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What Is Thermal Grease?

Thermal Grease, also called thermal paste, thermal compound and conductive grease, is applied between the CPU and CPU cooler to conduct heat and to make sure that the CPU stays cool. It is a heat-conductive substance that has a paste-type of feeling. Thermal grease can also be applied between other PC components to help maintain low temperatures and prevent your PC from overheating. Thermal grease may be a small part of your PC, but plays a big role in your CPU’s longevity which is why it’s crucial to pick a high-quality thermal grease such as our FUZEIce® Plus and FUZEIce®.

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How Does Thermal Grease Work?

Thermal Grease works in quite the simplest way so there’s no need to worry about “messing it up”. When you’re building your PC or just maintaining it, you may notice that there can be small gaps and spaces between your CPU and Heatsink. These gaps and spaces trap air, which is not good for thermal conduction and decreases your heatsinks overall performance since your CPU Cooler is designed to conduct heat.

When thermal grease is applied to your chipset, it will smooth out any spaces and gaps that may be present between your CPU cooler and CPU, allowing them to work together and efficiently transfer heat away from your CPU or other PC components that generate heat.

How To Maintain and Apply Thermal Grease

Most of the time when you buy a new heatsink or CPU Cooler, it will come pre-applied with thermal grease. PC enthusiasts who want optimal performance and cooling may wipe that away and apply fresh thermal grease from a new tube. Thermal grease also tends to dry out over time due to heat and gradually lose its effectiveness thus needing to be changed annually. If you leave the same thermal grease you applied on your CPU Cooler years ago on it, it can gradually cause damage to your CPU.

Many thermal grease in the market come in a syringe and a separate spatula to spread the thermal grease across your CPU Cooler, but this can get messy quickly and may even cause uneven spreading. With our FUZEIce® and FUZEIce® Plus, our syringes come with built-in applicators so that you don’t need to worry about uneven spreading and leaving a mess everywhere.

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Choosing The Right Thermal Grease

One thing to consider when buying thermal grease is the thermal conductivity of the thermal grease. It’s important to choose adequate thermal conductivity to keep your PC reliable and cool. Thermal conductivity of thermal grease is measured in “W/mK” which is read as “Watts per square meter of the surface area.” Most thermal grease range in thermal conductivity between 3-10W/mK. The higher the number of thermal conductivity, the better your thermal grease will conduct heat.

Other things you want to consider when buying thermal grease is the density and viscosity of your thermal compound. Having the right density will allow you to squeeze the grease out easier. Having a high viscosity is important for your paste is also important because it will be thicker and easier to stick to your CPU and CPU Cooler. Having a thermal compound with lower viscosity tends to be more liquid-like than paste-like and can leak onto the other components in your PC such as your motherboard.

What Thermal Grease Should I Get? 

There are a lot of different thermal grease in the market and it maybe hard to choose from all the options. Take everything you’ve read from this article and apply it to your own research. We highly recommend taking a look at our FUZEIce® and FUZEIce® Plus as our FUZEIce® boasts a thermal conductivity of 11.25W/mK, a density of 2.6g/㎤, and a viscosity of 56000 poise. Our FUZEIce® Plus also boasts a high thermal conductivity of 13W/mK, a density of 2.6g/㎤ and a viscosity of 60000 poise. They both also have an applicator built onto the syringe for an easy and clean application.

 

Picking the best Case Fan

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Keeping your PC cool is critical for keeping it running well. You can spend all your hard earned cash on fancy processors and graphics cards, but without adequate cooling these components won’t last long or be able to operate at their full potential. Setting up your cooling systems is key to the health and performance of your computer.

PC Case Fans make up a key part of your cooling infrastructure. A PC Case Fan refers to the fans designed to keep the entirety of your system cool, rather than for any individual component. Most computer rigs will require at minimum 2 fans and often more. Many fan makers will sell fans at better prices in packs, such as 2-Packs or 3-Packs. Case Fans also come in a variety of sizes depending on the manufacturer, but 120mm and 140mm are typical. The size of the case fan needed will largely be determined by the PC Case itself.

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Case fans also form an important part of your case from a design perspective. They come in a variety of colors and designs and are often ARGB enabled. Case fans are often placed in parts of your build that make them very visible. This means that fans are often relied upon to bring a build’s design together.

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One of the first things to consider when choosing your case fan is its performance. There are certain terms fan makers use to measure performance that you should look out for. Some of the most critical are RPM and CFM. RPM means revolutions per minute, or simply, how fast the fan can spin. CFM refers to the amount of air the fan can actually move or cubic feet per minute. High RPMs usually mean higher CFM and higher CFM usually means more cooling is actually taking place. Fans also are noisier the higher the RPM typically, so it’s important to consider just what level of cooling you need and what level of noise you are comfortable with.

An important performance related consideration is energy efficiency. A fan operating at a high RPM with a low CFM will end up being very loud and very energy intensive, as it will have to work harder than other fans. Some fans come with an Auto-Start Stop Feature. This allows the fans to run at variable speeds depending on the computer’s workload. This means that it will adapt to the needs of the computer at any given time, allowing it to run quieter and more energy efficiently.

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Picking Case Fans also involves thinking about their longevity. Like most components, fans are running constantly and especially so in hotter locations. This means that the quality of their design will determine how long they remain effective. Unfortunately, just because a fan is spinning doesn’t mean it’s still effective. Fans over time can get damaged or even become unaligned. When this happens you can get unwanted noises and reduced fan speeds or RPM(revolutions per minute). Cheaper oftens are able to be priced low due to forgoing long term build quality. When deciding a fan’s quality, look for things like the fan bearing and how the fans are balanced. Fan bearings are part of the case fans internals that help keep it stable. Dual Ball bearings are a quality option, as are fluid dynamic bearings. For fan balance, high end fans are balanced on both ends or a feature called two plane balanced. Knowing the key features of a fan’s design will help you pick a case fan that won’t need to be replaced.

There are many fans out on the market today, but taking the time to understand the key features of these critical components will save you money and save your build from many failures for years to come.