Ryzen thermal paste

[VicRik]

Hi guys,

 

I was reading this review about a Ryzen 1600. One of the negatives was a bad thermal paste. Do any of you early adopters have some issues? I was wondering since I am currently looking into getting a 1600 myself.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

-VicRik

[zelix]

For me the stock paste squished all out the sides of the cooler...  have since put on a pea size of MX-4. Much better!

[yathis]

Do as Linus does @zelix

[Fraser Cow]

I didn't have any issues with the stock cooler on my 1700.   Unless you're talking about the internal paste, if you are I've go no clue. My brother has a 1600X on an H100i and it does fine as far as I know.

[mariushm]

As far as I know, the metal lids are soldered to the die, there's no "internal paste".

The thermal pastes between heatsink and cpu top usually affect the temperature by at most a couple of degrees C, usually less than 1 degree C. You can clean the standard paste and use some MX-2 or MX-4 or whatever is cheap and good these days, but won't be much difference.

 

Just don't overdo it, apply a pea size ball in the center of the cpu and then put the heatsink over it and you're done.

 

[Biggerboot]

The stock paste is usually adequate.  I've seen R5/7 benched out of the box with good thermals.  Arctic Silver or MX-4 might make a few degrees difference, but the paste on stock coolers usually comes pre-applied so you don't need to measure it.  I would just use the stuff it comes with and maybe reapply new paste in the future when its convenient.

[yenic]

Use MX-4 because it performs just as well as everything else (or better in most tests) and has the longest durability claim on the market at 8 years without reapplying if you don't want to. It's my goto paste. Many are meant for subambient temps, if you're air or watercooling you can't go wrong with MX4. It's also great for people who work on a lot of stuff, comes in 4 to 20G tubes. 65G if you use MX2, which is pretty similar though not quite as perfect as MX4.