Question about CPU cooler thermal paste

LepokeZ · June 29, 2015

I'm looking at this really cheap CPU cooler (under 20$) and it says it has "pre-applied MX-4 thermal paste" to the heatsink. Is that any good? "pre-applied" thermal paste? If I were to buy it would I just attach the heatsink and do my thang? Wouldn't it be better if the paste was applied by me?

Edit: I'm not looking for amazing overclocking headroom, it's just that my fan is always on 100% on this stock cooler and the temps are at 50C° on idle and according to the reviews of that cooler I'm looking at it definitely does its job.

You_are_a_cunt · June 29, 2015

pre-applied thermal paste isn't always bad, though if it's a really cheap cooler the quality is debatable

you can just wipe it off and apply thermal paste of your choice

rjfaber91 · June 29, 2015

I'm looking at this really cheap CPU cooler (under 20$) and it says it has "pre-applied MX-4 thermal paste" to the heatsink. Is that any good? "pre-applied" thermal paste? If I were to buy it would I just attach the heatsink and do my thang? Wouldn't it be better if the paste was applied by me?

Depends on your definition of "good", I suppose. Usually pre-applied thermal paste isn't the best stuff available, but it ought to do its job. If you're worried though, there's lots of properly good thermal paste out there that you can get for under €10.-, and it always comes in quite a large syringe, so you'll have more than enough left over to replace the thermal paste on your graphics card as well, if you want. I've got some Noctua NT-H1 paste, which I often jokingly refer to as the only Noctua product not to be horribly overpriced, but it is very good stuff, and only costs about €7.-, so it really isn't expensive.

WereCat · June 29, 2015

MX-4 is really good thermal paste.

KayMarie_SB · June 29, 2015

I second WereCat's recommendation. I used Arctic Cooling MX-4 with my Phanteks cooler. gave me a 3c average drop in temps over the phanteks thermal compound that came with the cooler, and that is good thermal paste itself.

ThomasD · July 1, 2015

In most situations the difference between a stock TIM and the "best" TIMs is a few degrees under load. I've seen people reporting almost ten degree drops, but don't think those are the norm and those people were using high end coolers.

Rather than changing TIM, first thing I'd look at is improving airflow in the entire case. No heat sink works well if it is sitting in a mass of hot air.