Summary and conclusion

Summary and conclusion

It's not the most straightforward task to choose a good thermal paste as you can see that there are plenty of products on the market. The decision of picking up the best one depends on your needs. There are a couple of products delivering the best possible performance but at a higher cost. There are some "sweet spot" thermal pastes. But in general, you can assume that you won't be disappointed after buying products from such brands as Arctic, Cooler Master, Noctua or Thermal Grizzly. Especially the last one has made a giant leap in the market, by offering a variety of good stuff. This success is also caused by the co-operation with well-known (in OC world) Roman "der8auer" Hartung. The choice of thermal paste is essential when you're overclocking the CPU (although it's becoming more and more limited these years). This scenario is mainly applicable when stability is to be achieved, every degree can count to gain it. 

The last time we've recommended it, it still applies the Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut to offer the best performance. There's a drawback for most users, as it's a liquid-metal compound, so not 100% safe in usage (as it's electrically conductive). You also need to remember that it can damage aluminum surfaces and stain copper heatsink places (but the performance will stay). The nickel-plated IHS – then it's not a problem.

The next one was the Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. It was always at the top of the charts, it's not electrically conductive, but it's relatively expensive. Arctic Cooling MX-2/MX-4, Be Quiet DC1 or Cooler Master Mastergel Maker, or Noctua NT-H1 were the safe choice (and a cheaper alternative).

This time around, we got an addition for the above. For the best (non-liquid-metal) thermal paste, we've got a new contender. It’s the Alpenföhn Permafrost 2. In general, it's almost always on a similar level to the Kryonaut (and it's cheaper). That's great, isn't it?

Of course, we can mention the Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme, which in our test didn't outperform the "regular" Kryounat. This thermal paste is a good solution for extreme overclockers or at least people who have a proper custom loop.

In the segment of the excellent performance/price ratio products, we can recommend the Thermal Grizzly Aeronaut/Hydronaut, Cryorig CP5, and the Zalman STC9.

One paste (?) that is something new is the Carbonaut. Although, in theory, it has an outstanding thermal conductivity (62.5W/mK) – in reality, it was somewhat in the middle of the pack. But on the other side, it's the easiest to use and also reusable.

Concluding

As we've mentioned in the first round of roundup, there are many options to be considered. We've already covered not "only" 20, but with the additional 10 – overall 30 products available on the market. In summary, we've listed the consideration of the excellent products. Of course, the charts are rather some guideline, as most probably you won't have the exact conditions as there were in our systems. We don't grant any award, as there is no definite solution for all of the users. For some novice users, the Carbonaut can be attractive as the application is the easiest of the bunch (and it's also reusable). In the end, it's all up to you. You've got to consider your budget, your needs (if the CPU is going to be tweaked), and then pick up the product that best suits your needs.  

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