Tried using a cheap thermal paste on a gaming PC rebuild and the temps were all wrong

I had a client bring in a high end gaming rig for a full clean and repaste. I used a generic white paste I had a tube of, figuring it would be fine for a quick job. After putting it all back together, the CPU was hitting 95C under a basic stress test, way higher than before. I checked the mount three times, thinking I messed up. Finally swapped it out for some Arctic MX-6 I keep for my own builds. Temps dropped to 68C under the same load. Learned that paste quality really does matter on hot chips, even if the specs look similar on paper. Anyone have a go-to paste for these kinds of builds that won't break the bank?

4 comments

4 Comments

iris3942mo ago

Generic paste can have terrible consistency, making it hard to get good coverage on a big heat spreader. The cheap stuff often dries out or pumps out faster under heat cycles too. What brand was that white paste you tried first?

ivanl763mo ago

Remember my buddy's cheap paste fail? He had the same shock as @lilychen before switching to Noctua's stuff.

lilychen3mo ago

Honestly I used to think all paste was the same. That kind of temp swing would change my mind too.

xena_rivera632mo ago

Generic white paste is basically the crayon of thermal compounds... you can write your name with it, but don't expect it to do any real work. It's like trying to cool a hot stove with a sheet of notebook paper. You get what you pay for, and sometimes you pay for a lesson instead.