rev. 2 ATX Full Tower Case ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: be quiet! - DARK POWER PRO 11 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($179.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus - DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($20.40 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($139.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $2995.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-19 23:13 EDT-0400

I'm iffy on the MB and I need to make sure that the memory won't run into interference with the radiator. There may be a better choice for RAM... I'm going to start with 32GB. I like the DARK BASE PRO 900 | BLACK rev. 2, but it may be larger than I really need.

The Zotac RTX 2080 gets really good reviews for being a quiet card.

Subtle lighting might be nice, but I'm in my 40's now and I'd rather have a tasteful machine for my home office - nothing too crazy.

Thanks in advance!

 

[DaveB]

If you're going to spend that much, get the latest 8C/16T i9-9900K.

 

[Peebles24]

If you really want a quiet card you might look at the msi seahawk or evga hybrid, the cost a bit more but my seahawk 1080 is quiet and under stress only hits 57c.

 

[Witchdoctor]

Lots of selections that are subjective on your list

10 people would do 10 different ways

However what pops out is dump the power supply, they are asking to much and I am not sure on it's quality

If you look may be able to find a better price on this

https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=220-G3-0750-X1

If you go with a cheap case and shop everything hard you may get into an eVga 2080 Ti Black for the same money

 

[MitchV]

If you're going to spend that much, get the latest 8C/16T i9-9900K.

I looked at the i9-9900K, the i7-9700K and the i7-8700K and to be honest, I'm disappointed that the i9-9900K doesn't yield a bigger performance boost.

The i9-9900K and i7-9700K also draw more power and produce more heat for a comparatively small performance boost, so for that reason alone I picked the i7-8700K. A cooler CPU is more likely to yield a quiet machine.

It's the first time in my life where I wouldn't mind dropping an extra $200 on an exceptional CPU. Unfortunately, IMO only thing in that category are the AMD Ryzen CPUs, but they don't perform as well in the disciplines I'm after.

Are there any performance hits with Windows Specter/Meltdown fixes that I would need to be aware of with the i7-8700K?

- - - Auto-Merged Double Post - - -

If you really want a quiet card you might look at the msi seahawk or evga hybrid, the cost a bit more but my seahawk 1080 is quiet and under stress only hits 57c.

Thanks, I'll look into those.

- - - Auto-Merged Double Post - - -

Lots of selections that are subjective on your list

10 people would do 10 different ways

However what pops out is dump the power supply, they are asking to much and I am not sure on it's quality

If you look may be able to find a better price on this

https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=220-G3-0750-X1

If you go with a cheap case and shop everything hard you may get into an eVga 2080 Ti Black for the same money

Great suggestion.... I learned many years ago to never skimp on a PSU. I'll definitely look into this one.

 

[trents]

1. AS 5 is no longer a premier thermal compound.

2. You can save a bunch of money on your Windows 10 Pro OEM by using URCD.com. A lot of us use it and it seems legit. Microsoft has not shut it down. OEM Windows 10 Pro for about $15.

3. There is no mention of a CPU cooling solution in post #1. Will you be overclocking?

 

[EarthDog]

I second going to 9-series CPU and Z390 instead of 8 series CPU as well. Otherwise, it look solid overall.

3. There is no mention of a CPU cooling solution in post #1. Will you be overclocking?

CPU Cooler: Corsair - H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($109.99 @ Newegg)

 

[trents]

Opps! Missed that. Too early after waking up and no eyes glasses or coffee yet.

 

[MitchV]

1. AS 5 is no longer a premier thermal compound.

2. You can save a bunch of money on your Windows 10 Pro OEM by using URCD.com. A lot of us use it and it seems legit. Microsoft has not shut it down. OEM Windows 10 Pro for about $15.

3. There is no mention of a CPU cooling solution in post #1. Will you be overclocking?

Thanks for that, I updated the thermal compound.

I'm dubious w/regards to a legit $15 license. Is URCD.com the correct domain name, because it doesn't seem to be working.

W/regards to a jump to an i9-9900K, is there any advantage other than the small performance increase over an i7-8700K? I'm aware of the extra cores and hyperthreading differences... unless there's something I'm not considering it seems like

i9-9900K = More Power/Heat, relatively small performance boost, $200 more expensive than i7-8700K
i7-8700K = Better cost/performance ratio, less power/heat

The heat/power makes me pause more than the extra $200.

Here's an updated list:

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($389.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Thermal Compound: Thermal Grizzly - Kryonaut 1g 1 g Thermal Paste
Motherboard: Asus - ROG MAXIMUS XI HERO (WI-FI) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($279.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Red 8 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($249.80 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital - Red 8 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($249.80 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB GAMING AMP Video Card ($769.99 @ Amazon)
Case: be quiet! - DARK BASE PRO 900 | BLACK rev. 2 ATX Full Tower Case ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($113.30 @ OutletPC)
Optical Drive: Asus - DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($20.40 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($139.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $2928.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-03-20 11:57 EDT-0400

 

[Blaylock]

If you're looking to save a little more than there are cheaper cases that offer a fair amount of noise reduction.

For video/audio encoding the extra cores of the i9 would be greatly beneficial. What resolution are you gaming at? You could step the GPU down to a 2070 or even 2060 if you're still at 1080p. That could be the $200 difference right there. EDIT: You could also reduce the PSU a little further, 650W or possible 550W. I'll check the math and update this post. It's best to stick with the 750W. Looks pretty close.

 

[trents]

Mybad! urcd.com

https://www.urcdkey.com/

 

[Bill_Bright]

Since you are not gaming and apparently not overclocking either, you don't need water cooling.

AS-5 may not be considered "thee" premier TIM (thermal interface material) these days but it is still excellent and considerably better than OEM TIM which is already considerably better than OEM TIMs of yesteryear. I say if AS-5 is what you like (especially if you already have some) use it. If you "need" the extra few degrees the top rated TIM offers to keep from reaching over-heated thresholds, you have greater cooling issues to deal with than your choice of TIM.

I agree that PSU is way over priced. You don't need a Platinum rated PSU. "Gold" rated is plenty good. There is only a 2% difference in efficiency at 50% load. It would take years of use to make up in energy costs for the extra cost of the purchase. I too like EVGA Gold. I have one in this system and I cannot hear it. In fact, the only way I know its fan is spinning is to shine a flashlight in there, or to put my ear up to it and "feel" the air movement.

And as seen here, you could easily get by with a 750W or even a 650W PSU. Note the eXtreme PSU calculator (the ONLY one worth using, BTW) already pads the results to make sure they don't recommend one too small. And I padded them even more by bumping up the CPU Utilization to 100%, entering a Blu-ray optical drive (see *** below), and upping Computer Utilization and Gaming/Video Editing to 16 and 8 hours/day respectively. So I think your latest choice, the EVGA 750 Gold is more fitting and plenty big - without going overboard but still leaving plenty of room for future upgrades.

There is NO WAY you need a "full" tower case! That's just way too extreme. You are only getting an ATX (not EATX) motherboard. You only have 3 storage drives (1 x SSD and 2 x HD, the optical does not count), and you only have 1 expansion card, the graphics card - even if double wide. That full tower be quiet! case is too big and way over-priced too.

Check out the mid-tower Fractal Design R5 or R6. They are designed to be quite and they are. I really, I mean REALLY hate fan noise so I understand. These cases are solid, have great cooling options, lined with sound deadening material and don't break the bank either. Plus it supports 8 drives (6 universal and 2 SSDs), the optical drive, and up to 9 expansions cards. You don't need a fork lift to lug it around and it looks extremely "tasteful" in a home office.

Even if you were doing serious video editing, that graphics card is way more than you need. There are plenty of great cards at 1/2 that price.

I remind you and others reading, you said this system will not be used for gaming. But even if it was... ...the above suggestions are not about saving you money. They are about you spending your money wisely.

Do you really "need" 2 x 8TB for 16TB of hard disk space? Is that 1 disk for your stuff and the second disk to backup the first? You mention RAID 1. It should be noted mirrored RAID arrays are NOT considered to be a good backup method. Why? Because many things besides an actual drive failure can corrupt your data or cause data loss. And in those cases, the corruption or loss is mirrored too. Also, should your house burn down, get flooded out, sucked up in a tornado, or robbed and your computer stolen, there goes all your data with it.

If you are considering RAID 1 because it technically offers better read performance than a single drive, then the choice of 5400RPM drives seems counter-intuitive to me. Especially since you are (and wisely so, IMO ) going with a SSD as your boot drive. I only go all SSD for my builds, but that's me.

*** Now I am going to reverse myself. Why only a DVD burner? I would used some of the $$$ saved with the less expensive PSU and case and buy a Blu-ray burner. And then with the money left over, I would consider going all SSD!

 

[wingman99]

The second list looks fine. Should be a decent build.

 

[MitchV]

Since you are not gaming and apparently not overclocking either, you don't need water cooling.

AS-5 may not be considered "thee" premier TIM (thermal interface material) these days but it is still excellent and considerably better than OEM TIM which is already considerably better than OEM TIMs of yesteryear. I say if AS-5 is what you like (especially if you already have some) use it. If you "need" the extra few degrees the top rated TIM offers to keep from reaching over-heated thresholds, you have greater cooling issues to deal with than your choice of TIM.

I agree that PSU is way over priced. You don't need a Platinum rated PSU. "Gold" rated is plenty good. There is only a 2% difference in efficiency at 50% load. It would take years of use to make up in energy costs for the extra cost of the purchase. I too like EVGA Gold. I have one in this system and I cannot hear it. In fact, the only way I know its fan is spinning is to shine a flashlight in there, or to put my ear up to it and "feel" the air movement.

And as seen here, you could easily get by with a 750W or even a 650W PSU. Note the eXtreme PSU calculator (the ONLY one worth using, BTW) already pads the results to make sure they don't recommend one too small. And I padded them even more by bumping up the CPU Utilization to 100%, entering a Blu-ray optical drive (see *** below), and upping Computer Utilization and Gaming/Video Editing to 16 and 8 hours/day respectively. So I think your latest choice, the EVGA 750 Gold is more fitting and plenty big - without going overboard but still leaving plenty of room for future upgrades.

There is NO WAY you need a "full" tower case! That's just way too extreme. You are only getting an ATX (not EATX) motherboard. You only have 3 storage drives (1 x SSD and 2 x HD, the optical does not count), and you only have 1 expansion card, the graphics card - even if double wide. That full tower be quiet! case is too big and way over-priced too.

Check out the mid-tower Fractal Design R5 or R6. They are designed to be quite and they are. I really, I mean REALLY hate fan noise so I understand. These cases are solid, have great cooling options, lined with sound deadening material and don't break the bank either. Plus it supports 8 drives (6 universal and 2 SSDs), the optical drive, and up to 9 expansions cards. You don't need a fork lift to lug it around and it looks extremely "tasteful" in a home office.

Even if you were doing serious video editing, that graphics card is way more than you need. There are plenty of great cards at 1/2 that price.

I remind you and others reading, you said this system will not be used for gaming. But even if it was... ...the above suggestions are not about saving you money. They are about you spending your money wisely.

Do you really "need" 2 x 8TB for 16TB of hard disk space? Is that 1 disk for your stuff and the second disk to backup the first? You mention RAID 1. It should be noted mirrored RAID arrays are NOT considered to be a good backup method. Why? Because many things besides an actual drive failure can corrupt your data or cause data loss. And in those cases, the corruption or loss is mirrored too. Also, should your house burn down, get flooded out, sucked up in a tornado, or robbed and your computer stolen, there goes all your data with it.

If you are considering RAID 1 because it technically offers better read performance than a single drive, then the choice of 5400RPM drives seems counter-intuitive to me. Especially since you are (and wisely so, IMO ) going with a SSD as your boot drive. I only go all SSD for my builds, but that's me.

*** Now I am going to reverse myself. Why only a DVD burner? I would used some of the $$$ saved with the less expensive PSU and case and buy a Blu-ray burner. And then with the money left over, I would consider going all SSD!

Many good thoughts here...

I chose a water cooler, not for overclocking, but for quiet computing. I felt like a larger radiator would help to dissipate heat with slower fan speeds. I've actually been running an old fanless Zalman Reserator for years... it's just a huge silent monolith that sits on my desk and works perfectly. It's 14 years old now. I top off the distilled water from time to time and every now and then I wonder how much longer it will continue to run - I definitely got my money's worth!

I'm sure that I have some ancient AS5 laying around. I'll try some of the newer non-conductive stuff with this build.

The full tower case attracted me because it had excellent reviews for silent computing, and it could accommodate additional HDDs in the future. I've been accumulating some video footage and I've got quite the media collection. I may scale back on the size of the case though. I'll check out your recommendation.

RAID would just be for convenience in case a drive died. I do continuous off-site backups... but I really do not look forward to a scenario where I have to download terabytes of data for a full restore. I may be over-thinking here and it might make more sense to do occasional backups to external drives.

I know the graphics card is overkill... I picked that one because it's a very quiet card. If I ever do decide to start gaming, I should be able to play most anything.

W/regards to the DVD burner... well, I have a Blu-Ray burner in my current machine, but I accidentally unplugged the power cable when I updated to 32GB of RAM some years ago... I never plugged it back in and I never missed it. I've actually got an old Lightscribe CD/DVD Burner and on the rare occasion that I need to burn and label a disc, that's the one I use.

I've continued to research and learn and come full-circle w/regards to the motherboard. I thought I might go with MSI, ASROCK, then Gigabyte for the VRMs... but since I'm not going to be doing any extreme overclocking (just enough to keep some street cred!), I've come back to ASUS for reliability, features and a friendly BIOS.

The last piece of the equation to my build is that I'm a software engineer and I'll probably keep my new build until something really compelling comes along. If I keep it for 10 years, a $3000 machine is only $300 a year. My current rig is working on 12 years of 100% stability. I'll be able to write-off this machine on my taxes, which effectively gives me another 25-30% discount. Why not?!?!

 

[Bill_Bright]

I chose a water cooler, not for overclocking, but for quiet computing.

Sadly, it doesn't automatically work that way. In fact, because the radiators tend to be attached directly to the case and mounted right up top next to a vent, those fans are often more easily heard than a quality traditional CPU cooler fan mounted deep inside a quality case. Especially if the case is located on or near the floor. Now if you can go fanless then great, but what about the pump? They can hum along and reverberate through a case too.

I'm sure that I have some ancient AS5 laying around.

Well, there's no problem if old TIM dries out after it has been applied because the solids that remain behind are still filling the microscopic pits and valleys in the CPU and cooler mating surfaces, preventing insulating air from getting in. We must remember the only reason TIM comes in a liquid paste form is just so it can easily be squeezed out of the tube and spread smoothly, evenly and thinly across the die. But old TIM that has dried in an old open tube needs to be tossed so no hard chunks prevent a thin, even application. Of course none of that matters if you just want to try something new!

While Gigabyte is my preferred motherboard, I also like ASUS and MSI. They all use the same or similar components from the same manufacturers. And they all use sound assembly techniques. So it really is hard to go wrong, in terms of reliability, with any of the major brands (in a properly cooled case and clean power).

BTW, you mention "non-conductive". IMO, there is way too much "marketing hype" (read: exaggerated nonsense!) over that "non-conductive" (as well as "non-capacitive"). Why would such TIMs be needed? If you plan on squeezing out the entire tube, then squishing the TIM all over the place, including into the CPU contact pins/pads and on to the motherboard circuit traces, then fine, you need non-conductive and non-capacitive TIM - you also need to be banned from coming anywhere near exposed electronics!

If there is a risk TIM will be squished out, you put way too much on. It really is not hard to put a tiny dab on, then add more IF and only if you need more. You want the application to be as thin as possible. Too much TIM is in the way! And if you are scared you might somehow drop some on the board, surround the CPU socket with some printer paper or some other "drop-cloth".

I am just saying, don't dismiss a good TIM just because it doesn't claim to be non-conductive or non-capacitive.

and it could accommodate additional HDDs in the future.

No denying that is a good, quiet case. But good and quiet are not limited to monstrous and expensive full tower cases. And as shown, mid towers leave lots of room for more HDs in the future too. Your choice - just want you to have all the information you need to make an informed decision that is best for your needs.

For many years, I ran with mirrored RAID arrays on all my personal systems just "in case a drive died". Guess what? None did. I did, however, have two RAID controllers fail on me. Not sure if I was just unlucky when it comes to controllers, or lucky with drives, or if it was the fact I always spent extra buying "enterprise class" drives. Either way, spending triple for drive space didn't pay off - especially since I still had to have backups on a fourth drive. Note the 3rd was an identical drive to the 2 in the RAID array. I kept this one in my bank safe deposit box and every couple months, swapped it into the RAID array, taking the replaced drive back to the bank as an "off-site" backup of all my business records. That process was prudent, but a real PITA.

And since you are concerned about noise, 2 drives make twice the amount of noise and create twice the vibration which resonates as noise throughout a case - unless you go all SSD that is! Something to chew on.

The last piece of the equation to my build is that I'm a software engineer and I'll probably keep my new build until something really compelling comes along. If I keep it for 10 years, a $3000 machine is only $300 a year. My current rig is working on 12 years of 100% stability. I'll be able to write-off this machine on my taxes, which effectively gives me another 25-30% discount. Why not?!?!

That's what is great about building your own PC - you can stretch out its useful life span with careful upgrades to make it "evolve" with the advances in technologies and your change in needs.

For sure, if you can write off a nice percentage on your taxes, I say go for it. As someone with a home-based business for many years, being able to write off as much as you can is important. I even wrote off a percentage of my mortgage based on the square footage of my shop, and a percentage of the utilities based on that square footage and 9 hours/day, 6 days/week. I had a second router I used to create and isolate my business network from my home network, and wrote off the router and a percentage of my ISP bill. Just note the IRS is cracking down on home office tax fraud. If you use your computer for anything other than your work, you cannot claim the entire computer. For me, it was just easier to build a second computer just for work. However you do it, keep meticulous records.

 

[trents]

Yes, as Bill Bright said, water cooling is not necessarily quieter than air cooling. It can be but it all depends on the fans, the size and location of the radiator, the acoustics of the case and a number of things. A large radiator with quiet fans will likely be quieter than a small air cooler that is trying to compensate for lack of heat-sinking power with high fan speed.

In my experience, when the thermal paste between a heat sink and a CPU gets too dried out it does have a negative effect on cooling. I have seen this many times on old computers in my customer base. When new paste is applied it lowers temps dramatically. So I think the thermal paste does have a life span.

 

[Bill_Bright]

So I think the thermal paste does have a life span.

Old TIM does decrease in efficiency by a few degrees over the years. But if you "need" those few degrees to keep from crossing over thermal protection thresholds, you have bigger problems than old TIM. If you saw "dramatic" drops, it was more likely a combination of things - new TIM, the old TIM was a basic OEM TIM "pad" from yesteryear(see * below), the cooler and case were cleaned of heat trapping dust at the same time, and/or perhaps the cured bond between the CPU and heat sink was broken.

Please note there is not one, not a single CPU maker, GPU maker, TIM maker, cooler maker, motherboard maker, graphics card maker, or computer maker - not a single one - who says TIM needs to be replaced just because it reaches X number of years old!

The fact is, TIM will easily last 10, 15, 20 years or longer AS LONG AS the cured bond between the mating surfaces is not broken.

The Heatsink Guide,

Thermal compound normally does not get hard, it will stay sticky for years. But depending on the solvents used in the making of the compound, it may dry over the years. This is not a reason to worry; it will still do its job when dry, and there is no reason to replace dried thermal compound.

I have noticed two things about TIM over the years as an electronics tech. (1) It lasts decades if the bond is not broken and (2) the most common reason the bond gets broken is by users twisting the heatsink too hard to see if loose!

I note too with the popularity of very tall side firing coolers, it is not uncommon for the bond to break during transport. So if transporting your computer and if you have a large cooler, don't drop kick the computer and don't fly over railroad tracks - or better yet, remove the cooler before transport!

Also important to remember is cooler does not automagically mean better. As long as your temps are comfortably within the specified operating range, all is good. That is, a CPU running at 25°C will not perform better, be more stable, or have a longer life-expectancy than a CPU running at 50°C. If your temps are fine, don't try to fix them! You risk greater damage from ESD or other physical abuse.



* Note years ago, the thermal OEM pads provided by the CPU makers were barely adequate - at best. Today's OEM pads are much more efficient. I used to automatically replace those pads with all our builds. Now I never do unless the client requests it, or I know the client will be doing some extreme overclocking. This is because both AMD and Intel heard and heeded the complaints about their OEM coolers and TIM. Today's OEM coolers and TIM are actually very good (and quiet too! ) and can even provide sufficient cooling with mild to moderate over clocking - in a properly cooled case.

 

[trents]

Yes, TIM generally lasts a long time and I'm sure you are correct in that in some situations the bond has been broken by customers. And some of the cheap TIMs are not even metallic. I mean almost any viscous liquid will give somewhat better heat transfer than none at all. I mean I've seen tests where people used various compounds (even toothpaste) to some degree of effectiveness with regard to heat transfer.

I think also there is a "pumping out" effect with some of the less viscous TIM's over time due to heating/cooling cycles.

 

[Bill_Bright]

And some of the cheap TIMs are not even metallic.

Note sure what you mean there. Metallic is not necessarily better. I mean plain ol' silicone "grease" has been a standard for years.

I have heard of the toothpaste (and mayonnaise and all sorts of things). I think that was just BS that went viral.

 

[trents]

I think a lot of the better TIMs either use metals or carbon powder mixed in with the liquid since those materials have inherently good thermal conductivity values.