Do overclockers agree on many topics? It would seem that in fact regardless of what kettle of fish you open, you’re going to find lots of debate and a broad spectrum of opinion. When it comes to thermal pastes for example, there are certainly plenty of options on the market with half a dozen or so companies vying for our TIM budget. That also means that there are widespread (excuse the pun) theories about what makes a good thermal paste, and indeed which ones are the best.

To get to the bottom of the TIM debate, Splave decided to use the summer lull to get down to some testing. The upshot is an article on the Overclocking.Guide which compares two of today’s most popular options; Kingpin Cooling High Performance TIM and Thermal Grizzly’s Kryonaut. Here’s a sample of Splave has to say:

Thermal paste…..this is how bored I am at the moment. Which is best for ln2 overclocking on kaby at full pot? KPC blue paste or thermal grizzly kryonaut. Let’s find out… To start, both pastes besides color (duh) are not very similar at all. Grizzly is rather thin and will slightly flow if you were to set a ball of it on a flat surface. Blue paste is extremely thick and holds its form 100%.

Splave’s testing seems to suggest that Theral Grizzly has the edge in Extreme overclocking scenarios. Catch the full read here on Overclocking.Guide.

However the story does not end there. Swedish Overlocker Rauf has also been doing some TIM testing. He tested Kingpin and Thermal Grizzly options alongside Gelid’s GC Extreme and published his findings on this HWBOT forum post:

With the last years development with cracking skylake, introduction of kryonaut, the “huge blob method”, kingpin blue paste, full pot pascal, die shrinking etc. TIM quality has never been more important than now. So, I decided to do a few tests with the most popular brands, and also to share some of my experiences with different TIMs and setups.

Without spoiling the conclusion too much, let’s say that Rauf tends to favor the Kingpin thermal grease for subzero overlocking. Clearly this is a topic of some serious debate. Chime in with your thoughts in the forum space below. Kudos to Splave and Rauf for their efforts at demystifying this complex topic.