Thermal Paste vs. Reusable Graphite Thermal Pad Benchmarks (IC Diamond Pad)

Hello everyone,

I have a question regarding the correct size of thermal pads. The manufacturer used both 1.25mm and 1.75mm thermal pads. However, I'm unable to find thermal pads in those specific sizes. I'm unsure whether I should opt for a size that is one level up or one level down.

For the 1.25mm thermal pads used by the manufacturer, should I choose 1mm or 1.5mm? Your guidance on the best option would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I'm jumping to AM5 and have read people being frustrated with the cleaning of the 7000 series CPU heatspreader. All those groves appears to be a hassle to clean up the cpu. COnsidering maybe it's time to use a thermal pad as I know this low end 7600 will be replaced at some point.

Do they make a graphite paste derivative. I agree paste is better thus a graphite paste should do very well. Graphite is 5x better a conducting heat than copper

I wonder how this would be for say something like a switch. where the dock can cool the device further. that's why I'm interested in it

I wonder how reusable it is truly if you just keep smudging it with your finger and dust

If you might return your cpu..

PTM7950 is better then thermal paste potentially as good as liquid metal maybe even better especially looking at wattage pushed when it boost to thermal limits.

is thermal pads world better now ? worth reviewing ?

Thermal pads will make more sense for overclockers who do liquid nitrogen exotic cooling for world records since it doesn't freeze up like a thermal paste and the 1to2 to-degree bad performance compared to the paste is not a concern in sub-zero cooling situations heck the thermal pad might be better than the paste because the thermal pad can handle the sub-zero temperatures and keep the thermal heat transfer going in between the CPU-IHS and the heatsink/liquid nitrogen cooling pod.
Where once the thermal paste freezes the thermal heat transfer capacity is greatly reduced.

I'm still using those pads, they work great, just slippery to install.

Basically, until you are in a high wattage, high temperature (high performance) situation, the thermal pad will realistically work fine. It's when you really need to shave a few degrees off your operating temp that you need thermal paste.

I like the pads because they aren't messy, in application as well as in storage out of use. They also serve a wider array of purposes, such as nvme drives and gpu ram.

Even looking back at older videos I still learn something every time I watch a GN video. This came out around the time I built my first system and now I’m one of the go to friends in my group for PC stuff and dive headfirst into learning. You past present and future content brings so much to the table

Listen to you is the same as listen to Chinese robot speaking fast! Horrible, boring, extremely long, and uninteresting! Thumbs down!

it is 2023 now and graphite thermal pads are actually pretty good today.

I know this is an old video, but I have been using Thermal Grizzly for awhile now and my experience is that over time it DOES dry out, and A LOT, much more than what I had been using for years, which was Arctic Silver 5.

I have used Thermal Grizzly on my high-end RAID card and the CPU on my Netgear NAS, and the temperatures steadily rise within a very short period of time. I open them up and sure enough, the TG paste is dry like paint!!!! I wish GN would test and report on this.

So I'm going to try one of these IC Graphite Thermal pads. I think another important factor to consider is the high cost of TG. The IC pad is just $13 bucks, and lasts "forever". Plus, if it's drying out all the time (as it is for me), now you have the wasted time of periodically having to tear down your rig or equipment. I would rather have ZERO down time, a ONE time install, and LOWER cost, PLUS reliable temps that never degrade.

Sure, if I'm going to build the highest overclocking computer and compete with others for fastest machine and lowest temps, fine; then you're going to want to go with lowest thermals. But for those doing that, tearing down all the time is normal and expected. I am NOT in that category, especially for my RAID card and NAS; I just want those things to run and run and NEVER have to worry about temperature creep EVER, and this sounds like a perfect use for these IC (or other) pads. And why not these pads for the vast majority of us who DO have gaming machines, but as long as the heat doesn't "redline" and we can do everything we're going to do with NO issue or constant teardowns... well isn't THAT what's better, less costly, and saves us time on unnecessary down time?

Please Help !!! Hey guys, hope you doing well. Which one of these thermal pastes would perform better in my use case? CPU: 5900X , Cooler: 240mm Deepcool LE500 AIO

Arctic MX-4

Arctic MX-5

Coolermaster Mastergel Pro v2

Coolermaster Mastergel Maker

actually, I have a Mastergel Regular already. Do I need to upgrade to one of these?

After two years I'm changing my case and fans (and only the case and fans), bit I thought since I got the PC taken apart anyways, I could use the opportunity to reapply paste. I would probably never bother to do that at any other time so long I don't change the CPU/Motherboard, so carpe diem.
Since I don't have any spare paste and would need to get new one anyways, I feel like this could be a good opportunity to just get the pad and spare myself the hassle of "picking a paste, checking it for conductivity, applying it correctly, get paranoid about application" etc etc

Good for laptops. Grizzly pumps out on my laptop

Performance can be doubled by using both! =D

I wonder what the combination of thin Thermal paste and a Thermal pad would do. Microscopic pictures of thermal pads make them look pretty uneven and rough. The Thermal paste should smooth that out and bring the best of both worlds.

Putting one of these on top of an open-die is defeating the purpose, and is kinda' like putting a blanket on a pig....but you could I guess.

I have 1 to 3 layer graphene i was thinking of making one

I've used a thermal pad with a cooler master air cooler. I guess you can say paste is objectively better, and mine would run great if I had a GPU.

I've got a i5 3570k, rx580 gpu, 16gb ram and I'm using the grizzly bear thermal pad on my cpu for about 2 years now and temperatures are always on the 65 to 70 degrees mark when playing. Iddle about 30's and I'm happy with that. Wouldn't recommend pads for gpu's though.

the level that you go to test these components is what gives me such faith in your content!

Have you tried to change thermal paste between cpu and the upper cpu plate???

Thank you for this video! I also watched the Linus Tech Tips video on the Innovation Cooling Graphite Thermal Pads and I was immediately intrigued. I have even thought of replacing the old thermal paste in my consoles with these graphite pads as well. I may well have to reconsider after this. Keep up the good work!

Would you like test a Brazilian thermal paste????

Great video. Now this is the setup I can trust the data from.

How do you unstick remove the heatsink when the hydronaut, dries like a rock? Same with cooler master?

That poster... Dude, I never seen anything like that 'til I came out here and used the subway (Austria, Vienna), and that thing was more confusing than today's gender identities! Looks like a motherboard layout tho with a taste of, remember vienna?!^^
\O>

My phones have always seemed to run a bit hotter than I'd like. You think this Graphite Thermal pad would help cool the phone down if I was to attach it to the back glass of my phone while it's in a bulky case like the UAG cases?

So I want to give my old GPU to a friend of mine but the board is bent and the original heat sink doesn't make proper connection is this a good solution to fix that. And how thick should I realistically go for that
Before anybody asks it's bent from the water cooler Mount being on it I may or may not have had it on a little too tight at one point in time.

I don't know if anyone will ever see this comment, but I would love to see a comparison between different brands of thermal paste. For example, I have no idea much better Thermal Grizzly paste is, versus, let's say the generic tubes of Arctic Silver that used to come with Intel CPUs. The only information I have to go on is what I've seen in advertisements or opinions I've heard from other people, and that's not exactly hard data. Many manufacturers provide some data, like viscosity and thermal conductivity, but how would I know if their tests were conducted fairly?

This channel has honestly become my best friend as of the last year

A topic not mentioned is the "turbo" function on most major manufactures which will both add a "SIGNIFICANT" performance boost and "GREATLY" degrade your paste over a much "SHORTER" period of time and this is where the thermal pad "OUTPERFORMES" paste every time (0% degradation). Single use thermal pad "Superior Longevity" was hinted at but not directly mentioned.

Reusability also includes never having to clean thermal paste :) i enjoy that a lot

The biggest issue is that this test doesn't factor in hot spots, which are one of the biggest advantages of the graphite pads.

hey steve can you make a video about how to know the difference between an original thermal paste and fake one and how to spot a difference.

They say that if using the pads to cover the whole CPU is like using a whole tube of thermal compound, what about trying the pad cut into a size of a pea, or grain of rice and putting it in the middle? try it like that please.

While I find some of your fellow PC networkers fun and interesting, it is your Gamers Nexus videos that I find myself coming back to and watching in full, because you test thoroughly and provide facts and figures with everything you do. You might say, you put the science in computer science. I have made purchasing decisions time and time again, weighted heavily on the results of your testing work. You guys are awesome - both you and your super knowledgeable Linux buddy. You guys have amazing senses of humor as well, I love it all.

Ok

Having tried both the IC and Carbonaut on 2 different CPUs, I didn't see any cooler benefit with the IC pad on a 5820k (matter of fact it was really hard to get it to lay in place as it kept slipping around during mounting), while the Carbonaut thermal throttled the hell out of a brand new 5900x, though that was with a fairly well aged watercooler which may have been part of the problem. The IC pad is still on the 5820k under a waterblock but the temp difference vs paste actually went up after the first week, and the carbonaut I'm not trusting to another installation as it was wrecked after one use.

i paid 15 bucks for that "reusable" thermal pad from derbauer. took less than 6 months till the pad dried out and pretty much crumbled into dust when i tried to reuse it :ß

These might be good for a low end pc that runs decently cool to start with but beyond that they arent good. I bought the 30/30mm intel version and ran into the same issues as GN did. The big difference here is that this is a pretty solid pad with no melt off. What makes pastes better is that they are a liquid thats filling the micro-scratches/divots and marks giving you the better connection above it, where as the pad just sits on top the IHS and doesnt fill in those micro abrasions, but it does give you a decent connection. The better move maybe to do a really light smear of thermal paste to fill the micro-abrasions, then put the pad on top. They may give you the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, im not willing to tear all my rig down again and play with these so you guys will have to hope Tech-Jesus reads thiis. :)