# How much difference does thermal paste make?



## sepiashimmer

How much difference does thermal paste make? Say in degrees, like 2-3 or 10?


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## Ironman517

you mean like not having it at all? or different pastes?

different pastes can range from 0-20 C differences. if you dont have any thermal paste, your CPU will probably overheat.


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## Lord Xeb

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ironman517*
> 
> you mean like not having it at all? or different pastes?
> 
> different pastes can range from 0-20 C differences. if you dont have any thermal paste, your CPU will probably overheat.


Not even worth making another post as my thoughts have already been conveyed.


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## Cancer

You could always just use mayonnaise:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-February-2012/1490/5

When I switched from Arctic Silver 5 to Prolimetech PK1 my load temps went down 3C.........does that help?


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## LuckySe7ens

Replacing old paste, or a bad paste application (say on a GPU) can make a dramatic difference.

My cards got up to 70*c @ 80% fan with no load. After paste install 45*c @ 50% fan


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## sepiashimmer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Ironman517*
> 
> you mean like not having it at all? or different pastes?
> 
> different pastes can range from 0-20 C differences. if you dont have any thermal paste, your CPU will probably overheat.


I mean not having it all compared with having it. Would the difference be 2-3 degrees?


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## Lord Xeb

I am not understand your question. Do you mean all the thermal compounds compared?


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## RainbowPee

Comparing to stock Intel thermal paste, how much will iC Diamond 24 Carat will improve the temperatures?


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## DBEAU

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sepiashimmer*
> 
> I mean not having it all compared with having it. Would the difference be 2-3 degrees?


You need to use thermal paste, period.


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## Ironman517

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sepiashimmer*
> 
> I mean not having it all compared with having it. Would the difference be 2-3 degrees?


If you don't have it, the heat transfer will not take place very well because of air pockets, the thermal paste fills in the air pockets to help with the heat transfer. Without the thermal paste, your CPU will more than likely overheat and your PC will shut down because not enough heat transfer is taking place.


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## jaydude

When I replaced the TIM on my gpu "6870" I brought some duratech thermal compound from a store near me, not knowing what it was I figured I would give it a shot "whats the harm right? I thought"
So I replaced the TIM remounted the heatsink and stuck it back in my pc, before I replaced it the temps where around 80c on furmark, after replacing I ran furmark again and the temps shot straight past 110c within a minute on the memio on gpuz before I shut it off, Im afraid how high it could have gotten had I not intervened when I did, thinking it was a bad mounting I took it apart again, replaced TIM and tested once again, Exactly the same, So after searching every electronic store I could find I finally got hold of some antec formula 7 now temps in furmark are max 75c.

So to answer your question, In general there is not much difference in most TIM's maybe 2-4c, but there are some bad batches to stay away from like duratech as they most certainly will lead your cpu or gpu to an early grave, any known trusted brand is fine and you will be hard pressed to find anything that cools much better then another.

just my 2 cents


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## LuckySe7ens

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RainbowPee*
> 
> Comparing to stock Intel thermal paste, how much will iC Diamond 24 Carat will improve the temperatures?


Between 0-10 degrees celsius @ load depending on cooler, paste application, and ambient temps


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## Lord Xeb

If you don't have thermal compound between the CPU and heat sink, you are looking at well over a 30-40C increase in temps. You NEED the TIM there because air is a horrible conductor of heat and 2 metal surfaces are not perfectly flat (that are full of ridges and valleys). You need TIM to help with this.

If you don't have any, then there are alternatives out there, but it is EXTREMELY unadvisable to not run without it. If you don't have any, wait till you get some.


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## kpriess

And if it's a GPU what you're talking about, consider it dead if you don't use it..

Some cards come with cheap paste or bad application and sometimes it's a good idea to upgrade/reapply..


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## Lord Xeb

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *kpriess*
> 
> And if it's a GPU what you're talking about, consider it dead if you don't use it..
> 
> Some cards come with cheap paste or bad application and sometimes it's a good idea to upgrade/reapply..


Pretty much. I forgot to plug int he fan into my old 9800GTX+ and killed it... in 5 minutes. That is essentially what no thermal past does.


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## Cancer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sepiashimmer*
> 
> I mean not having it all compared with having it. Would the difference be 2-3 degrees?


Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Cancer*
> 
> You could always just use mayonnaise:
> http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-February-2012/1490/5
> 
> When I switched from Arctic Silver 5 to Prolimetech PK1 my load temps went down 3C.........does that help?


What the!?
You mean.....you didn't click my link??



For the lazy:


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## willis888

Ten degrees between best and worst is about what I expected, but it's suprising that chocolate is more insulating than air.

If you have average TIM, and are thinking of buying slightly above average TIM, it might only make a 2-3 degree difference.


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## Cancer

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *willis888*
> 
> Ten degrees between best and worst is about what I expected, but it's suprising that chocolate is more insulating than air.
> 
> If you have average TIM, and are thinking of buying slightly above average TIM, it might only make a 2-3 degree difference.


Also......look at mayonnaise's performance.....35C.


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## d6bmg

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sepiashimmer*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *Ironman517*
> 
> you mean like not having it at all? or different pastes?
> 
> different pastes can range from 0-20 C differences. if you dont have any thermal paste, your CPU will probably overheat.
> 
> 
> 
> I mean not having it all compared with having it. Would the difference be 2-3 degrees?
Click to expand...

Without thermal paste, processor will overheat.


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## fganter

I am seeing a 15 degree Celsius improvement with paste.

That's nothing to sneeze at, particularly if you are overclocking.


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