Industrial grade graphite sheets?

[Zeny1]

Hello all,

 

Anyone have experience running industrial grade graphite sheets on their personal PC's? I have ordered a sheet of this.

 

https://www.mouser.ca/Thermal-Management/Thermal-Interface-Products/_/N-71x7n?P=1y7oiky

 

I'm excited to try it out, but also skeptical about their performance. If they were so good wouldn't everyone be running these right now? I also read they're very conductive so I'll testing it initially on my PFSense box.

 

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience in this? Maybe Linus could do a video on them? They're Panasonic ones.

[Bombastinator]

33 minutes ago, Zeny1 said:

Hello all,

 

Anyone have experience running industrial grade graphite sheets on their personal PC's? I have ordered a sheet of this.

 

https://www.mouser.ca/Thermal-Management/Thermal-Interface-Products/_/N-71x7n?P=1y7oiky

 

I'm excited to try it out, but also skeptical about their performance. If they were so good wouldn't everyone be running these right now? I also read they're very conductive so I'll testing it initially on my PFSense box.

 

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience in this? Maybe Linus could do a video on them? They're Panasonic ones.

Are you referring to those pieces of nanotube cloth? Or those sheets of woven graphite meant for composite materials use?

 

nanotube cloth squares have been extensively tested.  They’re apparently usable but nothing to write home about.  On the level of low grade paste.

[Zeny1]

4 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Are you referring to those pieces of nanotube cloth? Or those sheets of woven graphite meant for composite materials use?

 

nanotube cloth squares have been extensively tested.  They’re apparently usable but nothing to write home about.  On the level of low grade paste.

It's just a graphite sheet, I've heard of the IC diamond sheet but it's rated 35w/m-k.  This Panasonic one is 700w/m-k.

 

[porina]

45 minutes ago, Zeny1 said:

I'm excited to try it out, but also skeptical about their performance. If they were so good wouldn't everyone be running these right now? I also read they're very conductive so I'll testing it initially on my PFSense box.

I don't know if the industrial ones are the same as the IC Graphite sheet that's been sold to enthusiasts for some time now.

e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Innovation-Cooling-Graphite-Thermal-Pad/dp/B07CKVW18G

 

Assuming they're the same sort of thing, the short version is, they do work, but are not as good as top thermal pastes. In some recent videos I've seen Linus use one, presumably as it is much quicker than applying and cleaning paste when he was doing cooler comparisons. Even if he did have to disclaim results could be better with a good paste.

 

I did buy one to try myself, as there was speculation if they would have a benefit to spreading heat across a cooler surface and may increase performance that way. Didn't happen. I don't see a need to use one over a good paste. 

 

Thing is, a top end thermal paste is stable and lasts years without needing to reapply. It's also cheap. Unless you tinker with the CPU or cooler a LOT, you apply it once and forget about it. A tube lasts a long time unless you do a lot of systems.

 

If you do decide to try it out, I wouldn't worry about it being conductive. As a solid piece, it doesn't move once mounted. Just don't get one stupidly large so it hangs out of the CPU area and you'll be fine.

[porina]

1 minute ago, Zeny1 said:

It's just a graphite sheet, I've heard of the IC diamond sheet but it's rated 35w/m-k.  This Panasonic one is 700w/m-k.

We have to be careful they are tested and rated in the same way. I vaguely recall the IC diamond sheet was better in one direction than the other, due to the nature of graphite. So it might be something like that.

 

The Panasonic stuff seems pretty cheap actually. If you do decide to try it, I'd be really interested in the results.

[Zeny1]

6 minutes ago, porina said:

We have to be careful they are tested and rated in the same way. I vaguely recall the IC diamond sheet was better in one direction than the other, due to the nature of graphite. So it might be something like that.

 

The Panasonic stuff seems pretty cheap actually. If you do decide to try it, I'd be really interested in the results.

Oh I see thanks!

 

I did order one, should be on it's way but I'm in Canada so might take a while. I'll be tossing a piece on my PFsense box and run it for a bit before I decide to try out my main system.

I'm skeptical on the 700w/m-k, and thus running it on there first lol

[porina]

6 minutes ago, porina said:

We have to be careful they are tested and rated in the same way. I vaguely recall the IC diamond sheet was better in one direction than the other, due to the nature of graphite. So it might be something like that.

I just looked in the datasheet for the Panasonic stuff. The 700 value is for what they call the a-b plane, which is in the sheet of graphite. The c direction is the one through the sheet and is of generally more interest, and presumably is how the IC graphite sheet is specified. Unfortunately I don't see a value given for that in the Panasonic datasheet.

 

The high in-plane spreading is why I wanted to try it originally. Didn't help where I hoped it would though.

[Bombastinator]

26 minutes ago, Zeny1 said:

It's just a graphite sheet, I've heard of the IC diamond sheet but it's rated 35w/m-k.  This Panasonic one is 700w/m-k.

 

The issue is they could still both be basically the same stuff.  “Sheet” is one of those vague words.  It could be soft cloth, it could be this crispy thing more like a sheet of plywood.  The problem as I understand it with the cloth stuff is that while it has great thermal conduction where it makes good contact it doesn’t do it as thoroughly as paste, so the net result isn’t actually anything to write home about.  Both thermal ratings could refer to the same product.  It is a lot more quick, neat and tidy than paste though so for a while a lot of reviewers were using them.  They seem to have mostly stopped.