Why did thermal pad die out?

[zengara]

Hey, I saw previosly a lot of hype around thermal pad from almost all youtuber. So since it is more consistent (based on the degrees you might get for putting to much thermal paste or to little), last for a longer time, and only a few degrees from some of the best thermal paste out there, my question generally is: Why did it die out? Is it simply that people are used to thermal paste and not really into changing to something not fully tested yet? Or that there are problems within the pad? Maybe even a third thing I havent thought about yet?

 

[Founders]

Is this what you're referring to?

 

https://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Cooling-Graphite-Thermal-Pad/dp/B07CK9SHZG/ref=asc_df_B07CK9SHZG/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309773039951&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2500023528867337623&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007189&hvtargid=pla-562334550848&psc=1

[Jurrunio]

3 minutes ago, zengara said:

and only a few degrees from some of the best thermal paste out there,

WTF no. You can compress thermal paste down to 0.01mm, not thermal pad. There are not interchangable.

 

3 minutes ago, zengara said:

Why did it die out?

Never, it has stayed around on lower heat output components like powerstages, mosfets and memory chips.

[TheRandomness]

6 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

WTF no. You can compress thermal paste down to 0.01mm, not thermal pad. There are not interchangable.

 

Never, it has stayed around on lower heat output components like powerstages, mosfets and memory chips.

He means the graphite thermal pad things that you can use interchangeably with thermal paste.

[mariushm]

A thin layer of thermal paste will be better than majority of thermal pads.

Thermal pads can't fill in gaps or microscopic depressions ... imagine a chip with some printed text or something laser engraved (text in depression)... pad would sit on top of surface and you'll have particles of air in the depressions made by the laser etch

Thermal pads are good in places where you want a heatsink to cover two or more chips of different heights. For example, let's say you have a mosfet that's 0.4mm tall and some other chip that's 0.5mm and the heatsink is at 0.75mm height from the circuit board : you can use a 0.5mm thick pad to help transfer heat ... pad will compress to 0.75mm-0.4mm = 0.35mm on the mosfet and down to 0.25mm over the chip.

[Jurrunio]

8 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

He means the graphite thermal pad things that you can use interchangeably with thermal paste.

doesnt change the argument. even godlike pads are thicker than paste (if applied properly, which does need more skill than just laying a pad on your CPU).

 

and these thin graphite pads do not mix with slightly concave baseplates on many coolers, you're left with a sizeable area on the middle without contact.

[zengara]

16 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

doesnt change the argument. even godlike pads are thicker than paste (if applied properly, which does need more skill than just laying a pad on your CPU).

 

and these thin graphite pads do not mix with slightly concave baseplates on many coolers, you're left with a sizeable area on the middle without contact.

Yeah, Linus said so himself on this video. And proved it as well. Basically, did it just die out because people are more used to paste/not knowing about it and its capabilities. Or is there some hidden mistake behind it? (Personally thinking about buying it, cleaning up the gue after 2-3 months is kind of annoying). 

But also, this would make mistakes like air bubbles/too much thermal paste, to little not get in the way of readings which would make everything more stable, or no?

 

[mail929]

Linus still uses them sometimes, it appears, noticed it at 1:27 on the "64 Core EPYC CPU – HOLY $H!T" video on Floatplane rn

[WoodenMarker]

They're costly and aren't infinitely reusable. As they're compressed to fit the imperfections of the cooler base and IHS, they wear out and don't perform as well. 

PugetSystems has a nice article on this: https://www.pugetsystems.com/blog/2018/12/03/Graphite-Pads-vs-Thermal-Paste-Which-Is-Better-1292/