Are Thermal Pads Worth Using?

[@TechIlliterate]

If you want to try one out and help the channel you can buy them here: Carbonaut - amzn.to/3QEHRp6 IC Graphite - amzn.to/3zSjspt Thanks for watching!

[@bloxycola8272]

Draw a intel logo with the thermal paste

[@xxapoloxx]

Do they saturate? how good would they be on say i5-13600k?

[@thehimself4056]

I know I’m a year late. But thanks for the info. I’ve spent years applying and reapplying paste at work. I can fix a few degrees of heat with better cooling. I’m going with a pad. lol

[@biospagetti]

​@@bloxycola8272❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@lande.r1]

I love when people give the answer at the beginning of the video and then elaborate. I’ll still watch the whole thing but thank you for being straight to the point!

[@Akonovo]

fuck yeah... Same!

[@helloken]

THIS

[@MrGamelover23]

This is literally what we were taught to do when we wrote school papers. It's called a thesis or an abstract. More videos need to start doing this.

[@0Bariq0]

Yep a nice change compared to other videos where they hit you with their sponsor and go on with a 30min monolog just to get to the point.

[@little5letter]

That's surely the biggest positive surprise I have ever stumbled upon on YT!

[@Adalric30]

The fact that you gave the answer in the first 5 seconds, followed by an excellent explanation was instant subsribe and like. Thank you, sir. Please keep up the good work.

[@alkeryn1700]

another test worth doing is benchmarking both computer a year or two later when the paste will have dried.

[@Mxrris]

Kryosheets are actually amazing, H150i with 13900K it gets my CPU to 34C Idle and 84C 100% Usage (PL1-260W)

[@spetsru2906]

14700k here graphene is awesome.

[@ZomgZomg007]

is your 13900k degrading now?

[@helloken]

Getting the point in the first 10 seconds then go into great detail for the rest of the video with some nice humor sprinkled in!? Gosh, I wish more channels were like yours! Instant sub.

[@Youser57]

Yep ^

[@Monaxi420]

That's fire. You answered question right at the beggining of video AND keept me interested for rest

[@HartFalleon]

I came across a thermal pad that's from a Korean company called Glacier and their thermal pad has a 31w/mK conductivity rating. It differs from the ones tested here in that the top of it is made up of a metallic-like surface and then there is a thin acrylic/urethane layer in-between and an adhesive sticky side on the bottom. It is also non-conductive and on the product box it claims improved heat transfer due to adhesion during heat dissipation. I don't know if it's any good but I don't think it would be terrible and after using Aquatuning's Apex paste that was super thick and hard to spread and it dried out rather quick with an overclock on my CPU. If this pad is more stable over a longer period of use well then, I call that a win.

[@Nakxin]

Is the pad any good?

[@redsix49]

Nick much appreciated... been wondering about this for years...

[@RyanGrange]

Need more videos that just get right to the answers for those who aren't interested in the why. Well done.

[@AlienInSider]

I bought a grizzly pad when it came out. I have already changed 3 processors to AM4 socket and I have no problems. It does not degrade at all, it does not cause problems. I will never go back to thermal pastes again!

[@zyggzag4154]

10 seconds in and I subscribed and liked and commented. Bro I love your direct style. Now I will watch your video just because I’m petty and I want to spite the rest of KZbinrs who make me watch 20 minutes for SOMETIMES an answer.

[@SianaGearz]

I didn't expect to like this video, but thumb up for the bonus test, it makes all the difference!

[@chadwick0187]

Straight answer right away? Best video ever!

[@larrybremer4930]

I can attest this video is 100% on point. I have used IC Diamond pad for a few years now, and reseated by cooler more than once along with a cpu change and still using that original pad. I am about to change over the the Noctua simply because the move from 3950x to 5950x has caused me to just hit some thermal throttling (90c and clock drops) so to eek out just a couple extra degrees I will be going back to paste. If curious the apps that are really hitting my cpu temps are MSFS and Star Citizen running at 4k with auto PBO and running game exe on high cpu priority. Back on point the pads are about as foolproof as cpu mounting can be, and thermally work as good as a fresh application of a mid to low end paste while keeping in mind the difference between the best and worst paste is usually less than 5c. A high end paste vs pad may get you 3c or so better so for most people the pad is plenty good enough. Honestly the cooler you use will have significantly more impact than the paste or pad you pick at least when talking about fresh paste.

[@seannosoup]

ME: I- video:yes me: underrated channel

[@Major774]

I have used TG Carbonaut for years. No mess to clean up. I only game on my PC, so the slightly higher temps. work fine for me.

[@niklaskras5498]

Reusability is probably the top reason for me if you change the CPU or cooler often

[@ClericPreston_]

Also if you do not change cooler at all. Paste dries out a pad just works essentially forever.

[@Ancalagon0202]

o hasta si vivis en una zona con mucha tierra en el ambiente.

[@BeTheBestBeastt]

I know this has been said many times before, but thank you so much for putting the answer right at the beginning. Knowing the answer early on, it made me curious how you came to your conclusion, so I ended up watch the entire rest of the video (which is really well-put together, might I add). If you had the answer at the end, I likely would have just skipped right to it, and would have been much less informed while not giving your content the watch-time it deserves. Dropped a sub, looking forward to any future videos!

[@solarfunction1847]

@TechIlliterate Where you applied the 2 different brands of pastes with the pad which ended up ripping the pad & also getting higher temps I believe that you would have had better luck with only using paste on one side of the pad. My ASUS PN-64 with i7-13700H 45w CPU with the stock cooler gets up to 85 C / 185 F in the house with a room temp of 15 C / 59 F here in Perth, Western Australia. When summer is at it's peak in the next 2-3 month's we will have a room temp of 45 C / 113 F so unless I either cool the room down or the CPU then the heat will make it go over it's 100 C / 212 F limit. I bought a Pure Copper Heatsink 100x50x15mm Skiving Fin Heat Sink Radiator which weighs 255g / 9 ounce & handles a 50w LED without needing a fan. The heatsink has a milled finish with hills & valleys of about the thickness of the Thermal Grizzly Carbonaut Pad. I plan to use a set of diamond whetstones of 400, 600, 1000 & 1200 grit on the heatsink to remove most of the hills & valleys. If there still are too many deep hills & valleys then I will apply an extremely thin smear of Kryonaut Paste to the heatsink & then put the Thermal Grizzly Carbonaut Pad onto the CPU. If I ever do need to take off the heatsink in a year for cleaning then the pad won't rip into pieces like yours did.

[@StewiePlaysPC]

have been using the Ic graphite for about 2 years in 3 computers, never had a problem with them running . Only one build is fiddly where the pad would glide out of place but that was due to the antec's poor setup where my stubby fingers had trouble getting the cooling block in place as i secured it . The clear sell point for me was the fact it could be reused.

[@Ancalagon0202]

Yo tambien, mi r5 3600 no pasa nunca de los 60° con OC en tiempos de temperatura ambiente de 25° a 30°. La verdad muy buenos. Y encima mas aca que el clima es seco en invierno, la tierra se acumula y hay que abrir la computadora si o si cada 3 a 6 meses

[@sL1NK]

That's a very good 5900X bin I can already tell. I used to have one from the earlier batches, it idled around 55C with PBO2 optimizations and a 360mm AIO on it. Synthetic benches pushed it over 80C, gaming was around 65.

[@detroid89]

Brave to give the answer at the beginning of the video but I'll be watching because I love knowledge. ❤

[@endorphinADMIN]

great review, been using graphene pads for some time now, reused many times as well. not to nit pick, but that fan curve was not exponential, it was linear. an example of exponential would be e=mc squared. appreciate the content!

[@derespektan3980]

Welding your CPU heat top to your cooler heatsink with liquid copper is the way to go for perfect heat transfer! 👌

[@kieran.grant_]

Who are you who is so wise in the ways of science?

[@jasonmorales5686]

I just noticed when he said leave a thumbs up the like button lit up, kinda shimmered like a rainbow. Never seen that before.

[@Kaiser187]

Just bought some Arctic MX-6 thermal paste. Can't wait to see how much lower my temps drop. Great test BTW 👍

[@adrianconstantin1132]

Wow ! I never thought about my thermal paste time to dry ... I just used the most expesive Kryonaut ... and then wonder when is the right time to re-apply

[@rodiculous9464]

From what I read kryonaut dries out very fast. It may be time to reapply if you haven't already

[@JustSomeDinosaurPerson]

Kryonaut should be re-applied at least once a year, even sooner for optimal performance. It is too high maintenance compared to other solutions and really only meant for enthusiasts.

[@RealButcher]

Nice and learned a lot. 🙂 But, did I miss the thickness? I have now 1mm and then 1.5 mm. 1 mm was on my M.2 SSD and the 1.5 mm? How will this function? The heat transfer is way lower than your pads. They are both 6 W/mK.

[@vasiovasio]

Super useful video! Thank you!

[@hullahupp]

I have a topic suggestion for you: :) Is it better to completely isolate the lower channel in the pc case that includes the power supply, from the upper area? Or should air be able to switch between the bottom and top sections? What is better for air flow? I guess that separating & isolating the psu area is better?

[@XyMalious]

I'm subscibing, Just because you gave the answer IMMEDIATELY. Truly amazing.

[@rmorenberg]

great video, answered a lot of questions. does either pad work on the new 12th gen intel?

[@TechIlliterate]

Yes, you can buy different sizes. I suppose you could buy a larger one and cut it to the rectangular shape.

[@SirTrollsAlot322]

Very concise - thank you

[@sally86don]

Thank you for the nice comparison. How better Is Noctua h2 compared to h1 in your opinion?

[@OldSchoolLFCGeezer]

Exactly like your video, I'll cut to the chase. You've proven the general theory that much less BS = Much better video! 👍

[@Chu_the_Master]

You immediately give me the answer I immediately hit the Like button

[@GoatPirate420]

Very nice and professional videos, thanks man👍

[@TheS4ndm4n]

Do you think it may be possible to polish both the cooler and cpu to a mirror finish, as well as perfectly flat, or at least as close to it as possible and then use no paste or pad at all? After all, both are designed to fill the tiny gaps created by material imperfections. Maybe also a sheet of very thin, thermally conductive material in between, like gold leaf, maybe? That could be very interesting.

[@jackc8621]

At that point, just take the IHS off and run the cooler against the bare die

[@TooArtistic]

A guy tried to do this. I’m sure you can find his video

[@Andytlp]

Theyre already factory polished. What can you do at home do. Use some finest grain strip and eye ball it lol. Also these thermal pads are probably great if you for some reason remove the cooler a lot. For anyone else who build a pc its one time thing for the duration of the build. So thermal pad is worse even if a few c doesnt make a difference.

[@dazeen9591]

@@Andytlp the pads are also great for someone who NEVER removes the cooler too.

[@Andytlp]

@@dazeen9591 good point although i use noctua paste and that thing wouldnt dry up in hell.

[@edwinlee2343]

The amount of paste I've had to clean up since I turned 12 years old is ridiculous, and it is only put into perspective when you see how many dirty tube socks I have lying around.

[@lifespanofafry1534]

ok

[@ForexTrading-e3b]

Neatly explained with real world tests. So paste it is for me. Thank you

[@aivatron1]

The legend has ascended from the dark

[@kitzue7161]

I like he explain things I'm subbing

[@Chaos_God_of_Fate]

These are great for new PC users that aren't sure or aren't confident about things. I still would recommend paste though, but these things do work. I'm now an LM freak, but you've got to be really careful and confident using that stuff- easy to ruin a parts if it's not applied correctly so I don't recommend it unless you plan on heavy overclocking and take proper precautions, it's just plain overkill unless you're pushing your rig to its very highest limits (which I do).

[@marioramirezsanchez6854]

This should be great for those who have laptops that are difficult to take apart.

[@Ian-tx1fp]

Have you got a list of you pc set up? I’m looking to build a new desktop and wondered what you were using 🧐

[@TechIlliterate]

5900X, 3080ti FE, 64GB DDR4 and a bunch of storage. 1tb NVMe Gen 3, 1TB Gen 4, and 2TB SATA SSD.

[@Ali-Halal]

Finally i want to say thank you sir

[@bonglesnodkins329]

I’ve used IC thermal pads almost exclusively for the last six years (building five or six PCs in that time). The temp differences are small vs paste and the convenience factor is much higher. Also much easier to deploy on irregular CPUs like the Ryzen 7800x3d.

[@Kyleplier]

I was about to say about the fact pads are already dry. But you beat me to it at 6:56 lol

[@ChiickenTM]

First! love your videos!

[@papp1001]

Yeah, well I love them more!

[@ChipHanson-1]

I have a Trigkey S5. Would you still recommend the pad for this Mini PC? Looks like I would have to cut the pad to fit, unless they make a pad to fit the Ryzen 5 5500U... Do they make a pad for the 5500U?

[@cherokee79]

I had that same issue dude. I'm had bought a new case to move my hardware from the old case to the new one. and yes, i did have to twist my cpu and tug on the heatsink and twist some more and finally it yanks off.

[@jwe88lc]

Aren't you the vocalist for Dry Kill Logic?

[@rodiculous9464]

You shoulda thrown in ptm7950 as well. Regarding the bonus test, i wonder if the carbon pad would work better with liquid metal instead of thermal paste. It probably wouldnt beat the liquid metal itself but it might combine with the convenience of that pad but idk

[@233kosta]

Conductivity is nice to know, but actually a more useful figure is thw overall thermal conductance (U) or resistance (R) value. This accounts for the final thickness as well, which will then be more representative of actual performance. Put simply, regardless of conductivity/etc, the highest U value (lowest R) always wins.

[@JasonCarmichael]

How did that thumbs thing have the swirl color when you said thumbs up in the video? Did youtube do that for you or did you have to do something in the studio?

[@ΥπερδιαγαλαξιακόςΑστροπολεμιστ]

Never seen a youtube video that answers the title in the first 2 seconds.Also how the heck did you do this 00:07?

[@sbacon92]

is your beard's gray patten real or dyed? I only went gray on my chin.

[@brianwalker7771]

Have you tried the alternative brands? Amazon has a 40 pack of graphene thermal pads for $13. I instantly think RUN! However maybe the other companies are just makin MASSIVE profit and they are in the same ballpark.

[@salvaciondios6164]

Amigo esas pasta disipadora de Grissly Carbonaut servirá para Consolas de PlayStation 4 y PS5 y XBox en todas sus Series hasta la Más actual ???

[@jdmdang]

Yeah thanks for this vid, i also see that pads were good for more casual pc / laptop users.. for more long term use, or even on servers too. less maintenance as you would say. But the avid pc gamer whos all about his tech, whos always upgrading . Will most likely choose paste and keep it the og way. Gnna order some new paste and refresh everyones cpu

[@alv1174]

Would you only use pads now?

[@AbeStephan]

Can I use a thermal pad for an Xbox 360 ?

[@tolsen8212]

Bought (at great expense) IC Diamond paste. Overheated massively. Cemented onto the CPU and tore it in half when I tried to remove it. Then I bought a new CPU, put on the cheapest paste possible just to tide me over, got nice cool temps. Then figured I had better research which paste was the best performance for the money, bought a tube of Noctua H2. PC massively overheated. I reapplied twice, triple checked my cooler pump, seating etc. Still running insanely hot. The only thing that changed was the thermal paste. I always apply a perfect amount in an X, I always get great even coverage etc. I have come to the conclusion that these pastes are way too thick and dry, and I'm sick of being disappointed. This time I'm buying a pad, then at least I don't have to fight with paste while I'm troubleshooting.

[@MurCurieux]

I nearly ruined a cpu when upgrading my cooler when using traditional thermal paste. 100% using graphene next time even if thermals are slightly higher.

[@infini_ryu9461]

It's good to be skeptical of new concepts, but some people can go overboard. Thermal pads seem like a really good idea for the absolute majority of people. A few degrees isn't going to kill them. I think if they can figure out how to remove the conductivity it would be a major bonus.

[@charliebucket-u7h]

Extremely curious question. I have a galaxy book 4 pro samsung. I game on it, video edit and so on.. so I want to see any drop in temps I can get.. Carbonaught is best for laptop use, but how much superior would carbonaught pad be over stock samsung thermal grease on the ultra 7 155h chip.. In your opinion ?. I heard companies use low quality thermal grease stock. Do you think it's rubbish stuff in these semi decent notebooks now?

[@derkeckvomeck2574]

what would you say how often you should reaply thermal paste?

[@TaranTatsuuchi]

Fun fact... While those pads are close to paste going through the pad... They're ridiculously good at transferring heat across the pad.... Cue hilarious scene where Linus was holding one between his fingers, and took a lighter to the opposite corner. XD

[@jamegumb7298]

5600 hitting 90° again. Change paste again. Want to just set it and forget it. Looking for a good pad.

[@stx772]

Arctic MX 4 and MX 6 for longevity (and very good thermal conductivity). Is great.

[@rnayabed]

only for desktop cpus.. idk about 6 but 4 is heavily prone to pump out in laptops and gpus

[@Codeman113]

@@rnayabedi hate MX4, they started making the 5/6 more expensive so they went cheap on 4 and it drys up now

[@adriandixon2787]

Hey how long do you think thermal paste would last on a gaming laptop that's being used everyday? Trying to figure out if I should use paste or pad or an Alienware 17 R4 (2017 - i7 7820HK + GTX 1070). Looking to send it to my brother in Jamaica who for the most part would just rather clean the readily visible areas like fan and other components than repasting as well as stuff being costly there.

[@stx772]

MX 6 for good cooling and longevity (won't harden after a couple years). I was super happy with the MX 4, but just started using MX 6 on new setup (its supposedly better cooling/longer lasting).

[@ea8455]

Will easily harden at the 3 years point. I would recommend cleaning and reapplying every 2-2.5 years

[@regwatson2017]

I think we need to re-define the descriptor "pea-size". I have been using half the amount for thirty plus years that you showed yourself using at the beginning of this video. I have never had any heat issues using the amount I do. No wonder you have spent many man-hours cleaning up paste in your tests. Perhaps you have very large peas in Canada - how about trying Canadian dried peas ?

[@Blackandfan]

I tried out grizzlys thermal pad (Carbonaut) and frankly, its temps werent any better (if even worse) than normal thermal paste.

[@mark4asp]

I think it depends how much work one is willing to put in. Initially paste will be -2C better than pads. But the paste dries out over time; so should be reapplied every 3 or so years in the best case scenario or every year (in the wosrt case). I'm too lazy to reapply and I want my gear to last many years - this is why I'm thinking of using pads in place of paste. Perfectionists will be using liquid metal cooling anyhow !!

[@rmorenberg]

Have you tried to use the IC Graphite Thermal Pad 40mmX40mm on any of your new builds? I am about to build one Intel 12700K and I am scared to try it without as much skill as you have it's long enough but it's to wide, would I need to cut it to fit? any info you could share would be greatly appreciated. thank you in advance.

[@kieran.grant_]

What did you end up doing?

[@galisleo8737]

What would happen if you put TWO layers of the pad? Did you try that any time?

[@a.asyraf1096]

Can these thermal pad fix cpu pump out issue? Thermal paste usually splash out when there are temperature increases.

[@Treviath]

It's a shame you didn't have frostsheet as a competitor, but then again it's very new and I don't know if it was even out at the time of publishing

[@aakashvijaya]

Can I use a thermal pad instead of paste on CPU & GPU? Thermal Grizzly - KryoSheet Graphene Thermal Pad

[@TheVampyreblood]

I've been watching your videos after having an issue tonight were a storm knocked the power out twice while I was on my computer and I got a overheated cpu screen when turning back on. It is a 3 year old pc so will run to best buy in the morning for new thermal paste. But research says my aio pump could have went out too. It's fans are still running and I read touch the pump part that's on the cpu and feel if it's running. I did that and think I feel slight vibration. No monitoring programs I've tried show the pump. Even bios just shows cpu fan and under aio it shows n/a. But people say depending on how it's connected it may only read as a fan. How much vibration should I feel while touching the pump? I have no idea what brand it is. It's a cyberpower pc with asus motherboard and intel 8 core cpu. I'm on disability so can't afford alot. Should I just take it to a local pc repair I've used in the past and have them replace the aio? Seeing as everything I've read says you have to literally take the motherboard out of the pc to do that, It's something I can't do myself.

[@7alazounTHEGOAT]

Hey i want to ask you because your videos are so good , my motherboard has an oronge light i tested everything but people said that i need to change the paste it's true ? ram is fine , card is fine , and psu is fine . I need an answer from a pro before i sell my pc

[@TechIlliterate]

The only way that is true is if the paste is so dry that there is a layer of cement between the cpu and cooler. Very unlikely.

[@sasuke65743]

interesting. Can you check if it works with the Nintendo Switch as well? It has 1 multifunction chip that's way little than that CPU and his shield isn't with that much pressure when it's closed.

[@kieran.grant_]

Why wouldn't it?

[@ubirter]

Please test RTV

[@taketokojima3055]

5:57 NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!!!

[@piotrprs572]

ROLF... basics of thermodynamic is saying... Hello. When you add another layer of 'something' .. ALWAYS thermoconductivy will be WORST. Because heat coming between two layers, have some 'obstacles' to overcome. This is 'why' when you do thermoisolation of you house, You doing this by put around 3 layers. In EU we use often bricks, then styro, then final render. Often in countries when is colder.. we put 2 layers of bricks, but with little space between them. And main role of thermopaste or thermopads are, to fill air gaps between CPU and Cooler.

[@angellsantiagoperez6475]

Would you use them on a play station or Xbox?

[@TechIlliterate]

No

[@YannMetalhead]

Good video.

[@TechIlliterate]

Thanks!

[@pinksnootgaming]

I am a entry level pc builder and pads have made it very easy to break into building and trying out many different builds and applications. I do have a thermal paste corsair stencil kinda a cheat but meh these parts cost to much to mess around

[@xRevoEmaGx]

Would this help sn alienware laptop with 12700?

[@chincemagnet]

I’d like to see someone test Kritical pads

[@evilzach1586]

if you open a computer while plugged in and start fiddling with stuff you deserve whatever comes your way wether its a zap from touching energized equipment or killing your motherboard with a thermal pad.

[@goodvybe679]

Now for the real test, stack like 5 of the pads on top!

[@jamesrowe4316]

will the pad work on ps4 pro?

[@FernandoHernandez-mb8ph]

Can I use it on my PS4 por

[@Eat-MyGoal]

Should have tested a PTM7950 Phase-change pad...

[@prawny12009]

Difficult to ensure you are testing an original product though.

[@nyccontrabass3489]

KY jelly works great!

[@QuantumentanglementAlpha]

Can we use a very thin of copper or silver as thermal pad?

[@bakatzen6243]

Technically if you have super flat ihs and heatsink surface, you don't even have to use any paste. The paste is to fill the airgap between those two.

[@QuantumentanglementAlpha]

@@bakatzen6243 some soft metal with high thermal conductivity such as silver, gold, only 4x -4.5x more hard than pure lead (bhn 5). So it is malleable especially when pressed.

[@bakatzen6243]

@@QuantumentanglementAlpha now that you mentioned copper, what if we use copper spray as thermal paste. they are good for transferring heat in automotive application.

[@QuantumentanglementAlpha]

@@bakatzen6243 copper spray? I think it s not pure copper, or the filler will not do.

[@Jazdude123]

Are the thermal pads at all absorbent? I wonder if rather than using paste you could use liquid metal? Seems like the liquid metal might help wet the pad a bit but also the pad might give the liquid metal more surface area and friction to cling onto helping reduce the chances a drop goes off into the computer to short something out. And the metal might help fill in any gaps that might be in the pad too? I am mostly thinking of what might happen if you put a small drop of liquid metal in the middle of the pad and squish it into the pad with the cooling solution's cold plate.

[@bideobamers]

Theyre starting to make these from older game consoles now. Ive seen some for the exposed chips in the N64 ans Gamecube