Serious question, has anyone actually tested if those 'premium' thermal pastes make a difference

I was watching a video from a guy who builds servers for a living, and he ran a test comparing $5 thermal paste to a $30 tube from the same brand. After three identical builds with the same CPU and cooler, the temp difference was like 1.5 degrees Celsius under load. I felt kinda dumb for spending $18 on a tube last week at Micro Center. Anyone else have real-world numbers that prove or disprove the hype on these expensive pastes?

2 comments

2 Comments

benflores1d ago

Wait, you mean I could have saved fifteen bucks and still got basically the same temps? I was totally one of those guys who swore by the expensive stuff and thought it was a must have for any decent build. But seeing those server builder numbers really made me realize I was just buying into the hype.

blair_green1d ago

@benflores Did you actually run a side by side test or just trust the charts?