intel generic thermal paste. Good or bad

[Deathslayer101]

came with the i7. how is it

 

[hikaricloud]

It's...generic. It will work, but if you want to do any good overclocking, you'll want an aftermarket HSF.

 

[aspire]

The crud that comes with stock heatsinks is alright for running stock speeds, but a simple application of MX-2 or TX-2 will give you a good 2-5C drop in temps.

 

[Gothch1ck]

The stuff on the i7 is said to compete with Artic 5, actually cooling better then A5. Unless you plan to do a lot of overclocking it should be fine- with a properly cooled case that is.


Example of an improperly cooled case:
Non-OC, Idle temps of 43 degrees C hitting low 70s during gameplay. I use Real Temp 3.00 to keep an eye on it for now.

 

[wafflehammer]

your i7 came with thermal paste? my stock heatsink had a pad on it......got rid of it for tx-2 though

 

[aspire]

The stuff on the i7 is said to compete with Artic 5, actually cooling better then A5. Unless you plan to do a lot of overclocking it should be fine- with a properly cooled case that is.


Example of an improperly cooled case:
Non-OC, Idle temps of 43 degrees C hitting low 70s during gameplay. I use Real Temp 3.00 to keep an eye on it for now.

First off, As5 is pretty much old news, and chances are, the stuff that comes on intel chips may compete to a point, but their application, (a mm thick covering the entire base acts as more of an insulator than properly applied AS5 or the even better TX-2/MX-2)

Also for an i7 setup 43C and 70C load with a stock heatsink sound just about normal.

We've been seeing overclocked i7's loading in the high 60's when cooled by a Very High End water cooling loop. The chips just run hot. Though I suppose to be that's expected considering they essentially crammed half the nb into it as well...

 

[Harper]

I have alway found that the stock intel thermal paste has never been enough. (over clocking or not)

 

[Gothch1ck]

the "paste" it comes with is a hard gray substance found on the sink, on the copper connector, it has a "grail" patter to it, mine had 3 parts in the middle divided with even spacers and wasn't circular, but had edges "cut off' Odd design for it , but I am sure it's made so when it heated up/melted for contact, it spread smoothly all over and filled in those gaps.