Guru3D Thermal Paste Roundup 2019 - Introduction

Thermal Paste Roundup 2019
TIM Mega Roundup - Which one to pick out of twenty?

Introduction

You know it (or at least you should if you're a Guru3D regular!) thermal paste, also called TIM as in thermal insulation material, is an often-overlooked part of most computer setups. You can simply use the pre-applied goop, or the thermal paste that comes with your cooler, and sure, still get reasonable processor temps at stock speeds. Thermal paste is a compound that helps to fill the gaps between the CPU and a custom cooler that your eyes cannot see. Most of us are not very experienced with it, but it is definitely one of the more important items when building a DiY PC and looking for a good result. When the processor of a computer performs its work, it generates heat. The bigger the workload, the more quickly the processor heats up. If you want your processor to operate efficiently, you need to install a custom cooler or a heatsink that really helps to keep the CPU cool. The heatsink is placed on top of the CPU, to absorb the heat that the processor produces when the machine is running. However, in most cases, heatsinks are not able to transfer the heat properly on their own (i.e. without thermal grease), due to minuscule gaps between the CPU and the heatsink’s base. As a result, the processor could/would heat up over time, and the machine would slow down. It might even get damaged in the long run. This is why you apply thermal paste.

But what is the best thermal paste in 2019? Could you buy just any thermal paste and expect it to be as effective as the next or any regular one? Well, we’ll get to that in a minute. First, let’s go over the contestants for today's review.

• Arctic Cooling MX-2
• Arctic Cooling MX-4
• Arctic Silver 5
• Be Quiet DC1
• Cooler Master Mastergel Maker
• Cooler Master Mastergel Regular
• Cooler Master Mastergel Pro
• Corsair TM30
• Gelid GC Extreme
• Noctua NT-H1
• Noctua NT-H2
• Phanteks PH-NDC
• Prolimatech PK-2
• Prolimatech PK-3
• SilentiumPC Pactum PT-1
• SilentiumPC Pactum PT-2
• Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut
• Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut
• Thermaltake TG4
• Zalman ZM-STG2

As you can see, we have grabbed 20 products, some delivered by the manufacturer, others bought ourselves in an effort to give our Guru3D reader-base a good overview of the TIM market and effectivity, as most of the important brands in this sector have been covered here.