Does thermal paste really matter? We applied, reapplied, reapplied some more, and turned up the heat on our testing CPU to find out.
Ask ten geeks about their preferred thermal interface material (TIM) and you’ll get six different answers. Five will go with Arctic Silver 5 and the others will have five totally different favorites. Ask a non-geek about their favorite thermal paste and you might get slapped.
But is Arctic Silver 5 really the best? Is the thermal testing compound we’ve been using in the lab really cutting the mustard? We gathered seventeen premium thermal pastes and an overclocked test bed and set about finding out whether thermal paste really makes a difference, and if so, which one is the best.
Read more at:
Maximum PC | Geek Tested: 17 Thermal Pastes Face Off
My Computer
At a glance
64-bit Windows 11 Pro for WorkstationsIntel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600...ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
- Self built custom
- OS
- 64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
- CPU
- Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
- Motherboard
- ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
- Memory
- 64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz
- Graphics Card(s)
- ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
- Sound Card
- Integrated
- Monitor(s) Displays
- 2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
- Screen Resolution
- 2560x1440
- Hard Drives
- 1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
TerraMaster F8 SSD Plus NAS
- PSU
- Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
- Case
- Thermaltake Core P3
- Cooling
- Corsair Hydro H115i
- Keyboard
- Logitech wireless K800
- Mouse
- Logitech MX Master 4
- Internet Speed
- 2 Gb/s Download and 100 Mb/s Upload
- Antivirus
- Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
- Browser
- Google Chrome
- Other Info
- Logitech Z625 speaker system,
Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
Galaxy S23 Plus phone
