Usually, any metal or liquid metal paste will have better performance but it may be higher cost and be harder to use properly. There are generally three trade-offs to consider when evaluating a paste: cost, performance, and ease of use. A less dense paste, such as a liquid metal type, will fill in the gaps better but will also flow more easily over the surface of the CPU and possibly onto unwanted components or contacts on the motherboard. This is more of a personal preference than a performance metric.ĭensity refers to how well the paste will fill in the microscopic air gaps between the CPU and heat sink. Viscosity refers to how “sticky” the paste is, which affects how well the heat sink will stick to the CPU. There are many, many choices available in thermal pastes, so much so that it may be a bit intimidating to choose one.Īs mentioned, pastes have different thermal conductivity, but there are other factors to consider as well, such as the maximum temperature rating, viscosity, and density. It’s not hard to imagine how having something permanently stuck to your CPU could potentially create some major problems when attempting maintenance in the future. Since it’s typically desirable to be able to remove the heat sink from the CPU, adhesive compounds are not recommended. There are other compounds on the market, such as thermal epoxies, that form a permanent mechanical bond between devices. The thermal pastes we’ve discussed gere are all non-adhesive, meaning they don’t physically bond one device to another. They aren’t as effective as metal or ceramic-based pastes so we won’t spend much time on them here. Silicone-based thermal pastes are typically pre applied to a thermal pad that goes between the CPU and heat sink. The only drawback here is that ceramic-based thermal paste has a slightly lower thermal conductivity than metal-based pastes. For these reasons ceramic-based pastes are very popular. Additionally, they are less expensive than metal-based pastes. Ceramic-BasedĬeramic-based thermal pastes don’t contain any metal, so they are not electrically conductive. One drawback to metal-based pastes is that they are also electrically conductive, so if you’re not careful in applying them they can potentially short-circuit pins on the CPU or other electrical connections on your motherboard.Ī subset of metal-based pastes is “liquid metal” pastes, which flow more readily and have even higher thermal conductivity. Metal-based thermal pastes have the highest thermal conductivity and therefore the best performance. Therefore, not using thermal paste will likely prove to be quite destructive over time.Īgain: Since the cost and time required to apply thermal paste is negligible compared to the cost of replacing a CPU or GPU, it’s highly recommended to always use thermal paste. While recommended operating temperatures vary depending on the CPU, the general recommendation is that your CPU temperature should not exceed 80C (176F). With thermal paste, a typical CPU temperature under 100% load might be 56C (132.8F) without thermal paste that temperature skyrockets to 94C (201.2F)! However, when the CPU is at 100% load (working as hard as it can), the situation changes dramatically. This is noticeable but not particularly hazardous to the CPU. When the computer is idling (not performing any significant amount of computation) there is relatively little difference in CPU temperature.įor example, a typical CPU “idle” temperature may be 22C (71.6F) with paste and 28C (82.4F) without paste. Tests have been conducted on CPU’s with and without thermal paste applied. For this reason, applying a layer of thermal paste between the CPU (or GPU) and heat sink is always recommended, whether or not fans are present. The thermal conductivity of most thermal pastes is up to 100 times greater than air. Thermal paste, also called thermal compound, thermal grease, thermal interface material (TIM), thermal gel, heat paste, heat sink compound, heat sink paste or CPU grease, greatly increases the thermal conductivity of the CPU-to-heat sink interface. Not all types of thermal pastes are equal and there are some important caveats, so we need to dig a little deeper into the details. CPU’s and GPU’s with pre-applied paste should be inspected, but additional thermal paste isn’t required if the existing paste is satisfactory. It is cheap, easy to apply, and can make more than a 60% difference in heavy-load temperatures. 5 Final Recommendations Does Thermal Paste Matter?Īs a general rule, thermal paste should always be used on a CPU or GPU.
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