Graphite Thermal Pad – Permanent Replacement for Thermal Paste/Grease (40 X 40mm)

This stuff is super easy to use. You'll see people complaining about it being slippery and hard to hold in place ... I had to install this under a desk on my home server, which means I could not lay the case flat. (The Corsair H100i V2 pump died and I was replacing it with an H100i Pro). So I put two tiny daubs of regular paste in the top corners of the processor and stuck it on with that. Then I put everything together and fired up the system. I had been using Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal before this. It had dried out and failed after two years. It's a serious pain to install and it is really, really hard to get applied correctly. It's almost worse to try to clean it off. I used a Dremel and a buffing wheel and polished it off after getting the bulk removed with ArticClean binary cleaner. I'll never use that stuff again. BUT it did do a good job as a new install until it began failing. The problem is that eventually either your cooling solution or your thermal paste is going to fail and then you're going to be taking things apart ... Degrading thermal paste, even liquid metals, is a serious problem for high use, high availability, high performance, long duration computer systems. I have replaced the thermal paste on the processor for this machine at least a half dozen times because I've had at least a half dozen CPU coolers on this machine. The computer I'm using this pad on is an AMD FX 8350 Black (On an ASUS 990FX Sabertooth R1 board) that's been running this machine for over ten years. Pretty much everything on the machine has been replaced multiple times except for the processor and motherboard. The processor has a nearly 25% overclock running 24/7/365 (4.95 GHz) It serves all my multimedia (which is a LOT) and is my security camera server (22 cameras), plus the computer I use (3 video cards, six monitors) at the main desk in my shop/office/man cave. Because of the camera system, "idle" is never less than around 50% CPU clock cycles. I can and do use it for gaming though I'm not much of a gamer. It's not a gaming computer. Think more along the lines of a semi-truck than a sports car. It works hard. It gets hot. It's still doing a great job after all this time and I have no intention of replacing it one second before I have to. This is VERY impressive performance for a computer. I don't know if I got lucky with processor and board or it's just that this combination is particularly robust. Whatever the reason, it has been and continues to be a truly great machine. I don't want to trust the cooling system to just any old nonsense. That's why I tried Thermal Grizzly liquid metal last time. I thought long and hard about using this pad before buying and installing it. I'm really glad I did. My temps are almost exactly even with what I got with the liquid metal even though this pad is only rated for half the thermal conductivity that the liquid metal is. So the conclusion I've come to is that the liquid metal either wasn't applied optimally, it squeezed out to the edges when the cold plate on the pump was attached or some other unseeable and unknowable problem occurred ... OR both thermal conductors have maxed out the capacity of my cooling solution. It would not be at all surprising as difficult as that stuff is to apply on a vertical surface that there was an unseen problem in the installation. The pad was super easy. I just put a tiny little daub of TX-2 (that I had laying around, nothing special as far as pastes go) on the top corners of the CPU to hold the pad in place while I bolted on the pump. Those two tiny bits of paste are well away from the die and should in no way interfere with the heat carrying capacity of the system. I literally used paste to paste the pad on long enough to finish the installation. It should be noted that I bought the 40x40mm pad which covered the entire lid and that my CPU is obviously not delidded. I think that's important because it establishes maximum conductivity across the largest possible area. It's only $3 more for the larger pad, don't cheap out on this. Be sure to measure your CPU, look up the dimensional specs or just buy the larger pad and be prepared to cut it down. I also polished the CPU and cold plate with a Dremel and a buffing wheel using green rouge. I had to do that to the CPU to get all the liquid metal off so I figured I might as well do the cold plate while I was at it. I didn't lap it, I didn't mate the surfaces perfectly, I just put a semi-mirror polish on the surfaces free handed. Be careful if you do that so as not to create micro-concave areas that will cause problems with gapping. Temperatures are running around 40 degrees normal use (remember I said it never actually goes to "idle" in normal use?) to around 50 under max load and I don't stress test it with Prime95 or anything like that. There's no need to stress test it, all I care about are real-world results and it's under stress just because it's on. When I turn everything off and it is truly idle it sits just a couple degrees F (~24C) above ambient. As mentioned previously, this pad is rated about half the thermal conductivity of the Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal it replaced and it does as well or slightly better on my machine. That could mean that both the Thermal Grizzly liquid metal and this pad are maxing out the possible conduction of heat between my CPU and the pump cold plate. This pad is rated for thermal conductivity about four times what MX-4 produces. There are other factors besides thermal conductivity that work together in determining the effectiveness of your cooling solution. If you're not getting as good or better results with this than you did with MX-4, you're doing something wrong and/or one of those other factors needs to be addressed. The incontrovertible proof of that is all the other highly positive reviews. If we're all getting excellent results and you're not, it is very likely something on your end that is the problem and not an issue with this pad. Unlike paste that can have unknown and unseen air gaps, bubbles, uneven spreading etc. this pad is either in place on clean surfaces or it is not. This isn't arbitrary. The physics of this mean that if it works for me, it works the same for you. If it doesn't work for you as well or better than MX-4 or a similar thermal conduction paste then it's a problem that YOU have, not a problem with this pad. I'm not saying people who have issues with this pad don't know what they're doing. I'm merely pointing out the irrefutable logic of the physical science involved. If all the pads are the same (meaning no manufacturing defects) and every installation follows the same basic process on the same basic materials ... (CPU heat spreader/lid > thermal conductor > copper cold plate) And the vast majority of installations are extremely successful but yours isn't -- Then it's not the pad. You need to find that other variable that's causing the problem if you want to get the same positive results the rest of us are getting. It's worth the effort because this pad is an amazing and highly effective solution. I've been building computers for almost 30 years so it's not like I'm a novice at this stuff, but if you want to challenge my logic please feel free to comment and we'll discuss it. SO -- The performance of this thermal pad is phenomenal. I'm very, very happy with it and the fact that it will outlast my water cooler is a big plus. (I now have three water cooler radiators laying around so I may just go to a reservoir fed open liquid system next time, and I can use this pad again if I do.) Time will tell if it actually resists the degradation that thermal paste experiences and if it dies like thermal paste I'll come back and amend this review. If you don't see an edit below then it's still doing a great job and that being the case ... I'll never go back to goop again. 28 December 2020 - Two years later and the pad is still performing like the day I installed it. I have to shut down the machine and clean the radiator about twice a year but that's it. With a clean radiator on the overclocked processor previously mentioned this pad still works like brand new.

I have used quite a few of these. I must have used one of them in like 8 different builds, and that one alone probably got mounted probably around 100 times. I treat these things like liquid hot magma - or perhaps - Faberge Eggs. I mean i baby them and they are never bent, let alone any kind of folding or rough abuse. Always centered on the CPU so there is as little bleed out pressure as possible. you really want even pressure as close to all the edges, evenly, as possible, to really prolong the life of these. Temperatures are impressive. oddly impressive. Like really not much Delta T away from any of the best non conductive pastes. So performance, reuseablility, ease of application and speed to deployment without waiting around for more paste etc - its a win win nobrainer - these things rock and they are super reliable. If youre having issues getting the thing to stay in place on the cpu while you mount, im sure no one here is going to like this, but i almost always take a TINY, TEENY TINY TINY amount of demineralized water and apply it to the back of the pad. then i invert it so any droplets roll off. they never do, theres never enough moisture for that. but then i place it on the cpu die and mount asap. pad is always in the right place and bobs your uncle. Adhesion confirmed successfully.

So I have a custom water loop in my system, two radiators and two waterblocks. The GPU waterblock has been giving me fits for months because in order to get even distribution across the GPU die you have to turn the screws in a very particular pattern and the thermal paste would still get distributed to all but one corner of the die (not the same corner). I figured out there was a gap between the GPU die and the block so removed all my thermal pads and replaced them with K5-pro which worked like a dream (see my review of the stuff here on Amazon). Still, I wanted a better solution for the actual die, so I've tried thermal paste from thermaltake (G7), Arctic MX-4, and Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. All of them performed well but all of them would still get messy and the temps on my Titan X would start out great but then slowly get worse over time instead of getting better as the paste "cured". I saw some of the mixed reviews on YouTube first and began researching this IC graphite thermal pad. Knowing that I could destroy my rig if this stuff touches the wrong component I decided to go for it. I took apart the GPU block, cleaned the die of any thermal compound, cut the IC graphite pad to fit the die of the GPU exactly and replaced the waterblock. After filling and bleeding the system and getting back into Windows the card reported 24C at initial and rose to 25C at idle. At full load, depending on what I'm doing, the temps get to about 43C on most titles and there are a few where it will reach 49-50C after some 30 minutes at 99% load. Overall I'm very pleased with this product. Installation was easy and there is no mess to clean up. I admit I was hoping the thermals would be slightly better but then again I did expect it to be a 1 or 2 degrees hotter than the thermal paste applications. The pad helps to fill any gap that was still left over after using the K5-pro on the mosfets, and vram, and the temps of the GPU fall quickly as soon as the load is reduced after exiting a game or even during games depending on what is on screen or if it switches to a cutscene or something the temps fall quickly and the temps slowly rise after you continue play. Great product, if you are okay with the risks get it, take your time when applying it and enjoy. Update 10/05/2018- I now have an additional IC Graphite thermal pad on my i7-4930K cpu and the temps are great. The base clock for the 4930K is 3.4Ghz with a boost up to 3.9Ghz, and I have mine overclocked to 4.6Ghz. At idle it sits at 26*C and pushes 55*C at full load with Prime 95. With real world use outside of Prime 95 it never comes close to this as it never hits 50*C. My GPU temps have also gotten slightly better with initial temps sitting between 20*-22*C idle temps at 24*C and load temps still maxing out at 42*C with the exception of a few titles that can push it to 46-50*C for a few seconds at a time (e.g. Witcher 3, Final Fantasy XV, and Rise of the Tomb Raider).

I recently used an entire pad of this material for a workstation build I had. It was a 140W CPU with a high performance cooler. I was originally skeptical about the material but after installing and stress testing my CPU and putting it through its paces, the CPU never exceeded 70 degrees. I would say that that is pretty good performance. The pad is very easy to install. Just lay it squarely between the CPU and the heatsink and tighten down the heatsink. No more wasting thermal paste that has squeezed itself out of that space and no more need to clean up the CPU or the heatsink during removal or after installation. Now outside of my personal experience with this material, there are two points of interest that I came across in my research. 1) the sheet does not lend itself to multiple reuse. Through testing done by third parties, it was discovered that once this material has been compressed once (installed into a CPU and heatsink combination) the material is no longer as space filling and will have trouble performing as effectively the second time around. And 2) based on testing data comparing this thermal pad to thermal pastes, the pad performs on par to mid-high tier thermal pastes. With the highest tier of thermal pastes offering a 1 to 2 degree benefit. Obviously if you're overclocking or someone who swaps CPUs quite often, these pads may not be the most economical or best solution for you (as based on the research it would be best to buy a new pad every time). However, for someone like me, where I've installed my CPU and do not foresee myself replacing it, pretty much ever again, these pads are quite convenient and still deliver on the performance I need. So overall, I think it's a great product with good value, but you do have to understand your personal needs for your build to make the right decision about whether these pads are appropriate.

Es un producto de excelente calidad, solo hay que tener cuidado al manipularlo porque se puede rasgar o romper, yo lo recorte a la medida del procesador de mi PS4 con mucho cuidado, colocarlo con cuidado y el ruido generado por alta temperatura desapareció, ahora mi PS4 es extremadamente silencioso y genera mucho menos aire y calor; lo recomiéndo mas que la pasta y el metal liquido.

Opening it up you're probably wondering why does this small thin sheet cost almost $20aud and is it worth it? Short answer is yes, I'm someone who likes to change his cpu and coolers around between test pcs quite often and It became a chore having to constantly wipe down and reapply thermal paste. After a few runs I was surprised how well it performed normally only a few degrees difference and sometimes better than thermal paste (goes to show I suck at applying thermal paste) and well worth the money for something you can reuse.

Super diferente a la pasta, mucho mejor

I bought these prior to PTM's prominence and carbonaut in the current market. I only JUST replaced it and that's because the fans on my cooler died so I decided to replace my air cooler entirely. Truly is a great product for it's longevity and it's consistency!