Thermal pad vs thermal paste what is the best option? ?

Thermal paste

During all these years, thermal paste has been the best ally of processors because it managed to transmit heat from the processor to the heatsink, expelling it through the fans. It has been the best "driver" so far and, still, users still prefer it.

There are several types of thermal pastes: ceramic, metal or with a carbon- based composition . All of them are perfect to free our processor from hell. That said, you have to know how to choose a good thermal paste because the difference is noticeable, a lot. In fact, there may be up to more than 5 degrees of difference.

A positive aspect in thermal paste is the variety of types, brands and benefits. In the case of metal paste, it is the one with the best performance in relation to the processor temperature. It manages to transmit more heat, leaving the processor cooler. However, we do not recommend it for the average user because it is not essential and is usually somewhat more expensive.

The only negative aspect of thermal paste is its application. There is no written law that says how it should be applied. According to experience, the best method is the "pea" method.

Some are somewhat awkward, which causes when the heatsink is installed, the thermal paste comes out at the ends. However, there is no difficulty and anyone can do it perfectly. In addition, when replacing it, it is more laborious because the processor must be cleaned well to remove the remains of the paste.

The liquid metal thermal paste eats the aluminum, being very careful when mounting it. It is very common to elide the processor and apply it between the DIE and the IHS.

On the other hand, the ceramic paste has a lower thermal conductivity, but perfectly fulfills its purpose, freeing the heat processor. It could be said that they are a kind of lower range than metal thermal pastes, but that they work perfectly.

Personally, I use ceramic thermal paste and, in my experience, the heatsink makes the difference. It is true that if I apply metal paste, I will make my processor cooler, but to give you an idea as an example:

AMD Ryzen 1600 3.8 GHz (OC). Cooler Master Hyper 212 Turbo heatsink. Cooler Master ceramic thermal paste. Ambient temperature: 18 degrees. Processor idle temperature: 25 degrees. Maximum Cinebench temperature: 65 degrees. Video game temperature: 40-55 degrees.

As you can see, it is not necessary to have the best thermal paste on the market to have a good performance.

Recommended thermal paste brands

As for the brands that we find in this type of product, we have to say that we recommend the following:

Noctua. Cooler Master. Artic. Thermal Grizzly.

There may be more, but we recommend those as the ones that behave best.

Thermal pad

It is a newer product and it is facing the thermal paste. The heating pad is, as the name suggests, a graphite heating pad that is placed between the processor and the heatsink. Its thermal conductivity is great and it can be better than ceramic thermal paste.

As for its price, it is usually placed at the same price as ordinary thermal paste, no high ranges. In the long run, it may be cheaper to buy thermal pads than pasta because some manufacturers sell whole sheets, which gives us a set for future replacements.

There are other manufacturers that sell them cut and ready to place. However, not all pads are the same and there are peculiarities:

Foam. We do not recommend using standard foam pads because air is a very poor medium for transferring heat, which is detrimental to thermal conductivity. So look for pads with enough thickness and quality. Thickness. Be very careful with it because we are interested in the heatsink coming into contact with the pad. There are different types of thickness, so you must find the intermediate path between a lot of thickness and a little thickness. Pressure. Make sure there is a minimum of pressure when we install the heatsink on top.

The best thermal pads are more than enough to achieve good performance.

The positive aspect of these thermal pads is that there are no complications when installing them, nor are they more expensive than thermal pastes. On the other hand, its replacement is very clean, fast and easy compared to thermal paste.

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Its negative aspect lies in the poor choice of a thermal pad, which can cause problems in heat dissipation. To correctly choose one, we must take into account the 3 points that we have collected above. It must also be said that it is less safe than conventional thermal paste.

Be careful when removing the heatsink: manufacturers recommend removing the pad and replacing it for added safety.

Recommended Thermal pad brands

We do not find as many brands as in thermal pastes, but we do find enough to choose between different options:

Artic. Innovation Cooling. Thermal Grizzly (highly recommended). Gelid. AAB.

Thermal pad vs thermal paste

Based on experiences and the occasional benchmark, we have to say that: if you want your processor to be as cold as possible, you should buy a metal thermal paste or a thermal pad. That said, metal thermal paste is the coolest that the processor leaves.

On the other hand, the thermal pad is only 1 degree more in the processor, unlike the metal paste. We think it is an amazing result because ceramic pastes lag far behind in performance. Of course, we are talking about the best heating pad of all, not a generic one.

Source: Tom's Hardware

Therefore, the podium would look like this:

Metal thermal paste. Thermal pad. Ceramic thermal paste.

There are people who make the mistake of putting thermal paste on top of a thermal pad. If, on the other hand, you put the thermal paste on top of the pad, it is not recommended either because it reduces the possibility of heat being directed to the heatsink.

Also, do not put several pads piled up so that there is contact between the heatsink and the CPU. This can cause us to run out of processor. Not to mention reusing used pads.

In the end, the thermal pads may not be what you are looking for because they do not manage to adapt to the processor and release it from heat on many occasions. This can cause freezes or reboots and reduce the life of our CPU. We believe that thermal paste is the most tested and safe on the market at the moment.

FINAL TIP: Whenever you apply a thermal paste or put a thermal pad, you must monitor the temperatures of the processor or graphics card (GPU) to check that they do their job.

We recommend the best thermal pastes on the market

What do you think of the thermal pad vs. thermal paste confrontation? Would you buy one? Have you had any problem with the thermal paste?

Tom's hardware font

▷ When to change the thermal paste of my processor?

When assembling a PC, one of the most important aspects is that of temperatures and how to control them. Thermal paste is one of our most important allies for this purpose, which is frequently used in the processor (CPU) ✅. We show you when you have to change it and why it is convenient.