Which thermal paste should i choose

[nzxtlover123]

Hey guys, i need to find the best non-conductive thermal paste for my acer nitro 5 laptop, idk which one has better performance and have better lifespan:

-Grizzy Kryonaut

-IC Diamond

Do you guys have a different choice?

price not matter, just need the best non-conductive thermal paste for my laptop .Thanks a lot

[Demonic Donut]

I use Noctua H2. Kryonaut would be my choice of the two you listed. Anything Thermal Grizzly is excellent.

[freeagent]

Thermalright TFX, SYY-157 are my two faves atm.

[Dogzilla07]

@nzxtlover123you really, really don't want kryonaut (too runny like MX-5, silicone based, pump-out effect+short lifespan, solved hopefully by kryonaut extreme) for laptop use, hydronaut is the one for that (less viscosity, no-silicone).

 

@Demonic DonutNoctua NT-H2 is not the best choice, heck technically NT-H1 is the better choice for laptops but still neither are the ideal choice.

 

@freeagentThermalright TFX, SYY-157 are the jackpot for laptop use (everything that almost everyone had the biggest issue with regarding how hard they are to spread, and how sensitive to mounting pressure they are, which are perfectly valid points against them for CPU use, is exactly what makes them so perfect for laptop use, and to a slightly lesser extent GPU usage).

 

Gelid GC-Extreme is good enough, the new CoolerMaster Mastergel Pro v2 seems to be great, but at the end it's

 

TFX = SYY-157 = Phobya NanoGrease Extreme >

 

Mastergel Pro v2 = Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut >

 

Batman ZF-12 = Mastergel Maker Nano = Gelic GC Extreme = Thermalright TF-8 >

 

Noctua NT-H1 > Noctua NT-H2

 

In this order (I just can't remember if Hydronaut should be in the 3rd group, i didn't completely properly organize them in my notes/archive) and MasterGel Pro V2 is my assumption and addition from different sources,  not based on the original laptop forum discussion about this from which i pulled this list/hundreds of pages of discussion+testing+experiences, etc, ...)

[Demonic Donut]

49 minutes ago, Dogzilla07 said:

@nzxtlover123you really, really don't want kryonaut (too runny like MX-5, silicone based, pump-out effect+short lifespan, solved hopefully by kryonaut extreme) for laptop use, hydronaut is the one for that (less viscosity, no-silicone).

 

@Demonic DonutNoctua NT-H2 is not the best choice, heck technically NT-H1 is the better choice for laptops but still neither are the ideal choice.

 

@freeagentThermalright TFX, SYY-157 are the jackpot for laptop use (everything that almost everyone had the biggest issue with regarding how hard they are to spread, and how sensitive to mounting pressure they are, which are perfectly valid points against them for CPU use, is exactly what makes them so perfect for laptop use, and to a slightly lesser extent GPU usage).

 

Gelid GC-Extreme is good enough, the new CoolerMaster Mastergel Pro v2 seems to be great, but at the end it's

 

TFX = SYY-157 = Phobya NanoGrease Extreme >

 

Mastergel Pro v2 = Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut >

 

Batman ZF-12 = Mastergel Maker Nano = Gelic GC Extreme = Thermalright TF-8 >

 

Noctua NT-H1

 

In this order (I just can't remember if Hydronaut should be in the 3rd group, i didn't completely properly organize them in my notes/archive) and MasterGel Pro V2 is my assumption and addition from different sources,  not based on the original laptop forum discussion about this from which i pulled this list/hundreds of pages of discussion+testing+experiences, etc, ...)

I've used H2 on two different laptops as well as on GPUs. Always had better performance than stock paste. What makes you say it's a poor choice?

 

The temp difference between most good pastes is minimal, and it's always pretty subjective. I've heard mixed things about Master Gel for example. SYY-157 seems to be popular right now for whatever reason, but it seems to be a bugger to work with and I haven't seen any good reviews on it. Could be a case of good marketing making it seem better than it is.

 

If you want the best performance, you just need conformal coating and Conductonaut. Otherwise, throw a dart at a board of the top 10 pastes and have fun.

[Dogzilla07]

34 minutes ago, Demonic Donut said:

I've used H2 on two different laptops as well as on GPUs. Always had better performance than stock paste. What makes you say it's a poor choice?

It's a poorer choice that the other ones i listed, but it would be very close to NT-H1, basically the two of them are akin to the MasterGel Pro V2, and GC-Extreme (as a balanced, jack of all trades in-between paste, that's easier to spread, but quite viscous).

 

The reason it's a poor choice, is it's not hard enough to spread/not thick/viscous enough. Other than that the main reason is longevity (both in storage which is less important, and in use). The other pastes are just gonna tolerate thermal cycling much better.

 

As for an objective reason what makes me say that, the distilled knowledge and experience from hundreds upon hundreds of pages from a notebook forum + guru3d and tomshardware paste testing as a supplement. Personally though, I've only used NT-H1, MX-4 and no-names on low-medium tdp gpus, and not in laptops so I can't give any subjective impressions.

 

34 minutes ago, Demonic Donut said:

The temp difference between most good pastes is minimal, and it's always pretty subjective

This is irrelevant, I'm not taking performance difference into account (for the same exact reason you mentioned), this is just the next step after. There's some def, like the MasterGel Pro V2 seems to be insane, and TFX and SYY-157 are also insane (when i say insane what I mean is "We have successfully left margin of error territory- yay!", "We are actively in the territory of decimal points of a second digit, or maybe even a third o.O"). But they're all so close that's it good enough, yes.

 

34 minutes ago, Demonic Donut said:

but it seems to be a bugger to work with and I haven't seen any good reviews on it.

That's pro, not a con, the harder a paste is to work with the longer it will last, the better it will tolerate the specifics of laptop use. It's just the cost of doing business (the paste was in the fridge anyway, so you'll have to heat it up before use regardless, killing two birds with one stone)

34 minutes ago, Demonic Donut said:

If you want the best performance, you just need conformal coating and Conductonaut. Otherwise, throw a dart at a board of the top 10 pastes and have fun.

Again in theory yes, but practically no, there's tangible, measurable and reproduceable metrics/factors that come into play. And conductonaut is the worst offender for the smear and forget factor. But yes, there's no practical performance benefit, and yes the dart analogy is poignant.

[nzxtlover123]

thanks guys, how about the lifespan of ic diamond?

[wolfsbane3083]

Highly recommend SYY-157, only stuff so far that's managed to tame my 3090 long term. MX-2/4 both ended up getting pumped out over a couple of weeks.

[freeagent]

Not sure why people say SYY-157 is hard to work with. I draw a line down a side and spread it over with a spatula. Not hard at all. I have gone through quite a bit experimenting with mounts, and swapping back and forth between my 5600X and 5900X. Great stuff. I also have it on my GTX 580 Matrix Platinum and GTX 980 Classified. I used the spatula and spread nicely. There is such a thing as too much with it, you want it super thin, but not translucent. My Thermalright coolers have a high mounting pressure. I haven’t put it on my 3070 Ti yet, I am too chicken to take it apart right now, maybe when stock is better

[nzxtlover123]

just 1 more thing, i want to know the lifespan of nt-h2

 

[freeagent]

Should start pumping out shortly

 

unless that is NT-H1 I am thinking of..

[TheEugeneKam]

NT-H2 pumped out in 5 weeks or so for me. TG was crap on everything, laptop 2 weeks, desktop lasted 7 months. Mastergel maker V2 holding up good on my work laptop, no temp changes, low 80s on a cheap U version of i7.  TFX was 83 -85 on my 2016 MBP now about 90-91 when running synthetics.

 

For yall who used TFX and SYY-157, which one is better for laptops. macs are terrible for temps.