Why Copy Paste... When You Can Swipe? Cooler Master MasterGel Series TIM

alxlwson

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Yesterday, via Twitter, Cooler Master announced a packaging/delivery update to their existing line of MasterGel of thermal pastes. The paste still comes in a syringe, but product delivery has been improved with a very wide nozzle. The goal for this new nozzle is to make applying TIM an easier, faster, and less messy process. Available in "Regular", "Pro", and "Maker" flavors, sporting 5, 8, and 11 W/m-K conductivity, respectfully. Also take note that aside from the package change, the product in the tubes is the same stuff that CM has had available in the smaller, traditional syringes that we’ve been using since the beginning of time. Looking at the video, however, it would appear that they’ve thinned out the paste.

I am very interested in giving this stuff a whirl. While TIM application and techniques spur the most heated of all internet debates, perhaps CM is on to something with the new applicator.
 
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HAL_404 said:
"Available in "Regular", "Pro", and "Maker" flavors " ... :)
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Yeah wtf.

If your buying thermal paste in the first place, who pays for anything other than the better stuff.
 
Brian_B said:
Yeah wtf.

If your buying thermal paste in the first place, who pays for anything other than the better stuff.
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Sometimes all you need is the cheap stuff...?

I can actually see a use-case for the cheap stuff. Take for instance the TR mounting/TIM article that [H] did. Do you really want to waste a $20+ tube of good TIM, or would you rather use the $5/ga stuff?
 
alxlwson said:
Interesting! I haven't even looked at normal TIM in probably at least 13 or so years. I've been using liquid metal for everything for that long
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Have you really found it makes a difference?

I've been reluctant thus far as it seems high risk (liquid+conductive+corrosive=scary) for a rather small benefit.

I may give it a try some day though.

How do you actually keep it under the block/cooler when you turn the case upright? Just surface tension? Have you ever had it eat into your blocks or coolers?
 
Zarathustra said:
Have you really found it makes a difference?

I've been reluctant thus far as it seems high risk (liquid+conductive+corrosive=scary) for a rather small benefit.

I may give it a try some day though.

How do you actually keep it under the block/cooler when you turn the case upright? Just surface tension? Have you ever had it eat into your blocks or coolers?
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It absolutely makes a difference, especially anything direct die related. The place it makes the biggest difference around is in laptops and GPU's. I generally see a 15° drop in those areas. I keep a jar of silicon modified conformal coat around, and cover everything for a little extra peace of mind.

I've never had it eat into anything as I've never put it on aluminum. Keep it away from aluminum and all is ok. As far as it staying put, it does have quite a bit of surface tension. The big thing though with LM is that you're using far less product than you would with a paste. After a few heat cycles, it generally really isn't a liquid anymore, and has "cured". It's easily removed if needed with a scotch pad. In all the years that I've been using LM TIM, I've never had an incident. Just don't use too much and make sure and use conformal coat and everything will go wonderfully!

I've been water-cooling for years...never made much sense to spend all that money and then not buy the absolute best TIM.

Give it try! Lots of good videos on installing, and TG's Conductonaut kit is amazing. Comes with everything you need to easily install and clean/remove, with the exception of the conformal coating.
 
alxlwson said:
I keep a jar of silicon modified conformal coat around, and cover everything for a little extra peace of mind.
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I hadn't thought of using conformal coat as an insurance policy.

That is really solid advice, thanks.

alxlwson said:
It's easily removed if needed with a scotch pad.
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Taking a scotch pad directly to a die however... :oops:
 
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alxlwson said:
It absolutely makes a difference, especially anything direct die related. The place it makes the biggest difference around is in laptops and GPU's. I generally see a 15° drop in those areas.
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That is nuts.

My understanding from years of reading paste reviews and talking to Kyle was that pastes really didn't make much of a difference, that even the old white paste stuff did a decent enough job. That differences in those reviews had more to do with the quality of the mount than any differences between paste.

15 degrees is huge. My overclocked Pascal Titan under an EK Fullcover block using Therma Grizzly Kryonaut paste will already run at 24C at full load on a cool day with the fans maxxed. Because I don't like fan noise, I tend to dial it down such that the GPU stays under 40C, as anything below that doesn't seem to have an impact on boost clocks, so I might as well keep the fans quiet.

This is with my loop temp at 34C though, so its only about 5 degrees above the loop temp. I don't see how it could possibly bring it down 15 more degrees at that point. :p

But any improvement is good I guess, so I can keep the fans on a slower setting.
 
Zarathustra said:
That is nuts.

My understanding from years of reading paste reviews and talking to Kyle was that pastes really didn't make much of a difference, that even the old white paste stuff did a decent enough job. That differences in those reviews had more to do with the quality of the mount than any differences between paste.

15 degrees is huge. My overclocked Pascal Titan under an EK Fullcover block using Therma Grizzly Kryonaut paste will already run at 24C at full load on a cool day with the fans maxxed. Because I don't like fan noise, I tend to dial it down such that the GPU stays under 40C, as anything below that doesn't seem to have an impact on boost clocks, so I might as well keep the fans quiet.

This is with my loop temp at 34C though, so its only about 5 degrees above the loop temp. I don't see how it could possibly bring it down 15 more degrees at that point. :p

But any improvement is good I guess, so I can keep the fans on a slower setting.
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So yeah, you already have an improved paste over the junk stock stuff. Sometimes, you do get a quality paste, but OE level stuff such as a laptop, you are not. You're getting whatever is cheapest and will keep the laptop running until the warranty period is expired.
It's not an all-out guarantee, but going to LM from the stuff that resembles SPF 100 lotion makes a huge difference. Even if it's only 5°, that is the difference between staying in boost clocks or throttling down.

Now, I will concede that the difference between say TG LM and their Kryonaut would probably be minimal, but still would yield positive results. On that same foot, going from a paste with a thermal conductivity of 5(that standard shin etsu goop) to say something like 11(Cooler Master's MasterGel Maker) or TG Conductonaut's 73 W/mk is going to be a pretty massive difference. There also does come a point of diminishing returns, and we typically run out of the ability to shed the heat fast enough before we come close to hitting the transfer properties of the TIM
 
I use MX-4 and mostly Arctic Silver 5. Both spread out evenly on a CPU TIM when a pea sized blob is applied to the center of the CPU TIM. That's it, nothing else works better as far as even application is concerned. Using applicators is BS but if it makes you feel better then by all means use one ;)
 
HAL_404 said:
I use MX-4 and mostly Arctic Silver 5. Both spread out evenly on a CPU TIM when a pea sized blob is applied to the center of the CPU TIM. That's it, nothing else works better as far as even application is concerned. Using applicators is BS but if it makes you feel better then by all means use one ;)
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I can promise you that won't work on a TR ;)
 
JosiahBradley said:
There was an applicator O_O? I just globbed a huge ball onto my GPU and applied the waterblock. Temps at load at about +15C over ambient
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With most pastes I usually do the pea sized bead in the center, and then mash it down with the heatsink and let the pressure spread it. Been using that method since the 90's. For the most part I'd argue it is a sound approach, though it may not work so well on huge heat spreaders, like that on the Threadripper.

When I got the Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut it came with the applicator. At first I was going to disregard it and do it my normal method, but when I started to squeeze the stuff out it was immediatetly apparent that this paste was thicker than the ones I am used to dealing with. I figured that must have been why they included the applicator, so I used it to spread out the paste before mounting. Temps have been good, so it seems like it worked.
 
Zarathustra said:
With most pastes I usually do the pea sized bead in the center, and then mash it down with the heatsink and let the pressure spread it. Been using that method since the 90's. For the most part I'd argue it is a sound approach, though it may not work so well on huge heat spreaders, like that on the Threadripper.

When I got the Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut it came with the applicator. At first I was going to disregard it and do it my normal method, but when I started to squeeze the stuff out it was immediatetly apparent that this paste was thicker than the ones I am used to dealing with. I figured that must have been why they included the applicator, so I used it to spread out the paste before mounting. Temps have been good, so it seems like it worked.
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Back in my AS5 days, I used a debit card to spread out a layer that was nearly transparent. Always worked well for me.
 
alxlwson said:
Back in my AS5 days, I used a debit card to spread out a layer that was nearly transparent. Always worked well for me.
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I've used actual razor blades for that thin sheen. Now I do the pea method or giant pea for GPU.
 
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