Arctic is launching a successor to its renowned MX-4 thermal paste

[Shawn Knight]

Bottom line: Arctic, the PC cooling specialist formerly known as Arctic Cooling, has quietly introduced a new version of its renowned MX-branded thermal paste that's set to arrive in the coming months. It might not be worth upgrading if you already use a quality paste but if you're running low or are planning a new build and don't have a tube of good stuff on hand, it's certainly worth a look.

A listing for Arctic MX-5 recently appeared over on Amazon’s UK portal. Details are few and far between at this point but according to the listing, MX-5 is metal-free and not electrically conductive, making it safe for use even if you accidentally over-apply it.

The listing further notes that a single application should last for at least eight years, which is likely far longer than most enthusiasts will use a CPU or GPU.

Curiously enough, MX-5 isn’t yet listed on Arctic’s website, so we’ll have to wait until it shows up to get the full scoop. As it sits today over on Amazon, an 8G tube is priced at £16.23, or around $22. The launch date is listed as March 15, 2021.

Arctic Cooling was founded in 2001 and has expanded over the years to include a diverse range of products. In addition to thermal paste, CPU coolers and case fans, Arctic also makes monitor arms, TV mounts and speakers, among other products.

Masthead credit: Den Rozhnovysky

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https://www.techspot.com/news/88349-arctic-launching-successor-renowned-mx-4-thermal-paste.html

 

[LinxESP]

Nice miata

 

[Uncle Al]

Are they replacing the old or adding this to their product line? I've never had an issue with the old stuff .....

 

[Puiu]

MX-4 is my general thermal paste that I can use in any system and Grizzly Kryonaut is the one I use for the systems I need that extra cooling power.

 

[Dimitrios]

They're gettin ready for Intel's new CPU's ;-)

 

[EClyde]

Thanks for 'renowned" and not 'iconic'

 

[Aryassen]

...reading this on a big TV, powered by laptop repasted with MX4
(not sure if I will repaste it again with MX5...it will have to be very convincing)

 

[veLa]

I recently switched to MX-4 as my main paste, so I'll be excited to see what this holds.

 

[texasrattler]

I recently switched to MX-4 as my main paste, so I'll be excited to see what this holds.

metal free and longer lasting. other than that itll be the same as always.

 

[RedBlu]

MX-4 is my general thermal paste that I can use in any system and Grizzly Kryonaut is the one I use for the systems I need that extra cooling power.

Are you really going to see any appreciable difference? I'm sure you could measure a +1% improvement in with benchmarks and metrics but would you really notice it in the real world?

From what I remember with the old Arctic paste 20 years ago it only dropped temps by a degree or two, which might have been appreciable on old fixed-cycled OCed systems, but with modern dynamic-clocking multi-core chips are you really going to notice that one extra FPS?

 

[Puiu]

Are you really going to see any appreciable difference? I'm sure you could measure a +1% improvement in with benchmarks and metrics but would you really notice it in the real world?

From what I remember with the old Arctic paste 20 years ago it only dropped temps by a degree or two, which might have been appreciable on old fixed-cycled OCed systems, but with modern dynamic-clocking multi-core chips are you really going to notice that one extra FPS?

In laptops I can 100% see the difference in thermal throttling and and how often the fan goes VRRRRRR I also use it on the GPU as it generally shares the same cooling system as the CPU and both can get toasty during longer gaming sessions.

The perfect game to test it on for me was CS:GO where it reduced the number of times the FPS tanked due to thermal throttling (sub 60 FPS that lasts a long time, tens of seconds). A 2-3 degree delta can make or break the experience, especially after a month or two when dust starts affecting the max temps. You don't always have perfect cooling conditions (room temps, airflow, dust, etc)

PCs have huge coolers that can handle most workloads, but laptops have bad coolers most of the time.

But yeah, I agree with you that 99% of the time you won't see a difference unless you start OC-ing stuff. It's why I still use MX-4 for most things.

 

[Aaron Jones]

As it sits today over on Amazon, an 8G tube is priced at £16.23, or around $22.

Shawn, the letter for a gram is g, not G.