Thermal Paste vs Thermal Pad in 2021

[DankDoodles]

Is it still better to use Thermal Paste than Thermal Pads? Or has Thermal Padding technology improved to where there isn't much of a difference?

[svmlegacy]

1 minute ago, DankDoodles said:

Is it still better to use Thermal Paste than Thermal Pads? Or has Thermal Padding technology improved to where there isn't much of a difference?

It's inherently better to use thermal paste.

[ACEHACK]

[DankDoodles]

Just now, ACEHACK said:

Those videos are from June/July

I was curious if they have improved at all in 2021

[ACEHACK]

1 minute ago, DankDoodles said:

Those videos are from June/July

I was curious if they have improved at all in 2021

nope. thermal pads are nothing new. its just a sheet of graphite anyway.

[Boomwebsearch]

1 minute ago, DankDoodles said:

Is it still better to use Thermal Paste than Thermal Pads? Or has Thermal Padding technology improved to where there isn't much of a difference?

 

I personally prefer using thermal pads instead of thermal paste because it doesn't really degrade much overtime. To answer the OP's question, it really depends on the specific thermal paste and thermal pad you're comparing. In general, thermal paste spreads much easier and fills the gap between your CPU and heatsink more evenly (a proper application).

 

 

Remember that most graphite thermal pads are still going to be electrically conductive, however there are some like the Sunbeam TS-IB Iceberg that are advertised to not be electrically conductive. -->   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EZFPOA2?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

[tkitch]

46 minutes ago, DankDoodles said:

Those videos are from June/July

I was curious if they have improved at all in 2021

the laws of thermodynamics aren't going to change that quickly.  Paste will always be better than pads, unless we get a dramatic shift in tech.

[AnonymousGuy]

6 minutes ago, tkitch said:

the laws of thermodynamics aren't going to change that quickly.  Paste will always be better than pads, unless we get a dramatic shift in tech.

What isn't changing is that heat transfer is linearly proportional to thickness. 

 

Thermal paste with good mounting pressure is always going to be thinner and better than thermal pads.  This is also why different brands of thermal paste doesn't really matter very much.  "our thermal paste is 10x higher thermal conductivity blah blah".  Yeah that's cool and all but when you have a heat spreader on the chip that is 100x the thickness of the thermal paste layer it doesn't matter.  It's a weighted average where the heat spreader is the dominant factor by a lot.

[DankDoodles]

8 minutes ago, tkitch said:

the laws of thermodynamics aren't going to change that quickly.  Paste will always be better than pads, unless we get a dramatic shift in tech.

Technology around us is constantly changing/improve so I had no idea if there were any significant developments in thermal pads.