Thermal paste recomendation for i5-12400 + NHD14?

[Yorick Ampersand]

I'm clueless about thermal paste. Wich one is the best value and wich is the best overall so i can check prices in my are?

[Middcore]

The difference between the "best" thermal paste and the "worst" is a couple of degrees. 

[Zando_]

Arctic MX-4, Noctua NT-H1 and NT-H2 are all good value picks and H2 is the best peforming out of them I believe. I think Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut still has the lead over those for performance but it costs a lot more. Difference is a few C between all of them though, so unless you're right on the limit (you will not be near the limit of your cooling with that chip and cooler combo) it's sort of a non-issue.

[Votivee]

Go Arctic MX-4 and call it good.

[freeagent]

I prefer Thermalright TFX, but I am using SYY-157. 

[Paul17]

On 5/4/2022 at 6:02 PM, Zando_ said:

Arctic MX-4, Noctua NT-H1 and NT-H2 are all good value picks and H2 is the best peforming out of them I believe. I think Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut still has the lead over those for performance but it costs a lot more. Difference is a few C between all of them though, so unless you're right on the limit (you will not be near the limit of your cooling with that chip and cooler combo) it's sort of a non-issue.

Is it okay to use the paste from an air cooler - The Be Quiet coolers have thermal paste with no name on the label.   Is it good enough to use?  

[Zando_]

1 hour ago, Paul17 said:

Is it okay to use the paste from an air cooler - The Be Quiet coolers have thermal paste with no name on the label.   Is it good enough to use?  

Yes. 

[RejZoR]

You just can't go wrong with Kryonaut. It's top of the line classic thermal paste. Sure it costs enough, but I've done tons of applications and I've hardly used any. Even if you take the "expensive" 11g syringe at around 25€ it's still worth it as you'll simply have that forever. There is just no way normal user will ever use that much any time soon. And it'll really be as good as it can ever be pretty much.