Ivy Bridge and changing the Thermal Interface Material

As we’ve already mentioned, the thermal paste has the most impact under high TDP loads – so during overclocking not stock speeds. This is shown by the results below. At the stock clocks the Ivy Bridge i5 3570K shed only 4 degrees at best by replacing the stock Intel TIM with other thermal pastes.

Under overclocked settings we see a different story. We managed to shave off 8 degrees by using Gelid GC Extreme thermal paste instead of the stock Intel thermal interface material. Noctua’s NT-H1 also did well removing 7 degrees from the temperatures. Antec’s Formula 7 removed just 4 degrees.

Well there you have it. You’ve seen the results of removing the IHS and changing out the Intel TIM for something better. Next we move on to the conclusion to discuss our thoughts about this whole process and ultimately whether its worth your time and hassle.