Thermal paste is a crucial component for optimal processor cooling. It ensures effective heat transfer between the CPU and the cooler by filling in microscopic gaps and maximizing direct contact. This significantly enhances the cooler's efficiency, leading to lower temperatures and an extended lifespan for your system. Whether you're building a new PC or upgrading your current one, high-quality thermal paste is key to getting the best performance from your cooling system.
Thermal Compounds for Processors / CPUs
Whether it's a monstrous gaming PC or a slow office computer, thermal paste is needed everywhere. All (graphics) processors emit more or less large amounts of thermal energy (heat), which must be dissipated via heatsinks and eventually fans. To achieve this, thermal paste or thermal pads are required as a connecting element between components to bridge the fine imperfections on the respective metal surfaces.
Things to Consider When Selecting and Applying
Especially in the high-end sector for “thermal compounds” - the English term for thermal paste - manufacturers constantly outdo each other with new, sophisticated products to convince customers.
- Thermal paste ranges in quality from simple white silicone paste to gray paste with silver particles, nearly pure silver paste, aluminum/zinc oxide compounds, or even creams with ground synthetic diamonds.
- Depending on the quality grade, thermal paste offers different levels of thermal conductivity, usually measured in W/mK. There are also differences in applicability (creamy, liquid, sticky, tough) and durability (permanently creamy or hardening).
- Thermal paste is usually applied with a small brush or Q-tip directly on the silicon chip (e.g., GPU) or the heat spreader (e.g., CPU/APU). It's important not to apply the paste too thickly, as this can reduce conductivity. Old thermal paste can be carefully removed with a tissue.
- Note: Some thermal pastes, such as liquid metal paste, have special application instructions. For example, some products must not come into contact with aluminum (i.e., heat spreaders or aluminum heatsinks) as they can cause corrosion. Additionally, metal-containing thermal paste conducts electricity and therefore cannot be used everywhere.
