80-way TIM shootout

Arctucas · Jun 16, 2009

Charper2013 · Jun 16, 2009

Wow, I didnt even know that there were that many.

mlee49 · Jun 16, 2009

Thank you, very detailed review!

happita · Jun 16, 2009

Very impressive review of not just the 80 pastes, but the general information about TIM's as well. Informative for everyone. Thanks! :toast:

Velvet Wafer · Jun 16, 2009

its strange that the collaboratory liquid metal doesnt show up in excellent performance, which is might linked to the fact, that liquid metal needs at least 48H curing time:shadedshu... this improves temperature a lot, i tested it myself with a toasty,overclocked Sapphire HD4850 Toxic... in this Example i got 4-5c°, just thru curing (on warm days), because the Vf900 :eek:

was terribly finished,it had 0,5mm deep machining marks in it

Liquid Metal is the most superior Temperature-Killer-Goop for me, but it eats Aluminium (which i dont use), stains Copper, and mostly gruesome, it creates something like unremovable,tiny little dark dots and 1 2mm wide unremovable rust-donut on the die itself... its removable, but the edges are imprinted forever... ich believe it has to do with invisible scratches on the die

W1zzard · Jun 16, 2009

dont look at the numbers so much .. read the review..

then come to the conclusion that the best paste if the one you can acquire easily, for a reasonable price that is easy to use

Velvet Wafer · Jun 16, 2009

Its normally nowwhere to obtain (in internet, in my towns little computer shack its somehow obtainable), more than 150% more expensive than arctic ceramique, applies to Dies like a Crackwhore (next to nothing) and to Heatspreaders like a bitch, but when you somehow got it to cover the spreader, it looks like a fucking mirror! and it cools way better than it looks, nearly 10c° were obtainable even with watercooling (and only cpu-lapping). But direct Die contact somehow eats it up after a month, so it gets very sensible to shock, and eventually loses full contact, which results in rapidly increasing temperature. under water and with heatspreader it seems it performs better, without decrease.
EDIT:
I forgot: its highly electrically conductive, but no other paste spreads that thin

I would say this is the perfect paste for me, as long im Overclocker?^^

daragez · Jun 16, 2009

nice review!....it's very impressive!....

BrooksyX · Jun 16, 2009

Hmm A- for MX-2 not surprised. Think ill stick with it.

King Wookie · Jun 16, 2009

What intrigues me is how some pastes that do so well in other reviews, bomb out so badly here. But I must admit the info on paste application is most useful.

Velvet Wafer · Jun 16, 2009

another strange thing ist the rating of the Seven Carat Diamond... if i dont remember wrong, this goop was true shit, or at least, this is what the most reviewers found out. am i wrong?

Asylum · Jun 16, 2009

Thanks for the post!!

MKmods · Jun 17, 2009

It amazes me how people devote can spend all the time/effort needed to to do these huge comparisons

:respect:

to you Olin

Velvet Wafer · Jun 17, 2009

you thought "Why the F*** have this Guys so much Time?"

or "How interesting their Life is" ?

MKmods · Jun 17, 2009

lol, I actually know the guy here.

He has a very interesting life and still manages to find time to help many others (including me)

Velvet Wafer · Jun 17, 2009

lol i dindt knew, but i were kinda pissed if i had to work thru tons of bad thermalpaste :laugh:

Wile E · Jun 17, 2009

I'm surprised at the strong showing AS5 has put up. Still one of the best after all these years.

newtekie1 · Jun 17, 2009

W1zzard said:
dont look at the numbers so much .. read the review..

then come to the conclusion that the best paste if the one you can acquire easily, for a reasonable price that is easy to use

I can agree with that, considering the temp difference between the very best and the very worse was only 4.5°C. :laugh:

El Fiendo · Jun 17, 2009

I use AS5 but I should probably go away from it. My uses are for folding rigs and I don't really give it a chance to cure with everything running 24/7 and all.

Mind you, the extra degree it causes is hardly a killer.

Velvet Wafer · Jun 17, 2009

i just wondered because the difference between as5 and liquid should be at least 2-3c.
its liquid you know? the cooling properties should be superior to each oxide/silverparticle-paste, because it can fill gaps even when theyre microscopically small. No other Paste is better in it. So why are its cooling properties so bad in this review? i definetly know that i got more than 4,5c° from Ceramique changing to Liquid... does this guy uses the wrong method somehow?

MKmods · Jun 17, 2009

Velvet Wafer said:
does this guy uses the wrong method somehow?

Just so we all are clear on this what exactly makes you an expert? Or why anyone should take anything you say with more than a grain of salt? :laugh:

Wile E said:
I'm surprised at the strong showing AS5 has put up. Still one of the best after all these years.

Good news for me ... I have a bunch of the small half used tubes laying around

Nick89 · Jun 17, 2009

Velvet Wafer said:
i just wondered because the difference between as5 and liquid should be at least 2-3c.
its liquid you know? the cooling properties should be superior to each oxide/silverparticle-paste, because it can fill gaps even when theyre microscopically small. No other Paste is better in it. So why are its cooling properties so bad in this review? i definetly know that i got more than 4,5c° from Ceramique changing to Liquid... does this guy uses the wrong method somehow?

Its not, no I dont, they arnt, it doesnt, AS5 is, because it isnt that good, no you didnt, no he didnt.

I dont know how to say this. /facepalm

suraswami · Jun 17, 2009

Wile E said:
I'm surprised at the strong showing AS5 has put up. Still one of the best after all these years.

+1 on that. One of the easiest to apply too. MX-2 is instant tho. But I never had problem with AS5, don't know why switched to MX-2. Man now I am confused :ohwell:

Which one lasts longer? MX-2 on its packing says 8 yrs, who in the heck is going to use the same PC for 8 yrs (may be).

MKmods · Jun 17, 2009

lol, I am lucky to use a comp for 8 days before rebuilding..(Probably why I went to MX2)

hat · Jun 17, 2009

Why don't you just beat the poor guy over the head next time? I've wondered that about particle paste myself myself. Since Arctic Silver has silver particles in it, it can never produce as truly flat of a surface as a true liquid paste like MX-2 can, and it can never fit perfectly in the little microscopic inperfections like a true liquid paste can. I believe this is the reason MX-2 has better thermal transfer than Arctic Silver 5. That and you get the nifty bonus that it's easier to clean and is not electrically conductive.

System Name	It's just a computer
Processor	i9-9900K Direct Die
Motherboard	eVGA Z390 Dark
Cooling	Dual D5T Vario, XSPC BayRes, Nemesis GTR560, NF-A14-iPPC3000PWM, NF-A14-iPPC2000, HK IV Pro Nickel
Memory	G.Skill F4-4500C19D-16GTZKKE or G.Skill F4-3600C16D-16GTZ or G.Skill F4-4000C19D-32GTZSW
Video Card(s)	eVGA RTX2080 FTW3 Ultra
Storage	Samsung 960 EVO M.2
Display(s)	LG 32GK650F
Case	Thermaltake Xaser VI
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 2G/Z-5500
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime PX-1300
Mouse	Logitech
Keyboard	Logitech
Software	Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1

Processor	AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma Black Edition @ 3.2GHz 16x200
Motherboard	ASUS M3A78-EM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
Cooling	XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler
Memory	OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 & Corsair Dominator (2 x 1GB) DDR2 1250
Video Card(s)	HIS Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
Storage	Western Digital 3.25 Inch SATA 320GB Drive
Display(s)	SAMSUNG ToC T240HD Rose-Black 24" 5ms HDMI Widescreen HDTV Monitor
Case	LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 Mid Tower Computer Case
Audio Device(s)	Onboard Realtek ALC1200 8 Channel Audio
Power Supply	Corsair 650HX ATX12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular PSU
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Proffesional

System Name	The Dove Box Rev 3.0
Processor	i7 8700k @ 4.7GHz
Motherboard	Asus Maximus X APEX
Cooling	Custom water loop
Memory	16GB 3600 MHz DDR4
Video Card(s)	2x MSI 780 Ti's in SLI
Storage	500GB Samsung 850 PCIe SSD, 4TB
Display(s)	27" Asus 144Hz
Case	Enermax Fulmo GT
Audio Device(s)	ON BOARD FTW
Power Supply	Corsair 1200W
Keyboard	Logitech G510
Software	Win 10 64x

Processor	i5-7600k
Motherboard	ASRock Z170 Pro4
Cooling	CM Hyper 212 EVO w/ AC MX-4
Memory	2x8GB DDR4 2400 Corsair LPX Vengeance 15-15-15-36
Video Card(s)	MSI Twin Frozr 1070ti
Storage	240GB Corsair Force GT
Display(s)	23' Dell AW2310
Case	Corsair 550D
Power Supply	Seasonic SS-760XP2 Platinum
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

System Name	Nexus PC
Processor	Intel Xeon E3-1231 v3, 3600 MHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-H97-HD3
Cooling	Thermalright Macho V2
Memory	24GB DDR3, 1400MHZ CL8
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Radeon R9 290
Storage	Samsung EVO 960 250gb, EVO 850 250gb, Vertex 3 128gb. 2 TB of Rotational.
Display(s)	1xAsus MX299, 2x Asus MX239, Oculus Rift CV1
Case	Sunflower Tower
Audio Device(s)	C-Media CMI8738/C3DX
Power Supply	Corsair TX850
Mouse	Cyborg R.A.T. 7
Software	Win7 64Bit Ultimate

80-way TIM shootout

Arctucas

Charper2013

New Member

mlee49

happita

Velvet Wafer

W1zzard

Administrator

Velvet Wafer

daragez

New Member

BrooksyX

King Wookie

New Member

Velvet Wafer

Asylum

MKmods

Case Mod Guru

Velvet Wafer

MKmods

Case Mod Guru

Velvet Wafer

Wile E

Power User

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

El Fiendo

Velvet Wafer

MKmods

Case Mod Guru

Nick89

suraswami

MKmods

Case Mod Guru

hat

Enthusiast

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

System Name	Main / Home Media Serever
Processor	Intel i5 2500k @ 4.75ghz / AMD AM3 5200+ x2
Motherboard	ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Performance / Biostar 790GX
Cooling	Xigmatek Dark Knight / XIGMATEK Apache
Memory	12gb of G.Skill Value Series DDR3 / 4x 1gb DDR2
Video Card(s)	XFX Radeon 6870 1gb / Asus Radeon 5450 512mb
Storage	2x Samsung 830 64gb SSD Raid 0 & 750gb WD Blue HDD / OCZ Vertex II 80GB & 10TB of HDD Space
Display(s)	2x Acer 24" LED / Samsung 50" LED
Case	Xigmatek Asgard II / APEX PC-389-C
Power Supply	Rosewill 750w / Antec EArthwatts 380w
Software	Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1 / Ubuntu 14.04

System Name	Blackbox
Processor	Intel i5 750 @ stock for now
Motherboard	EVGA P55 LE
Cooling	Corsair H50 with 2 x Zalman ZM-F3 push/pull
Memory	2 x 2g team extreem DDR3 2000
Video Card(s)	Asus GTX 460 Top
Storage	Seagate 500.12, Seagate 320.11
Display(s)	BenQ FP222W - 22 inches
Case	CM 590 with 5x various fans (Thermalright/Noctua)
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair HX620
Software	XP home SP3

System Name	KILLER
Processor	Intel Core i7 4790K
Motherboard	MSI Z87 G45 Gaming
Cooling	Water Cooling
Memory	2x8GB Gskill 2400mhz
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 980
Storage	SSD Samsung 500GB
Display(s)	24" Asus 144hz
Case	Cooler Master HAF
Audio Device(s)	X-Fi Platinum
Power Supply	Antec 1200 Watt Modular
Software	Windows 10 64 Bit
Benchmark Scores	3DMark Vantage 51342

System Name	Crossflow III
Processor	AMD 965 (4.04Ghz)
Motherboard	Asus Crosshair III
Cooling	Air
Memory	4 gigs Mushkin 7-7-7-20@1T
Video Card(s)	single 9800GT
Storage	Raptor 150's in Raid0
Display(s)	LG Flatron 24"
Case	Custom
Audio Device(s)	AuzenTech X-Raider W/OP637
Power Supply	Custom modded Corsair 750HX
Software	Win 7 64/Solaris Utility
Benchmark Scores	3DMark06--21963 so far

System Name	The ClusterF**k
Processor	980X @ 4Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 BIOS F12
Cooling	MCR-320, DDC-1 pump w/Bitspower res top (1/2" fittings), Koolance CPU-360
Memory	3x2GB Mushkin Redlines 1600Mhz 6-8-6-24 1T
Video Card(s)	Evga GTX 580
Storage	Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB, 2xSeagate 320GB RAID0; 2xSeagate 3TB; 2xSamsung 2TB; Samsung 1.5TB
Display(s)	HP LP2475w 24" 1920x1200 IPS
Case	Technofront Bench Station
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Fi Forte into Onkyo SR606 and Polk TSi200's + RM6750
Power Supply	ENERMAX Galaxy EVO EGX1250EWT 1250W
Software	Win7 Ultimate N x64, OSX 10.8.4

Processor	Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory	32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super
Storage	500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s)	Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply	eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

System Name	AMD \| Intel \| Chumpy
Processor	PHII 955BE Stock \| i7 920 D0 4.01 GHz \| i7 920 D0 4.01 GHz
Motherboard	MSI 790FX-GD70 \| EX58 - UD5 \| E760 4 Way SLI
Cooling	Zalman 9700 CNPS \| Water Loop \| Water Loop
Memory	4 GB XMS3 1600 MHz \| 6 GB Dominators 1600 MHz \| 6 GB Dominators 1866 MHz
Video Card(s)	3 x 9600GSO, GTX260 216 \| 2 x GTX 260 216 \| GTX 260 216, 9600 GSO
Storage	WD 640GB \| Couple o' 5400RPMs \| WD 1TB
Case	Cosmos S \| Lancool K62 Dragonlord \| Lian Li PC-P80 Armor
Power Supply	TX850 \| HX 1000 \| HX 1000
Software	Win 7 Home Premium \| Win 7 Ultimate \| Vista Home Premium

System Name	9th Level
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard	MSI X570 Carbon wifi
Cooling	EK Basic 360, x2 250mm, x1 140mm, x1 120mm fans.
Memory	32GB Corsair Vengeance 3200mhz.
Video Card(s)	EVGA RTX 3080 12GB FTW3
Storage	500gb ssd, 2tb ssd, 6tb HD.
Display(s)	MSI 27" Curved 1440p@165hz
Case	HAF 932
Power Supply	Corsair HX850W
Software	Windows 10 64bit

System Name	---
Processor	FX 8350 @ 4.00 Ghz with 1.28v
Motherboard	Gigabyte 990FX-UD3 v4.0, Hacked Bios F4.x
Cooling	Silenx 4 pipe Tower cooler + 2 x Cougar 120mm fan, 3 x 120mm, 1 x 200 mm Red LED fan
Memory	Kingston HyperX DDR3 1866 16GB + Patriot Memory DDR3 1866 16GB
Video Card(s)	Asus R9 290 OC @ GPU - 1050, MEM - 1300
Storage	Inland 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD for OS, WDC Black - 2TB + 1TB Storage, Inland 480GB SSD - Games
Display(s)	3 x 1080P LCDs - Acer 25" + Acer 23" + HP 23"
Case	AeroCool XPredator X3
Audio Device(s)	Built-in Realtek
Power Supply	Corsair HX1000 Modular
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64 bit

System Name	Starlifter :: Dragonfly
Processor	i7 2600k 4.4GHz :: i5 10400
Motherboard	ASUS P8P67 Pro :: ASUS Prime H570-Plus
Cooling	Cryorig M9 :: Stock
Memory	4x4GB DDR3 2133 :: 2x8GB DDR4 2400
Video Card(s)	PNY GTX1070 :: Integrated UHD 630
Storage	Crucial MX500 1TB, 2x1TB Seagate RAID 0 :: Mushkin Enhanced 60GB SSD, 3x4TB Seagate HDD RAID5
Display(s)	Onn 165hz 1080p :: Acer 1080p
Case	Antec SOHO 1030B :: Old White Full Tower
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro - Bose Companion 2 Series III :: None
Power Supply	FSP Hydro GE 550w :: EVGA Supernova 550
Software	Windows 10 Pro - Plex Server on Dragonfly
Benchmark Scores	>9000