Our CPU cooler review methodology is here: ruclips.net/video/fmTOJP4KOyk/видео.html Support test equipment purchases via the GN store, like by buying a Modmat, Mouse Mat, or a limited Chipset Metro poster: store.gamersnexus.net/products/x570-chipset-metro-station-poster-18-x-24 EK AIO Tear-Down: ruclips.net/video/bAwYEBmSfvE/видео.html Or written form of test methodology here: www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3561-cpu-cooler-testing-methodology-most-tests-are-flawed
It is very reassuring when you go this far into your testing controls in the actual test video occasionally. You always reiterate to go check testing methodology but when you show it in video form everyone gets to actually see "Wow thats probably more of a scientific test than the manufacturers use". Really appreciate the extremely strict comparisons and not having to second guess your conclusions/opinions at the end.
Hi Steve, out of curiosity, what would the results or measurements be without any medium between the CPU and cooler? How would that compare against thermal paste?
A quick mention for your graph comparing the thermal intetfaces with different torques: For shortening Newton (kgm/s^2) it is "N" instead of "n". Therefore in your graph "IC Diamond Graphite Pad vs. Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut Past | Torque Test | GamersNexus.net" (maybe the last is just your name) the unit of your Torque Driver Setting Axis should be "Nm", not "nm", with is short for Nanometer (10^-9 m). Btw like your error-bars and would like to see more of them. Especially in the 2 dimensional graphs you got here.
@@sripadhs I agree this would be a nice to have for one video, but since it is very impractical for use (probably), it shouldn't be in every cooler review for every cooler. Just to impractical.
Love that GN follows the advice they give to manufactures about not releasing products till they’re 100% confident with their own videos. As always, this was well worth the wait!
Thanks for noticing! We promised to review this pad something like 2-3 years ago, but we just weren't ready or happy with our degree of accuracy until now. The nice thing is that now we can keep doing more interface/paste tests!
I actually got featured in an ask gn episode way back asking for this review. I've since used one and switched back to paste but I'm still interested in the results and glad to see it finally done. Better late than never, thx gn :P Edit: it's also nice to see there was a legit reason for the time and I did ask for "in depth analysis" and that's exactly what we got
Ihate allofU I’ll take monotone over Austin Evans style of over the top cornyness that’s become the norm on RUclips. Nothing against him, because I do enjoy some of his content. He’s just the first tech person that came to mind.
I mean, kinda throwing shade, but they also showed *why* its bad so its undeniable. Corsair cant be mad at anyone but themselves for not having an even coldplate.
A friend actually went and bought that cooler because 'it looks cool' . I forced him to return it by invoking the gods of testing, GN, and explaining he'd bought a turkey. Let him have the Fuma 2 I bought for a new build I'm still collecting parts for (he's under pain of death orders to replace that asap!)
Even looking back at older videos I still learn something every time I watch a GN video. This came out around the time I built my first system and now I’m one of the go to friends in my group for PC stuff and dive headfirst into learning. You past present and future content brings so much to the table
Your channel is what's great about RUclips. You provide real world information that is actually helpful! You go above and beyond to make sure it's as accurate as possible and as unbiased any human can be. I mean what enthusiast or person with a modicum of intelligence would not appreciate or find that valuable. Well done to you and your team. Love the channel. Keep up the great work from an appreciative viewer on the other side of the planet.
I have always taken comparison test videos on RUclips with a grain of salt until now. I’m a test engineer at a medical device company who writes, tests and writes the reports that get submitted to the FDA for device approval. Of the few "computer info" channels I watch, (which you are one of 3) your approach is probably the closest to how a proper validated test should be run. What amazed me was that you actually did think of validation. The one small step I would add is to validate the test method itself. There is a chance that validating the test would show if there is a discrepancy in the way the test is being performed or the way the test was written. Have 2-3 people do the whole test step by step from a written protocol without further instruction and not let each teste see the others testing. you should ideally have the results within a small tolerance or margin of error of each other between the testers. any obvious discrepancies are quickly found and corrected. You can really fine tune this but that should really be enough to see if the test produces the same results no matter who the tester is. I’m not sure what your background is but you most definitely have that analytical way of thinking that makes you great for this job and I hope you keep on keeping on!!
I've kept a pad on hand for testing motherboards/cpus to see if they're functional. IT IS SO CONVENIENT NOT HAVING TO CLEAN PASTE EVERY TIME. I see it as a tool, not as something I'd run day-to-day.
Yup but even for a gaming rig pads are just fine i am of the belief that they're the go to for someone building a pc and leaving it alone for however long @@I_enjoy_some_things
I just like that it's less messy. Literally only benefit, but not a small one. Especially for first time builders putting on this pad may seem less of a concern than "spreading the paste out correctly."
If you build your first computer it's actually good to have that "concern", because it forces you to research more and that will lead to better decisions. Like I was a first time builder 3 months ago and exactly these little questions that you ask yourself before even ordering parts makes you google shit tons and then through finding the necessary info you always also find other beneficial info, like for example I never even asked myself how strong I have to fasten the screws, but while looking for a guide on how to spread the paste I overheard that you should "make it a bit tighter than you think" and that sent me into another google spiral for info. Another point is also that "hard things" are much more rewarding. I enjoyed researching and building my pc a lot and so do many people. Making it "easier" would, for me and many others, actually be a negative. Sounds weird, but I am sure you kow what I mean :)
For stock builds of most 125W TDP or less, with decent air or AIO CLC's, the pads won't likely be enough of a loss in heat transfer over paste to impact performance in a meaningful way, I think it's a good choice for most users. I personally like paste.
I get that, but thermal paste isn't like a difficult thing to do. A single drop of it in the middle, put the cooler on and bingo bango bongo. It's done.
A topic not mentioned is the "turbo" function on most major manufactures which will both add a "SIGNIFICANT" performance boost and "GREATLY" degrade your paste over a much "SHORTER" period of time and this is where the thermal pad "OUTPERFORMES" paste every time (0% degradation). Single use thermal pad "Superior Longevity" was hinted at but not directly mentioned.
Nanometer is a measure of distance. Newton meter is a measure of mechanical force. That's why he mentioned it in relation to the torque driver he was holding. Certain coolers have instructions that specific.
@@artisan002 whoosh! they are saying they used the wrong unit, unintentionally, in the graphs; which is an understandable, easy to make mistake. It is like mispeeling a word and not correcting it. Your response ... is incomprehensible. Not what you said, but why you said it. The person obviously knows the difference between nm and Nm and the rest of your response seems intended for a completely different comment. Are you stoned? If so, share.
@@kuromurasakizero9515 Good god dude. Did you push your glasses up before you started that burn? Try to be calm. "Incomprehensible" is getting a bit hyperbolic.
Steve: "You're just not going to realistically encounter a scenario where a screw is tightened to one thread." iBUYPOWER: We can achieve the impossible.
"It's not going to be better" Should be... "It's not going to give lower temperatures." Because **better** can mean many things. These pads are honestly 'Good Enough' for most people. The benefits of being a clean install and reusability matter quite a bit once you don't REALLY need the extra cooling from paste. Just like a 500hp car is not "better" than a 200hp car, if all you do is pick up groceries with it. At some point other features begin to matter more. NOTE: Reusability doesn't **just** mean when you replace a part. being able to take the cooler off when cleaning without having to re-apply paste is nice. And being able to reseat the cooler if you are getting anomalous readings without re-applying paste is also useful.
Only recently new to the team's channel, but damn if you guys aren't some of the most meticulous tech guys on the net. Thanks for all your care and attention to detail.
Great testing, much appreciated. A small thing to improve: in the Low Mounting Pressure graph, the correct unit for Newton meter should be N m, not nm (nanometer). Keep up the good work!
The attention to detail to get accurate results is just amazing. Nobody would dispute GN results given your track record and you guys still go above and beyond to do the best testing around. Shows how passionate you all are and really keeps bringing me back to the channel. Great work guys!
After ripping my 2700x out of the socket twice using mx-4 I switched to an ic pad. I noticed about 2C of temperature difference, which is fine for me. I am using a noctua nh-d14 which means I can't twist the cooler before taking it off so that I don't rip out the Cpu. About the name of the pad: I think the company is called innovation cooling (ic) and the pad is called graphite pad. The diamond in the name describes the ic paste which includes diamond dust. Thanks for the great testing!
I ripped mine out of the socket trying to pull the stock cooler. lack of space at the top of my case caused to cooler to get caught on the bracket. I ended up replacing the stock cooler.
I couldn't twist the stock cooler because the top bracket gets caught due to severe lack of space. replaced the stock with an ac 34 that bolts in so it'll no longer be an issue. I even benchmarked the CPU to get the paste nice and soft beforehand. still bent enough pins I had to replace the cpu
Well done. You guys really do, do the best most thorough, probably most accurate testing of really any of the RUclips tech channels that I've seen. Consistently good reviews of whatever you're testing and I pay attention at least somewhat to most of the tech review channels (relevant to computer tech that is). The quality is appreciated. Accurate results are appreciated. I'm probably going to get some replies trolling my comment but hey, when its good, why not say so.
@@Spirit532 torque is measured by formulas that include both force (newtons, pounds) and distance (meters, feet). Just like how speed uses distance divided by time (km/h)
@@Spirit532 Torque is force times distance from the center. Multiplying force by distance is correct, that is why it is called newton * meter. Newton - meter does not make sense, you can not subtract 2 different dimensions.
@@Spirit532 when you see a torque value, imagine someone using a wrench. a torque of 1Nm would be using 1 newton of force applied via a 1 meter long wrench, or 2 newtons and a 0.5m wrench, ect.
You know your own testing was solid when it lines up with what GN found, I was able to test the IC graphite asgainst arctic MX2 and found that IC graphite was 1-2 degreese worse consistently with a overclocked Ryzen 5 3600 and that for me is good enough considering its convenience.
This missed something I was really interested in. I have heard the *horizontal* conductivity of these graphite pads is significantly higher than pastes (over the same distance). With AMD CPUS using an offset chiplet design, specifically chips with a single offset chiplet like the 3700x, and the majority of coolers not being built for this new design, could a graphite pad provide better overall thermal dissipation compared to paste in this situation? I was excited to hear the dummy bench can simulate AMD chiplet heat points but disappointed that no testing was done in this area.
shortly after release of the current ryzens, different mounting orientations were testet for your mentioned reason. Result was no noticeable difference because of the good heat transfer between the heatpipes.
I think I've heard that some of these pre-cut graphite pads have higher Z conductivity, though that might differ by which one (maybe it was carbonaut that I'm thinking of). There is also paper-like PGS (pyrolytic graphite sheet, like seen in this video ruclips.net/video/ZAEhyY1_czM/видео.html also quickly/easily cutting ice cubes with body heat) that you can get with higher XY thermal conductivity that *might* be useful for DIY cooling solutions where you spread the heat more (larger air coolers, external cooling, multiple air coolers passive or not etc). Would love to see testing to see it this is worth it or even viable, but maybe it's not GN's type of content.
Aye, as Rob stated Gamers Nexus did a piece on the Heat Pipe orientation myth which can be found: ruclips.net/video/O1WGlPrH4IU/видео.html Due to them debunking the myth and saying the only real factor of hindrance would be poor overall case airflow to orientation, or pulling heat directly off the back of a GPU, I highly doubt their results would vary much from this videos tests since the heat pipe direction would have no factor in it.
the thermal graphite pad that AMD used on the reference rx5k series for example is miles better than the IC diamond graphite pad but there's also a reason why it's not re-usable after you pull it off(it'll rip almost every time). i currently use the IC diamond graphite pad in my system with a zen 2 cpu and there's zero benefit to it over paste when it comes to performance. the only reason i still have it installed is because i'm lazy and don't feel like pulling my block off again and applying paste since i'm still under the 65C barrier to hit 4.2Ghz all core boost.. but my temps are still 2-3C higher than with hydronaut in my specific case which equates to my fans having to run about 5-10% higher rpm to make up for the difference. that being said though the graphite pads have saved my ass a few times when i've realized i've run out of thermal paste and didn't have any which is why i currently have it installed on this system since human malware made it impossible to get thermal paste shipped in a timely manner back in march when i was forced to remount my block. otherwise i usually just keep it in the case it came with and use it for testing.
why would that be different? correct me if I'm wrong or misunderstood your comment, but the orientation of the pad relative to the CPU and cooler doesn't change. and regarding the single offset chiplet, does it matter either? what you want in a thermal compound is the ability to transfer the heat from one surface to another, not to soak the heat in the thermal compound itself.
I'm not sure if I've ever commented on one of y'alls videos before, but I had to comment on this one. Y'all have done a downright outstanding job on this testing, and it's something I didn't think would be enjoyable to watch beforehand. I'm glad to have been proven wrong.
They've actually been using thermal graphite pads in phones since iPhone 1. They conduct a heatspreader into the screen which is enough to keep the arm CPUs cool enough. You can find large sheets on ali for like $5. I can cut and cover almost 20 CPUs with it.
I have 2 of them. What I noticed is that after 1 year on my corsair water cooler; Temps started to go up quick. The pad requires a bunch of mounting pressure and if the screws stretch at all you have no contact.
While I find some of your fellow PC networkers fun and interesting, it is your Gamers Nexus videos that I find myself coming back to and watching in full, because you test thoroughly and provide facts and figures with everything you do. You might say, you put the science in computer science. I have made purchasing decisions time and time again, weighted heavily on the results of your testing work. You guys are awesome - both you and your super knowledgeable Linux buddy. You guys have amazing senses of humor as well, I love it all.
Basically, until you are in a high wattage, high temperature (high performance) situation, the thermal pad will realistically work fine. It's when you really need to shave a few degrees off your operating temp that you need thermal paste. I like the pads because they aren't messy, in application as well as in storage out of use. They also serve a wider array of purposes, such as nvme drives and gpu ram.
I can say that with a 560mm rad using this pad doesn't really effect my temps that much. For those wondering why a 560mm rad the answer is: whisper quite pc.
Opposite actually. The bigger your rad is the more you shift the bottleneck towards the block, thermal interface and IHS. If your coolant is at ambient and you're hitting 95° you can't just spin up the fans and drop the temps. At some point adding rad space or fan speed only gets you insignificant improvements. And that's when you need to look at the block, delidding, liquid metal etc to push further. Modern CPUs have insane heat density, on my 3900X i have a delta of around 65-70 degrees between the coolant and the CPU, and with CPU only load a delta of around 4 degrees between coolant and ambient...
Really appreciate how thoroughly you try to control variables from even something as small as a torque settings on screwdrivers. Team at GN you guys are amazing.
I personally love using graphite pads simply because I don't have to deal with the mess of the paste after the fact. Well worth the slight drop in performance.
graphite pad probably great for instances where the cooler is spring mounted and can easily cause you to have to reseat the second mounting point, no air bubbles.
Paste round up comparison, with best air and best water cooler? With your test equipment and methodology it would great. Would settle some forum/pub arguments too!
What I really want to see is results after a year of use, when the paste dries up. The pad can make a lot more sense to use if it can get ahead of the paste in just a year. Can you do a video on how much time affects different pastes and compare it to a pad?
Just for anyone reading this, I've had this thermal graphite pad on my 7700K for 3 years now. As far as I know it's as good as it is when it was new. 4.9GHz OC and my temps never go above 73C under full load. Cooled with H115i AIO. Idle temps are around 45C
I put whatever the top rated pad on Newegg was in 2019 on my i9700k while replacing the cooler (noctua dh-something) and after almost 3 years it's still performing amazing, even under heavy load it never goes above high 60's 😇
This is why I like the graphite pad, my paste kept failing in time(I'm no expert at applying it), the pad was an easy and clean install and I've had no more trouble with CPU(i7) temps since that day, years ago. After the thermal pad my temps dropped really low compared to what my previous normal was. I bought the CPU and MOBO used and just thought it was a system that ran hot for some reason, it would start overheating after months and crashing during gaming, then new paste would bring it back down to its "normal" high temps. It may be why the person sold it to me so cheap. I was thinking in my situation my CPU was warped instead of flat, with difficulty getting a good connection to the cooler and the pad helped perfectly connect the CPU to the cooler, it had a lot of coverage and compressed it down when tightening. Reminds me of the XBOX 360 red ring of death days, a lot of those issues were supposed to be from warping and the thermal paste. I fixed my RROD by simply applying new paste but only lasted maybe weeks before it happened again. Would have been neat to know about thermal pads back then to see if it worked any better.
This is another excellent video from Steve and the GN team. Thanks so much for this because one of my friends and I were actually discussing pads vs paste literally last night! Love from Australia.
I wonder what the combination of thin Thermal paste and a Thermal pad would do. Microscopic pictures of thermal pads make them look pretty uneven and rough. The Thermal paste should smooth that out and bring the best of both worlds.
I have had the same thought, and wish GN would test this. But I am moving away from TG because that stuff dries out like paint!!! I would want GN to test with Arctic Silver 5.
I know this is an old video, but I have been using Thermal Grizzly for awhile now and my experience is that over time it DOES dry out, and A LOT, much more than what I had been using for years, which was Arctic Silver 5. I have used Thermal Grizzly on my high-end RAID card and the CPU on my Netgear NAS, and the temperatures steadily rise within a very short period of time. I open them up and sure enough, the TG paste is dry like paint!!!! I wish GN would test and report on this. So I'm going to try one of these IC Graphite Thermal pads. I think another important factor to consider is the high cost of TG. The IC pad is just $13 bucks, and lasts "forever". Plus, if it's drying out all the time (as it is for me), now you have the wasted time of periodically having to tear down your rig or equipment. I would rather have ZERO down time, a ONE time install, and LOWER cost, PLUS reliable temps that never degrade. Sure, if I'm going to build the highest overclocking computer and compete with others for fastest machine and lowest temps, fine; then you're going to want to go with lowest thermals. But for those doing that, tearing down all the time is normal and expected. I am NOT in that category, especially for my RAID card and NAS; I just want those things to run and run and NEVER have to worry about temperature creep EVER, and this sounds like a perfect use for these IC (or other) pads. And why not these pads for the vast majority of us who DO have gaming machines, but as long as the heat doesn't "redline" and we can do everything we're going to do with NO issue or constant teardowns... well isn't THAT what's better, less costly, and saves us time on unnecessary down time?
That's why I really like Arctic Silver 5 and still use it. It's thick/viscous and not too thin and gooey which leads to pump out and doesn't dry out as quickly. Best of all, it just works!
so nice that you guys got a great tool to know actual heatsink performance since the TPD is basically useless info can you please make a comparison on the low profile cooler since I have been looking around and they either vary in performance either they all seem the same even some are bigger than other or they have a big difference
mind if I use some of your videos as a learning video for middle school children's about math in a real world use (and as a English course as well since I'm French and i will have to translate )
Out of curiosity, do you guys validate your torque equipment every once in a while? I work with a lot of calibrated equipment and torque wrenches and torque screw drivers are far and away the most common thing to have fail for the values being out of tolerance.
Wow best methodology ever !! You are on the Edge, It is not the first time I see thoses products tested but now I think I understand what I want to Know about .... Thank you
Excellent explanations of testing! Not everyone is as serious as you Steve, but I am glad you are. Too few get the real of what you do except the enthusiasts, but that is your target audience. Keep it up Steve. Your videos rock!
I bought one several years ago and have been satisfied. Picked up a used cooler earlier this year and didn't even consider that without the pad I would have had to get some new thermal paste.
That was a very in depth and scientific review of the IC Diamond Pad. I will be looking forward to more content like this, very well done. Thank you Gamer's Nexus, that is an awesome set up...
I like pad for laptop cpu. The pad last forever but Paste need to be reapplied every 4 years. This is important as laptop is much harder to service. Also the panda gpu strikes again. Haha
That's a good point that we only briefly mentioned. Thanks for bringing that up. Serviceability of things like laptops is way worse, so it does make good sense there. Laptops are also notorious for garbage stock paste that eventually hardens.
I like the way you've treated this more like a science experiment, than a review/comparison; I'm actually impressed! 👏👏 Also, extra plus, for the cute pet meme. 🤣
I've been telling this to people from the start. There is no replacement, for Thermal Paste. It rolls downstairs alone or in pairs and over your neighbors dog. Whats great for a snack, and fits in your pack? Its Paste Paste Paste! It's Paste, It's Paste, It's Soft, squishy, its Great! It's Paste, It's paste, its better than bad, its Paste.
I know your channel is called *Gamer's* nexus, but I would consider it better for computer hardware in general just by your testing methodology. While there are huge number of other channels (LTT, J2Cents, etc) that cover computer hardware in general, they seems more consumer-friendly oriented, while yours always remains on data obtained by scientifically-sound methods. Thank you and keep up the good work! :)
One thing this patch can be good for let's say you're building a computer for your grandma, you know for a fact that she's not going to upgrade that computer for 10 years or more. Even the best thermal paste will eventually cure.
I built a home office PC for a friend last year who works from home. I used a pad and now she never has to bother with paste. I tested with good paste and the pad before I gave her the PC and at max temps, the pad was, literally, 2 degrees hotter. No big deal, in my opinion.
Or better yet, using the pad on your cousin's RRoD'd Xbox 360 (which is the newest console they own and yes they still play it, especially his young son as a Minecraft machine). A desktop PC is at least relatively easy to disassemble, but a console is a completely different story.
I have no idea what paste I used back then, but my i5 2500K ran for 8 years with a mugen on it. Maybe by the end the temps weren't quite as good as at the beginning, I don't know, but it was never an issue... It was oc'd for the last two years or so too.
Zellonous if he is building a pc for grandma then its cost will not be as high, so no fancy coolers etc than can help with temps, so that extra reliability over the years can assure him the pc is not gonna auto up the fanspeed.
I started using this same pad last year after coming from Arctic Silver MX4 paste. My idle temps remained the same and my max temperatures only went up, literally, 2 degrees from the paste.. Not really a big deal in my opinion and now I don't ever have to deal with paste again. I even have my 8700k overclocked to 4.8ghz on all cores. When stressing the FPU in AIDA, my temps max out in mid 70s. And they never go above mid 60s when I'm not torturing the CPU. I really have no reason to use paste at this point. 🤷♂️
Some CPU's IHS are kinda flat. This helps a lot with heat transfer. Some other IHS are horribly far away from being flat and here probably the pads give better results. Using a decent paste on a flattened CPU IHS along with a flat cooler surface is always better than anything else but when the IHS's surface is curved then probably using a decent pad is advised. After lapping a CPU IHS there's only a thin layer of paste needed and the thermal transfer is high. The paste layer is so thin you can easily see through it.
Thank you for this video! I also watched the Linus Tech Tips video on the Innovation Cooling Graphite Thermal Pads and I was immediately intrigued. I have even thought of replacing the old thermal paste in my consoles with these graphite pads as well. I may well have to reconsider after this. Keep up the good work!
My justification for using the pad was ease and ease of mind. I picked up some incredible OCD habits regarding thermal paste while working in IT, and the pad takes less time than my application method, and as long as I'm careful that it doesn't shift, I trust it to do its job.
and it basically doesn't expire... where as that tube will be toast in about 2 years. considering most people dont build a new system for another 3 or 4 years... they'd have to buy another tube.
A couple of notes about your use of the torque screwdriver; Torque tools are calibrated to provide the specified torque the first time that they alert the user. Repeatedly making the tool signal can further increase the tension in the fastener a little bit each time. It can also prematurely wear and de-calibrate the tool. Torque tools are made for applying a specified torque, not checking the torque of an already fastened fastener. I would highly recommend tightening whatever you're tightening until it clicks, and then removing the torque tool. Also, I know you guys are extremely detail oriented, but please make sure to have your torque tools calibrated (and certified, if you can swing it) once a year. I used to work as a technician for a company that provided repair, calibration and certification services for various steel erection and torquing/tensioning products, traceable to ISO 17025.
I'll take the convenience over a 1-2° difference. I like working with old pcs and i keep swapping cpus, etc. I have a ton of old cpus that i can now buy for $.50
Thank you for this video. As I've seen elsewhere (but not nearly as thoroughly as your video!) these thermal pads aren't better than paste. But they don't suffer from dry out or blow out like some paste does and they're very easy to remove/clean up if you need to remove your HSF or water block for cleaning. However, they're not the best choice for overclocking or "extreme" use cases. Plus, there are plenty of people out there that use WAY too much thermal paste in their builds and the ease of using a thermal pad takes the guesswork of "how much paste is enough" out of the equation. Seriously, I've done OEM PC warranty repair work for over 20 years and I've come across FAR too many techs that think when they get a replacement CPU or system board from an OEM that they have to use the ENTIRE tube of thermal paste that's supplied with the replacement part! Even though in most cases you can get 3-5 applications (depending on the size of the CPU) out of the small syringe they supply with each part.
I make use of the pads for a test bench and I'm still on one pad and I've swapped it out at least 20 times now and the temps haven't changed, though it's pretty anecdotal and I haven't done any scientific testing, but I'd never use these in an actual build. Excellent information as usual.
This was a great overview of how this would impact heating and how your CPU cooler works as well. One suggestion though. Many of your metrics are given in the number of watts the CPU would be drawing. This is useful, but I don't have a point of reference for what the average power consumption of a base CPU is. Providing that might help get some perspective.
One thing I would suggest is adding a control of what happens if you don't use any interface between the cooler and the heater. This would give a base line to demonstraight if there was any actual benefit of the thermal pad. I realise it might be nite picky, please know I really love the this work, keep it up.
Also regarding torque testing, just as a point of reference it should be noted that ISO 7380 spec for M3 screw torque is 1.0Nm for 10.9 steel (quenched & tempered) and 0.5Nm for A2/A4 (alloy steel). The alloy steel spec is more relevant in this case. (additionally - capitalize the N. In your torque test your torque driver setting is labeled in nanometers.)
Our CPU cooler review methodology is here: ruclips.net/video/fmTOJP4KOyk/видео.html
Support test equipment purchases via the GN store, like by buying a Modmat, Mouse Mat, or a limited Chipset Metro poster: store.gamersnexus.net/products/x570-chipset-metro-station-poster-18-x-24
EK AIO Tear-Down: ruclips.net/video/bAwYEBmSfvE/видео.html
Or written form of test methodology here: www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3561-cpu-cooler-testing-methodology-most-tests-are-flawed
erratum : at 13:04 the X axis is in Nm (Newton Meter) not nm (nanometer)
It is very reassuring when you go this far into your testing controls in the actual test video occasionally. You always reiterate to go check testing methodology but when you show it in video form everyone gets to actually see "Wow thats probably more of a scientific test than the manufacturers use". Really appreciate the extremely strict comparisons and not having to second guess your conclusions/opinions at the end.
Hi Steve, out of curiosity, what would the results or measurements be without any medium between the CPU and cooler? How would that compare against thermal paste?
A quick mention for your graph comparing the thermal intetfaces with different torques:
For shortening Newton (kgm/s^2) it is "N" instead of "n". Therefore in your graph "IC Diamond Graphite Pad vs. Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut Past | Torque Test | GamersNexus.net" (maybe the last is just your name) the unit of your Torque Driver Setting Axis should be "Nm", not "nm", with is short for Nanometer (10^-9 m).
Btw like your error-bars and would like to see more of them.
Especially in the 2 dimensional graphs you got here.
@@sripadhs
I agree this would be a nice to have for one video, but since it is very impractical for use (probably), it shouldn't be in every cooler review for every cooler. Just to impractical.
Love that GN follows the advice they give to manufactures about not releasing products till they’re 100% confident with their own videos. As always, this was well worth the wait!
Thanks for noticing! We promised to review this pad something like 2-3 years ago, but we just weren't ready or happy with our degree of accuracy until now. The nice thing is that now we can keep doing more interface/paste tests!
@@GamersNexus compared to Linus, you guys make him look like a 12 year old doing test
Jon Jones' Dealer Very true but Linus can’t keep a CPU cooler in his hand for more than 5 seconds anyway
@@GamersNexus quick comment btw. You look good in a undercut faded manbun my guy
I actually got featured in an ask gn episode way back asking for this review. I've since used one and switched back to paste but I'm still interested in the results and glad to see it finally done. Better late than never, thx gn :P
Edit: it's also nice to see there was a legit reason for the time and I did ask for "in depth analysis" and that's exactly what we got
Your testing methodology always blows me away no matter how many times I see it.
Agreed, however, the monotone bores me to death. I can never watch more than a few minutes.
@@ihateallofu8233 Comes with the territory and isn't changing.
Ihate allofU I’ll take monotone over Austin Evans style of over the top cornyness that’s become the norm on RUclips. Nothing against him, because I do enjoy some of his content. He’s just the first tech person that came to mind.
@@bobbabouie91 Totally agree with you there.
@@GamersNexusEverything is bound to change. Someday you'll have to be a
Linus.
"Right now you see an A500 mounted to it because I needed something bad" Noice!
When I heard that I was like "goddamn corsair can't possibly reply to this"
I mean, kinda throwing shade, but they also showed *why* its bad so its undeniable. Corsair cant be mad at anyone but themselves for not having an even coldplate.
Companies need good roasting
it is 100% true though. corsair's cooler was so uneven it made for a great thermal paste tester
A friend actually went and bought that cooler because 'it looks cool' . I forced him to return it by invoking the gods of testing, GN, and explaining he'd bought a turkey. Let him have the Fuma 2 I bought for a new build I'm still collecting parts for (he's under pain of death orders to replace that asap!)
Damn, lol savage....."or of one consisting with Corsair's manufacturing ability".......
oof size: *Large*
That was hilarious :D
Laughed way too much about this
der8auer ok but what’s the significance at 9:01
@@der8auer Hi Roman!!! I would like to buy some Carbonaut could you tell me how many pads are in a pack? Is €25 a good price for a 38x38 pack?
The thumbnail gives me chills down my spine
All that thermal paste, scary.
As someone on the verge of a breakthrough once said, "it's good PC building practice to apply a little extra"
@@pseudingus the verge heheh
fucking triggered me lol
Even looking back at older videos I still learn something every time I watch a GN video. This came out around the time I built my first system and now I’m one of the go to friends in my group for PC stuff and dive headfirst into learning. You past present and future content brings so much to the table
"We would pick paste...there's a few reasons for this. One is that [good] paste is just objectively better". That's a good reason.
And the pads don’t spread on toast
@@float32 the zestiest condiment.
To prevent heat ups. Eat thermal paste
They come in syringes, so just skip the whole digestion process and go straight for a vein.
@@Jaco_Schutte enema?
"This setting is not realistic at all"
*stares in the Verge's AIO install that is full on missing a screw*
Considering that every time I use thermal paste, I get it all over my body, I think thermal pads are pretty promising.
I'm going to coat the thermal pad with thermal paste and get double cooling
It's the mechanics anti sieze equivalent
I think you are confusing thermal paste with tooth paste.
sounds hot.
As a lube? ^^
Your channel is what's great about RUclips. You provide real world information that is actually helpful!
You go above and beyond to make sure it's as accurate as possible and as unbiased any human can be. I mean what enthusiast or person with a modicum of intelligence would not appreciate or find that valuable.
Well done to you and your team. Love the channel. Keep up the great work from an appreciative viewer on the other side of the planet.
I have always taken comparison test videos on RUclips with a grain of salt until now. I’m a test engineer at a medical device company who writes, tests and writes the reports that get submitted to the FDA for device approval. Of the few "computer info" channels I watch, (which you are one of 3) your approach is probably the closest to how a proper validated test should be run. What amazed me was that you actually did think of validation. The one small step I would add is to validate the test method itself. There is a chance that validating the test would show if there is a discrepancy in the way the test is being performed or the way the test was written. Have 2-3 people do the whole test step by step from a written protocol without further instruction and not let each teste see the others testing. you should ideally have the results within a small tolerance or margin of error of each other between the testers. any obvious discrepancies are quickly found and corrected. You can really fine tune this but that should really be enough to see if the test produces the same results no matter who the tester is.
I’m not sure what your background is but you most definitely have that analytical way of thinking that makes you great for this job and I hope you keep on keeping on!!
It is actually much better than I expected!
It performs like cheap paste but it won't dry, so it's a nice alternative for low maintenance builds.
I've kept a pad on hand for testing motherboards/cpus to see if they're functional. IT IS SO CONVENIENT NOT HAVING TO CLEAN PASTE EVERY TIME.
I see it as a tool, not as something I'd run day-to-day.
Yup but even for a gaming rig pads are just fine i am of the belief that they're the go to for someone building a pc and leaving it alone for however long @@I_enjoy_some_things
I just like that it's less messy. Literally only benefit, but not a small one. Especially for first time builders putting on this pad may seem less of a concern than "spreading the paste out correctly."
If you build your first computer it's actually good to have that "concern", because it forces you to research more and that will lead to better decisions. Like I was a first time builder 3 months ago and exactly these little questions that you ask yourself before even ordering parts makes you google shit tons and then through finding the necessary info you always also find other beneficial info, like for example I never even asked myself how strong I have to fasten the screws, but while looking for a guide on how to spread the paste I overheard that you should "make it a bit tighter than you think" and that sent me into another google spiral for info.
Another point is also that "hard things" are much more rewarding. I enjoyed researching and building my pc a lot and so do many people. Making it "easier" would, for me and many others, actually be a negative. Sounds weird, but I am sure you kow what I mean :)
For stock builds of most 125W TDP or less, with decent air or AIO CLC's, the pads won't likely be enough of a loss in heat transfer over paste to impact performance in a meaningful way, I think it's a good choice for most users. I personally like paste.
@@GuRuGeorge03 you're not alone, the difficulty is rewarding.
I get that, but thermal paste isn't like a difficult thing to do. A single drop of it in the middle, put the cooler on and bingo bango bongo. It's done.
@@nktslp3650 i found a bertical line is better and spreads out better aswell
Uhh at last.. was waiting for this for so long. Hope got Thermal Grizzly Carbonaut review. Thumb up*
Will Steve dare to make Roman feel the heat? We'll see.
Please please please review Thermal Grizzly's Carbonaut!!!!!
Thermal Grizzly's Carbonaut is supposed to have twice the thermal conductivity of ic diamond's pads!!!
Your product team is on fire!!!
Thank you!
9:05 Love the A500 is being flanked by the Yeston GPU. Its clearly mad at the lackluster cooler
For real though, I wish I could just buy the cooler from that GPU. It's become quite the meme. 😂
A topic not mentioned is the "turbo" function on most major manufactures which will both add a "SIGNIFICANT" performance boost and "GREATLY" degrade your paste over a much "SHORTER" period of time and this is where the thermal pad "OUTPERFORMES" paste every time (0% degradation). Single use thermal pad "Superior Longevity" was hinted at but not directly mentioned.
Plus the much lower cost!
*People about to go to bed. But DAMMIT when Tech Jesus summons you, you bring your ass to CHURCH.*
Amen!
The megabyte, the gigabyte, & the mighty terabyte; Bill Gates. IBM 8100:VV2136 Thou shalt not skimp on thy thermal compound
"consisting of corsairs manufactering abilites" I needed that laugh today.
Small observation about your graphs: nm is nanometers, Nm is Newton meters!
Nanometer is a measure of distance. Newton meter is a measure of mechanical force. That's why he mentioned it in relation to the torque driver he was holding. Certain coolers have instructions that specific.
@@artisan002 to be precise, Nm is torque that's why I mentioned it should be like that on the graphs!
@@artisan002 whoosh!
they are saying they used the wrong unit, unintentionally, in the graphs; which is an understandable, easy to make mistake. It is like mispeeling a word and not correcting it.
Your response ... is incomprehensible. Not what you said, but why you said it. The person obviously knows the difference between nm and Nm and the rest of your response seems intended for a completely different comment. Are you stoned? If so, share.
@@kuromurasakizero9515 Good god dude. Did you push your glasses up before you started that burn? Try to be calm. "Incomprehensible" is getting a bit hyperbolic.
@@apostolosnt Well, yes. A unit of force. But, I get what you're saying now. I'd missed the first line.
Steve: "You're just not going to realistically encounter a scenario where a screw is tightened to one thread."
iBUYPOWER: We can achieve the impossible.
Well this aged like fine milk.
Alienware: "Hold my beer"
I was going to bed but then a GN video came across my notifications.....
Seriously. Goddamnit Steve. Now I'm losing sleep *and* regretting using an IC Diamond pad on my 9700k instead of paste...
lol same
i thought Steve's voice is perfect to lull you to sleep..? JK, great analysis as usual GN
"It's not going to be better"
Should be...
"It's not going to give lower temperatures."
Because **better** can mean many things.
These pads are honestly 'Good Enough' for most people.
The benefits of being a clean install and reusability matter quite a bit once you don't REALLY need the extra cooling from paste.
Just like a 500hp car is not "better" than a 200hp car, if all you do is pick up groceries with it. At some point other features begin to matter more.
NOTE: Reusability doesn't **just** mean when you replace a part. being able to take the cooler off when cleaning without having to re-apply paste is nice. And being able to reseat the cooler if you are getting anomalous readings without re-applying paste is also useful.
Yay. I've been waiting for this for like two years.
Only recently new to the team's channel, but damn if you guys aren't some of the most meticulous tech guys on the net. Thanks for all your care and attention to detail.
Great testing, much appreciated. A small thing to improve: in the Low Mounting Pressure graph, the correct unit for Newton meter should be N m, not nm (nanometer). Keep up the good work!
The attention to detail to get accurate results is just amazing. Nobody would dispute GN results given your track record and you guys still go above and beyond to do the best testing around. Shows how passionate you all are and really keeps bringing me back to the channel. Great work guys!
After ripping my 2700x out of the socket twice using mx-4 I switched to an ic pad. I noticed about 2C of temperature difference, which is fine for me.
I am using a noctua nh-d14 which means I can't twist the cooler before taking it off so that I don't rip out the Cpu.
About the name of the pad: I think the company is called innovation cooling (ic) and the pad is called graphite pad. The diamond in the name describes the ic paste which includes diamond dust.
Thanks for the great testing!
I ripped mine out of the socket trying to pull the stock cooler. lack of space at the top of my case caused to cooler to get caught on the bracket. I ended up replacing the stock cooler.
You can 100% avoid this by just turning the heatsink before pulling it off. Also helps to let it warm up a bit before removing.
@@trazac not every coolers mounting mechanism allows you to twist it. I'm pretty sure I can't twist my noctua cooler when taking it off.
I couldn't twist the stock cooler because the top bracket gets caught due to severe lack of space. replaced the stock with an ac 34 that bolts in so it'll no longer be an issue. I even benchmarked the CPU to get the paste nice and soft beforehand. still bent enough pins I had to replace the cpu
Well done. You guys really do, do the best most thorough, probably most accurate testing of really any of the RUclips tech channels that I've seen. Consistently good reviews of whatever you're testing and I pay attention at least somewhat to most of the tech review channels (relevant to computer tech that is). The quality is appreciated. Accurate results are appreciated. I'm probably going to get some replies trolling my comment but hey, when its good, why not say so.
For future reference: nm is specifically nanometer and Nm is Newton meter.
Newton * meter
@@Hoshikani Since when do you multiply force by distance?
It's newton-meter, torque.
@@Spirit532 torque is measured by formulas that include both force (newtons, pounds) and distance (meters, feet).
Just like how speed uses distance divided by time (km/h)
@@Spirit532 Torque is force times distance from the center. Multiplying force by distance is correct, that is why it is called newton * meter. Newton - meter does not make sense, you can not subtract 2 different dimensions.
@@Spirit532 when you see a torque value, imagine someone using a wrench. a torque of 1Nm would be using 1 newton of force applied via a 1 meter long wrench, or 2 newtons and a 0.5m wrench, ect.
I love how serious GN is about accurately and quality, that's how I know when GN uploads a video it's gonna be good.
You know your own testing was solid when it lines up with what GN found, I was able to test the IC graphite asgainst arctic MX2 and found that IC graphite was 1-2 degreese worse consistently with a overclocked Ryzen 5 3600 and that for me is good enough considering its convenience.
This missed something I was really interested in. I have heard the *horizontal* conductivity of these graphite pads is significantly higher than pastes (over the same distance). With AMD CPUS using an offset chiplet design, specifically chips with a single offset chiplet like the 3700x, and the majority of coolers not being built for this new design, could a graphite pad provide better overall thermal dissipation compared to paste in this situation? I was excited to hear the dummy bench can simulate AMD chiplet heat points but disappointed that no testing was done in this area.
shortly after release of the current ryzens, different mounting orientations were testet for your mentioned reason. Result was no noticeable difference because of the good heat transfer between the heatpipes.
I think I've heard that some of these pre-cut graphite pads have higher Z conductivity, though that might differ by which one (maybe it was carbonaut that I'm thinking of).
There is also paper-like PGS (pyrolytic graphite sheet, like seen in this video ruclips.net/video/ZAEhyY1_czM/видео.html also quickly/easily cutting ice cubes with body heat) that you can get with higher XY thermal conductivity that *might* be useful for DIY cooling solutions where you spread the heat more (larger air coolers, external cooling, multiple air coolers passive or not etc). Would love to see testing to see it this is worth it or even viable, but maybe it's not GN's type of content.
Aye, as Rob stated Gamers Nexus did a piece on the Heat Pipe orientation myth which can be found: ruclips.net/video/O1WGlPrH4IU/видео.html Due to them debunking the myth and saying the only real factor of hindrance would be poor overall case airflow to orientation, or pulling heat directly off the back of a GPU, I highly doubt their results would vary much from this videos tests since the heat pipe direction would have no factor in it.
the thermal graphite pad that AMD used on the reference rx5k series for example is miles better than the IC diamond graphite pad but there's also a reason why it's not re-usable after you pull it off(it'll rip almost every time). i currently use the IC diamond graphite pad in my system with a zen 2 cpu and there's zero benefit to it over paste when it comes to performance. the only reason i still have it installed is because i'm lazy and don't feel like pulling my block off again and applying paste since i'm still under the 65C barrier to hit 4.2Ghz all core boost.. but my temps are still 2-3C higher than with hydronaut in my specific case which equates to my fans having to run about 5-10% higher rpm to make up for the difference. that being said though the graphite pads have saved my ass a few times when i've realized i've run out of thermal paste and didn't have any which is why i currently have it installed on this system since human malware made it impossible to get thermal paste shipped in a timely manner back in march when i was forced to remount my block. otherwise i usually just keep it in the case it came with and use it for testing.
why would that be different? correct me if I'm wrong or misunderstood your comment, but the orientation of the pad relative to the CPU and cooler doesn't change. and regarding the single offset chiplet, does it matter either? what you want in a thermal compound is the ability to transfer the heat from one surface to another, not to soak the heat in the thermal compound itself.
Reusability also includes never having to clean thermal paste :) i enjoy that a lot
I'm not sure if I've ever commented on one of y'alls videos before, but I had to comment on this one. Y'all have done a downright outstanding job on this testing, and it's something I didn't think would be enjoyable to watch beforehand. I'm glad to have been proven wrong.
Seems like the graphite pad is an extremely good product.
They've actually been using thermal graphite pads in phones since iPhone 1. They conduct a heatspreader into the screen which is enough to keep the arm CPUs cool enough. You can find large sheets on ali for like $5. I can cut and cover almost 20 CPUs with it.
Its very thermally conductive. Reusable and doesnot make a mess
had mine since 2017. place it on and forget about it. reusable forever too as long dont do anything wreckless.
@@levynkhs8820 It's "too thick" to out perform a good paste though.
I have 2 of them. What I noticed is that after 1 year on my corsair water cooler; Temps started to go up quick. The pad requires a bunch of mounting pressure and if the screws stretch at all you have no contact.
While I find some of your fellow PC networkers fun and interesting, it is your Gamers Nexus videos that I find myself coming back to and watching in full, because you test thoroughly and provide facts and figures with everything you do. You might say, you put the science in computer science. I have made purchasing decisions time and time again, weighted heavily on the results of your testing work. You guys are awesome - both you and your super knowledgeable Linux buddy. You guys have amazing senses of humor as well, I love it all.
23:49 getting a 'fine' from Steve is quite an accomplishment I'd say!!
I swear you have the best videos man. Super informative thank you for your time making this video
Basically, until you are in a high wattage, high temperature (high performance) situation, the thermal pad will realistically work fine. It's when you really need to shave a few degrees off your operating temp that you need thermal paste.
I like the pads because they aren't messy, in application as well as in storage out of use. They also serve a wider array of purposes, such as nvme drives and gpu ram.
9:00 lol
Great test. And thanks for the many cpu cooler reviews you will make in the future.
Should the graph for torque be in Nm not nm?
Yes. Thanks. It's definitely not in nanometers! Just used to typing "nm" from all the silicon.
@@GamersNexus, you should also be used to tipe "+" and 14, aren't you?
"nanometers phycological disorder" - Powered by mOaR SoLdIeRs
You should know I subscribed because of the perfection of your testing methodology and your need to do this so well done. Keep on.
I can say that with a 560mm rad using this pad doesn't really effect my temps that much. For those wondering why a 560mm rad the answer is: whisper quite pc.
Opposite actually. The bigger your rad is the more you shift the bottleneck towards the block, thermal interface and IHS. If your coolant is at ambient and you're hitting 95° you can't just spin up the fans and drop the temps. At some point adding rad space or fan speed only gets you insignificant improvements. And that's when you need to look at the block, delidding, liquid metal etc to push further. Modern CPUs have insane heat density, on my 3900X i have a delta of around 65-70 degrees between the coolant and the CPU, and with CPU only load a delta of around 4 degrees between coolant and ambient...
i assume you meant whisper quiet not whisper quite lol
overcompensation
@@Kineticartist It was 2am, me was tired!
Really appreciate how thoroughly you try to control variables from even something as small as a torque settings on screwdrivers. Team at GN you guys are amazing.
I personally love using graphite pads simply because I don't have to deal with the mess of the paste after the fact. Well worth the slight drop in performance.
graphite pad probably great for instances where the cooler is spring mounted and can easily cause you to have to reseat the second mounting point, no air bubbles.
That thumbnail brought back nightmares of the old "Too Much Thermal Paste" video from years ago. That one was brutal.
I’ve been waiting for this video! Finally some testing on these from a competent, non biased, and accurate source. Thanks GN
Thanks Steve, I love how you do your very best to keep everything scientific and objective. This kind of integrity is rare.
Paste round up comparison, with best air and best water cooler? With your test equipment and methodology it would great. Would settle some forum/pub arguments too!
What I really want to see is results after a year of use, when the paste dries up. The pad can make a lot more sense to use if it can get ahead of the paste in just a year.
Can you do a video on how much time affects different pastes and compare it to a pad?
Just for anyone reading this, I've had this thermal graphite pad on my 7700K for 3 years now. As far as I know it's as good as it is when it was new.
4.9GHz OC and my temps never go above 73C under full load. Cooled with H115i AIO. Idle temps are around 45C
I put whatever the top rated pad on Newegg was in 2019 on my i9700k while replacing the cooler (noctua dh-something) and after almost 3 years it's still performing amazing, even under heavy load it never goes above high 60's 😇
@@TechAndGamingSLA96 hahaha I posted my comment before reading yours, hell yeah dude 🥶😎
I have had this pad in my system for a year and a half. (R7 5800X 280mm aio) I works just as good as it did on day 1.
This is why I like the graphite pad, my paste kept failing in time(I'm no expert at applying it), the pad was an easy and clean install and I've had no more trouble with CPU(i7) temps since that day, years ago. After the thermal pad my temps dropped really low compared to what my previous normal was.
I bought the CPU and MOBO used and just thought it was a system that ran hot for some reason, it would start overheating after months and crashing during gaming, then new paste would bring it back down to its "normal" high temps. It may be why the person sold it to me so cheap.
I was thinking in my situation my CPU was warped instead of flat, with difficulty getting a good connection to the cooler and the pad helped perfectly connect the CPU to the cooler, it had a lot of coverage and compressed it down when tightening.
Reminds me of the XBOX 360 red ring of death days, a lot of those issues were supposed to be from warping and the thermal paste. I fixed my RROD by simply applying new paste but only lasted maybe weeks before it happened again. Would have been neat to know about thermal pads back then to see if it worked any better.
This is another excellent video from Steve and the GN team. Thanks so much for this because one of my friends and I were actually discussing pads vs paste literally last night! Love from Australia.
I wonder what the combination of thin Thermal paste and a Thermal pad would do. Microscopic pictures of thermal pads make them look pretty uneven and rough. The Thermal paste should smooth that out and bring the best of both worlds.
I have had the same thought, and wish GN would test this. But I am moving away from TG because that stuff dries out like paint!!! I would want GN to test with Arctic Silver 5.
I know this is an old video, but I have been using Thermal Grizzly for awhile now and my experience is that over time it DOES dry out, and A LOT, much more than what I had been using for years, which was Arctic Silver 5.
I have used Thermal Grizzly on my high-end RAID card and the CPU on my Netgear NAS, and the temperatures steadily rise within a very short period of time. I open them up and sure enough, the TG paste is dry like paint!!!! I wish GN would test and report on this.
So I'm going to try one of these IC Graphite Thermal pads. I think another important factor to consider is the high cost of TG. The IC pad is just $13 bucks, and lasts "forever". Plus, if it's drying out all the time (as it is for me), now you have the wasted time of periodically having to tear down your rig or equipment. I would rather have ZERO down time, a ONE time install, and LOWER cost, PLUS reliable temps that never degrade.
Sure, if I'm going to build the highest overclocking computer and compete with others for fastest machine and lowest temps, fine; then you're going to want to go with lowest thermals. But for those doing that, tearing down all the time is normal and expected. I am NOT in that category, especially for my RAID card and NAS; I just want those things to run and run and NEVER have to worry about temperature creep EVER, and this sounds like a perfect use for these IC (or other) pads. And why not these pads for the vast majority of us who DO have gaming machines, but as long as the heat doesn't "redline" and we can do everything we're going to do with NO issue or constant teardowns... well isn't THAT what's better, less costly, and saves us time on unnecessary down time?
That's why I really like Arctic Silver 5 and still use it. It's thick/viscous and not too thin and gooey which leads to pump out and doesn't dry out as quickly. Best of all, it just works!
I've been waiting for this moment all my life, OH LAWD!
We promised this like 3 years ago. Sorry for the delay!
@@GamersNexus Thank you handsome
And it's still summer even.
Thanks for all your hard work. I watch you every day on my longer than normal travel to work during covid. You are by far one of the best there is.
so nice that you guys got a great tool to know actual heatsink performance since the TPD is basically useless info
can you please make a comparison on the low profile cooler since I have been looking around and they either vary in performance either they all seem the same even some are bigger than other or they have a big difference
I just watched the old video on this, glad to see proper in-depth testing on it now!
I've been waiting on this video for years! Finally! Haha. Jokes aside, Steve, why not do a video about the feasibility of these in laptops?
Dude, this was so freakin' cool. Super interesting. Thankyall for taking the time to do this video.
as always, learning a lot
mind if I use some of your videos as a learning video for middle school children's about math in a real world use (and as a English course as well since I'm French and i will have to translate )
Out of curiosity, do you guys validate your torque equipment every once in a while? I work with a lot of calibrated equipment and torque wrenches and torque screw drivers are far and away the most common thing to have fail for the values being out of tolerance.
Should be checked and certified every year for any legitimate business.
@@tacticalcenter8658 If the application doesn't require rubber stamping, you can self calibrate pretty easily using an electric torque meter.
@@zoravar.k7904 then who calibrates the torque meter? :D
@@Techy93 this must be why low tolerance applications are so tough lol
We calibrate most of the tools in the lab based on manf. recommendations and timelines.
Wow best methodology ever !! You are on the Edge, It is not the first time I see thoses products tested but now I think I understand what I want to Know about .... Thank you
In summary - this thermal pad is "pretty not bad"
@@riccardocattozzo2579 Yeah, I hate having context for my thoughts.
You can usually skip towards the end and he sums up his thoughts a couple of times in a lot of videos.
Hell there’s sections in RUclips now and they’re titled lmao it says CONCLUSION right there and there’s even a section for thermals...
Excellent explanations of testing! Not everyone is as serious as you Steve, but I am glad you are. Too few get the real of what you do except the enthusiasts, but that is your target audience. Keep it up Steve. Your videos rock!
I bought one several years ago and have been satisfied. Picked up a used cooler earlier this year and didn't even consider that without the pad I would have had to get some new thermal paste.
That was a very in depth and scientific review of the IC Diamond Pad. I will be looking forward to more content like this, very well done. Thank you Gamer's Nexus, that is an awesome set up...
I like pad for laptop cpu. The pad last forever but Paste need to be reapplied every 4 years. This is important as laptop is much harder to service.
Also the panda gpu strikes again. Haha
That's a good point that we only briefly mentioned. Thanks for bringing that up. Serviceability of things like laptops is way worse, so it does make good sense there. Laptops are also notorious for garbage stock paste that eventually hardens.
That's an excellent point.
I also use the thermal pads for friends and family build so they don’t have to maintain it very much.
@@bradhaines3142 yeah. But some laptop are just PITA to remove the cpu and or gpu heatsink. Others will void your warranty if you do that.
Game Console's suffer the same bad serviceability as laptops, maybe pads could help that.
Good information. I particularly like the timing bars on the sides of the screen during charts (07:40 for instance). 👍🏻😃🍻
8:56 you got me laughing out loud with your cute pet card! Are more Chinese video cards incoming?
I like the way you've treated this more like a science experiment, than a review/comparison;
I'm actually impressed! 👏👏
Also, extra plus, for the cute pet meme. 🤣
Steve, would you be able to try a "lapped so flat they wring together" scenario with no thermal interface at all?
LTT tested that on an open bench, it's actually usable but still worse than TIM.
Much anticipated review! Thanks so much for getting to this!
I've been telling this to people from the start. There is no replacement, for Thermal Paste.
It rolls downstairs
alone or in pairs
and over your neighbors dog.
Whats great for a snack,
and fits in your pack?
Its Paste Paste Paste!
It's Paste, It's Paste,
It's Soft, squishy, its Great!
It's Paste, It's paste, its better than bad, its Paste.
Yes
Dude, lay off the paste! You're not supposed to smoke this stuff
Don’t ice the cake Stefan
I know your channel is called *Gamer's* nexus, but I would consider it better for computer hardware in general just by your testing methodology. While there are huge number of other channels (LTT, J2Cents, etc) that cover computer hardware in general, they seems more consumer-friendly oriented, while yours always remains on data obtained by scientifically-sound methods. Thank you and keep up the good work! :)
One thing this patch can be good for let's say you're building a computer for your grandma, you know for a fact that she's not going to upgrade that computer for 10 years or more. Even the best thermal paste will eventually cure.
I built a home office PC for a friend last year who works from home. I used a pad and now she never has to bother with paste. I tested with good paste and the pad before I gave her the PC and at max temps, the pad was, literally, 2 degrees hotter. No big deal, in my opinion.
Or better yet, using the pad on your cousin's RRoD'd Xbox 360 (which is the newest console they own and yes they still play it, especially his young son as a Minecraft machine).
A desktop PC is at least relatively easy to disassemble, but a console is a completely different story.
I have no idea what paste I used back then, but my i5 2500K ran for 8 years with a mugen on it. Maybe by the end the temps weren't quite as good as at the beginning, I don't know, but it was never an issue... It was oc'd for the last two years or so too.
Mx 4 is rated to last 8 years. Also what sort of pc are you building where a few degrees over 10 years is a big deal for your grandma?
Zellonous if he is building a pc for grandma then its cost will not be as high, so no fancy coolers etc than can help with temps, so that extra reliability over the years can assure him the pc is not gonna auto up the fanspeed.
it is 2023 now and graphite thermal pads are actually pretty good today.
I started using this same pad last year after coming from Arctic Silver MX4 paste. My idle temps remained the same and my max temperatures only went up, literally, 2 degrees from the paste.. Not really a big deal in my opinion and now I don't ever have to deal with paste again. I even have my 8700k overclocked to 4.8ghz on all cores. When stressing the FPU in AIDA, my temps max out in mid 70s. And they never go above mid 60s when I'm not torturing the CPU. I really have no reason to use paste at this point. 🤷♂️
Some CPU's IHS are kinda flat. This helps a lot with heat transfer. Some other IHS are horribly far away from being flat and here probably the pads give better results. Using a decent paste on a flattened CPU IHS along with a flat cooler surface is always better than anything else but when the IHS's surface is curved then probably using a decent pad is advised. After lapping a CPU IHS there's only a thin layer of paste needed and the thermal transfer is high. The paste layer is so thin you can easily see through it.
Thank you for this video! I also watched the Linus Tech Tips video on the Innovation Cooling Graphite Thermal Pads and I was immediately intrigued. I have even thought of replacing the old thermal paste in my consoles with these graphite pads as well. I may well have to reconsider after this. Keep up the good work!
C'mon Steve! That thumbnail is on the Verge of becoming a problem
I see what you did here
My justification for using the pad was ease and ease of mind. I picked up some incredible OCD habits regarding thermal paste while working in IT, and the pad takes less time than my application method, and as long as I'm careful that it doesn't shift, I trust it to do its job.
according to my personal experience, the pad only leads to 1 or 2 degree higher compared to paste. It is really good.
and it basically doesn't expire... where as that tube will be toast in about 2 years. considering most people dont build a new system for another 3 or 4 years... they'd have to buy another tube.
Took a while to finally test this, but it was worth the wait. Very thorough job.
08:58 - OwO
A couple of notes about your use of the torque screwdriver;
Torque tools are calibrated to provide the specified torque the first time that they alert the user. Repeatedly making the tool signal can further increase the tension in the fastener a little bit each time. It can also prematurely wear and de-calibrate the tool. Torque tools are made for applying a specified torque, not checking the torque of an already fastened fastener. I would highly recommend tightening whatever you're tightening until it clicks, and then removing the torque tool.
Also, I know you guys are extremely detail oriented, but please make sure to have your torque tools calibrated (and certified, if you can swing it) once a year.
I used to work as a technician for a company that provided repair, calibration and certification services for various steel erection and torquing/tensioning products, traceable to ISO 17025.
I'll take the convenience over a 1-2° difference.
I like working with old pcs and i keep swapping cpus, etc. I have a ton of old cpus that i can now buy for $.50
Thank you for this video. As I've seen elsewhere (but not nearly as thoroughly as your video!) these thermal pads aren't better than paste. But they don't suffer from dry out or blow out like some paste does and they're very easy to remove/clean up if you need to remove your HSF or water block for cleaning. However, they're not the best choice for overclocking or "extreme" use cases. Plus, there are plenty of people out there that use WAY too much thermal paste in their builds and the ease of using a thermal pad takes the guesswork of "how much paste is enough" out of the equation.
Seriously, I've done OEM PC warranty repair work for over 20 years and I've come across FAR too many techs that think when they get a replacement CPU or system board from an OEM that they have to use the ENTIRE tube of thermal paste that's supplied with the replacement part! Even though in most cases you can get 3-5 applications (depending on the size of the CPU) out of the small syringe they supply with each part.
The biggest issue is that this test doesn't factor in hot spots, which are one of the biggest advantages of the graphite pads.
This channel has honestly become my best friend as of the last year
To anybody reading this have a good day, wish you all the best!!! And also i wish that you get more slip than i do...
I make use of the pads for a test bench and I'm still on one pad and I've swapped it out at least 20 times now and the temps haven't changed, though it's pretty anecdotal and I haven't done any scientific testing, but I'd never use these in an actual build. Excellent information as usual.
The thermal compound testing methodology we’ve all been waiting for. Hoping for more videos with this setup and other compounds!
This was a great overview of how this would impact heating and how your CPU cooler works as well. One suggestion though. Many of your metrics are given in the number of watts the CPU would be drawing. This is useful, but I don't have a point of reference for what the average power consumption of a base CPU is. Providing that might help get some perspective.
One thing I would suggest is adding a control of what happens if you don't use any interface between the cooler and the heater. This would give a base line to demonstraight if there was any actual benefit of the thermal pad. I realise it might be nite picky, please know I really love the this work, keep it up.
I love the cute Yeston card creeping up behind the Corsair sink at 9 minutes XD
Props to GN for developing testing methodology. thank you for looking out for the consumers.
"We used the Corsair A500 because we needed something bad"
That's exactly why I love you guys!
Also regarding torque testing, just as a point of reference it should be noted that ISO 7380 spec for M3 screw torque is 1.0Nm for 10.9 steel (quenched & tempered) and 0.5Nm for A2/A4 (alloy steel). The alloy steel spec is more relevant in this case. (additionally - capitalize the N. In your torque test your torque driver setting is labeled in nanometers.)