Comparing Noctua’s NT-H1 and NT-H2 thermal pastes

Summary

In this video, Dan from the Noctua YouTube channel introduces the NT-H2 thermal compound, an upgrade to the award-winning NT-H1. With a new blend of metal oxide micro-particles, the NT-H2 offers better cooling performance by reducing thermal resistance and bond-line thickness. Testing shows temperature reductions of up to 2°C compared to NT-H1, with noticeable benefits on high-heat setups like larger CPUs or those with higher heat loads. Dan emphasizes the importance of proper application and testing methods, as results can vary based on system specifications, highlighting a 1-2°C improvement for enthusiast-grade systems.

Takeaways

• 😀 NT-H2 thermal compound offers improved cooling performance over NT-H1.
• 😀 The NT-H2 uses a fine-tuned mixture of metal oxide micro-particles for lower thermal resistance.
• 😀 NT-H2 reduces bond-line thickness under typical mounting pressures, improving performance.
• 😀 Performance tests show a temperature reduction of up to 2°C with NT-H2 compared to NT-H1.
• 😀 Factors like application method, pressure, and heatsink quality can affect thermal paste performance.
• 😀 Multiple tests should be done to reduce margin of error when comparing NT-H1 and NT-H2.
• 😀 NT-H2 shows clearer performance improvements with higher heat loads, such as with high-power CPUs.
• 😀 Larger CPUs like AMD TR4 benefit more from NT-H2 than smaller CPUs like Intel LGA1151.
• 😀 Multi-core Intel CPUs may show temperature variance between cores due to internal processor tolerances.
• 😀 Expect 1-2°C improvement with NT-H2 on larger CPUs or higher heat load systems compared to NT-H1.
• 😀 To optimize NT-H2 application, viewers should refer to additional tutorial videos provided by Noctua.

Q & A

What is the primary difference between NT-H1 and NT-H2 thermal compounds?

The NT-H2 thermal compound uses a newly fine-tuned mixture of metal oxide micro-particles that results in lower thermal resistance and reduced bond-line thickness at typical mounting pressures, offering improved cooling performance compared to the NT-H1.

How much performance improvement can be expected when switching from NT-H1 to NT-H2?

Internal testing showed that NT-H2 can achieve lower temperatures of up to 2°C compared to NT-H1, depending on the platform and heat load.

What factors influence the performance of thermal paste like NT-H1 and NT-H2?

Thermal paste performance depends on factors such as application method, bond-line thickness, contact surface quality, total mounting pressure, pressure distribution, heat load, and heatsink type.

Why is it important to control all parameters during thermal paste testing?

Strict control of all parameters and tolerances is crucial to avoid misleading results, especially when comparing two high-end pastes like NT-H1 and NT-H2, where differences can be subtle.

What is the best way to compare NT-H1 and NT-H2 in a testing scenario?

The best approach is to conduct multiple applications and average the results to reduce the margin of error and ensure accurate comparisons.

How does heat load affect the performance difference between NT-H1 and NT-H2?

The performance benefits of NT-H2 over NT-H1 become more apparent with higher heat loads. For example, NT-H2 may not show significant improvement on a low-heat processor like the AMD Athlon 200GE, but the difference is more noticeable on higher heat load processors like the AMD Ryzen 2700X.

Which CPUs benefit the most from using NT-H2 over NT-H1?

Larger CPUs with higher heat loads, such as the AMD Ryzen 2700X or AMD TR4, benefit the most from NT-H2. The performance difference is less noticeable on smaller CPUs like those with LGA1151 sockets.

What was the temperature benefit of NT-H2 in tests on the LGA1151 vs TR4 setups?

In internal tests, NT-H2 provided a 0.2°C benefit on the LGA1151 setup and a 2.1°C benefit on the TR4 setup.

Why do temperature differences between individual CPU cores occur, especially on Intel CPUs?

Temperature differences between individual CPU cores can occur due to internal processor tolerances, particularly in CPUs with many cores. These differences are not caused by uneven thermal paste distribution or poor heatsink contact.

When is the improvement from NT-H2 most noticeable?

The improvement from NT-H2 is most noticeable on systems with larger CPUs, higher heat loads, and setups like AMD Ryzen or Intel systems with many cores. On lower TDP CPUs or smaller systems, the improvement may be less significant.