Prolimatech PK-3 - thermal paste

Product Information

For the air cooling low- and high-tension tests, we used a large Noctua NH-D15 air cooler. We created the low tension mount environment by torquing the mounting screws to 1.13 Nm (10 in/lbs). This thermal compound is actually quite special in that it’s mostly composed of diamond powder, which boasts a much higher thermal conductivity than many metals that are found in normal thermal pastes. In the tube, it’s 92% diamond powder, and after it’s applied and properly dried, constitutes 94% of the total paste, making it a rich choice for cooling. But where it really shines is in the value it offers, with a phenomenal price for the amount of thermal paste you’ll receive. It’s also a non-curing thermal paste, meaning that it won’t dry out over time like other thermal pastes do. Even though a dizzying array of different thermal pastes is available — some blends have been around for over a decade — new formulations still come to market at a surprising pace. Long-time PC cooler maker NZXT recently entered the market with its first paste, the not-very-excitingly named NZXT High-Performance Thermal Paste. Cooler Master introduced a new purple CryoFuze, and Alphacool unveiled its Apex thermal paste. Cooling mainstay Corsair also has a new XTM70 blend that will be heading to our test bench soon, and Gelid has recently released its GC-4 Thermal Paste, showing that the TIM market is still thriving.

In addition to the spectacular thermal conductivity, the Thermal Grizzly Carbonaut is also dead-simple to use – just cut and place. And unlike thermal pastes, this will not dry out over time, making it reusable for many years. Liquid metal compounds are almost always electrically conductive, so while these compounds perform better than their paste counterparts, they require more focus and attention during application. They are very hard to remove if you get some in the wrong place, which would fry your system. This silicone-based thermal compound utilizes nano aluminum particles to effectively transfer heat between the CPU and the heatsink, making it a great conductor of heat, without being electrically conductive. In fact, with a thermal conductivity of 12.5 W/mk, it’s among the most thermally conductive thermal compounds on the market, with few others edging it out. For many years, IC Diamond was the king of cool when it came to thermal compounds. And while it’s no longer sitting on the throne as the best in class, this diamond in the rough is still a solid choice with the IC Diamond 24 Carat Thermal Compound.Pactum PT-1 is grey, and its thermal conductivity is 4 W / mK, with a density of 2.5 g /cm³. As the density is relatively low, the paste is very easy to apply. The product does not conduct electricity. Together with the syringe, in which there is 4 g of the compound, the manufacturer adds a plastic spatula to facilitate applying the paste.

We'll go into our breakdown of how we test these thermal pastes below, but the key takeaway here is that a single thermal compound can perform differently based upon several variables, such as what type of cooler and mount you use. To cover all the bases, we've tested every thermal paste with three variables: We tested each thermal paste with a low-tension air cooler mount, high-tension air cooler mount, and a high-tension AIO liquid cooler mount. Each application was given a 1-hour burn-in using Prime95 with ten load and cooling cycles over the course of the hour; six minutes each with a ten-second cool-down between. Each testing load session was then executed for a one-hour load period, again using Prime95. Liquid metal compounds make their way to the top of the temperature chart with slightly cooler values than the traditional pastes. Interestingly, the difference between the top and bottom of this chart is less than 4C. This aluminum and zinc oxide based thermal paste is a chart-topping thermal paste that can easily outperform other tried and true thermal pastes from the likes of Arctic Silver and Noctua. Offering a thermal conductivity of 11.2 W/mk, it ranks third on our list among other traditional thermal pastes for the best thermal conductivity.As shown in the slides above, the outcome of the different testing scenarios resulted in some interesting comparisons among the compounds. We’ll look at the overall thermal load averages for each, as well as the relative performance value of each in terms of price-per-gram. Small differences in temperatures jostle the chart a bit, but overall the more budget-friendly compounds show much more promising performance value due to relatively close load ranges. We see a trend that most good and great thermal compounds perform very similarly, but might be worlds apart in price per gram.