# Best Thermal Paste: the stierproducts tier list

- Source: https://stierproducts.com/categories/thermal-paste
- Last researched: 2026-09-23T18:17:59.546Z
- Evidence base: 15 products ranked across 68 cited reviews, videos and discussions
- Method: https://stierproducts.com/methodology
- Dataset: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22062813 - every board at once, one dated snapshot per release, same licence, prices and photographs left out
- Reuse: Text, rankings, tier assignments, LP values and verdicts are free to quote and reuse with attribution to stierproducts and a link to the source URL (CC BY 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Product photographs are not covered: they belong to their respective owners and are reproduced to illustrate the product being reviewed. Do not redistribute them under this licence.

Thermal compounds for CPUs and GPUs, including pastes, liquid metal and phase-change pads; CPU coolers belong to CPU Coolers, and thermal pads for memory are separate.

## Summary

On the stierproducts thermal paste board, ARCTIC MX-6 ranks #1 in S tier, ahead of ID-Cooling Frost X45 (#2, S tier) and ARCTIC MX-7 (#3, A tier). The board ranks 15 thermal paste from S (best) to F (avoid), last researched 23 Sept 2026, drawing on 68 cited reviews, videos and discussions. Placed in the bottom tiers as ones to avoid: AG eXtreme, Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut, Corsair TM30, and 2 others.

## Ranking

| Rank | Product | Brand | Tier | LP | Outlets | Verdict | Page |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | ARCTIC MX-6 | ARCTIC | S | 925 | 14 | The best everyday paste in current roundups, engineered against dry-out from a brand with a long durability track record, making it the default answer for a build you do not want to reopen. | https://stierproducts.com/products/arctic-mx-6 |
| 2 | ID-Cooling Frost X45 | ID-Cooling | S | 880 | 2 | Tom's Hardware's hands-down best tested performer and one of the cheapest here, held back under this lens only by a young longevity record compared with the established brands. | https://stierproducts.com/products/id-cooling-frost-x45 |
| 3 | ARCTIC MX-7 | ARCTIC | A | 748 | 6 | Igor's Lab calls it highly recommended and the pedigree is right, but it ranks below MX-4 and MX-6 here only because its long-term track record is the shortest of Arctic's line. | https://stierproducts.com/products/arctic-mx-7 |
| 4 | Thermal Grizzly Duronaut | Thermal Grizzly | A | 659 | 9 | The brand's durability-focused formula and the correct Thermal Grizzly purchase for sustained loads. The 'overkill' skeptics cite is precisely the point under an ownership lens. | https://stierproducts.com/products/thermal-grizzly-duronaut |
| 5 | Noctua NT-H2 | Noctua | B | 586 | 3 | A stable long-life formula backed by the best support and warranty reputation in the category, which is exactly what an ownership lens pays for. | https://stierproducts.com/products/noctua-nt-h2 |
| 6 | Thermal Grizzly Phasesheet | Thermal Grizzly | C | 449 | 1 | The phase-change option for buyers who want PTM7950 behavior in a retail-packaged product, recommended as more effective than traditional paste while staying non-conductive. Newer and less tested across outlets than the picks above it. | https://stierproducts.com/products/thermal-grizzly-phasesheet |
| 7 | ARCTIC MX-4 | ARCTIC | C | 428 | 6 | The proven, reliable go-to that everything else gets measured against, sitting below MX-6 only because MX-6 is the newer, slightly better formula from the same stable. | https://stierproducts.com/products/arctic-mx-4 |
| 8 | ID-Cooling Frost X55 | ID-Cooling | C | 396 | 1 | The weakest pick, carried by the Frost line's tested excellence rather than product-specific evidence of its own. A reasonable multi-use purchase, but the X45 is the safer bet. | https://stierproducts.com/products/id-cooling-frost-x55 |
| 9 | Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut | Thermal Grizzly | C | 365 | 3 | A heavily cross-shopped value alternative that under this lens offers neither top performance nor a longevity story. ARCTIC MX-6 is the better everyday buy. | https://stierproducts.com/products/thermal-grizzly-hydronaut |
| 10 | Thermal Grizzly Kryosheet | Thermal Grizzly | C | 363 | 1 | A permanent, reusable graphite pad with nothing to degrade, ranked second at a small thermal cost and a careful-installation requirement. | https://stierproducts.com/products/thermal-grizzly-kryosheet |
| 11 | AG eXtreme | AG | F | 163 | 1 | TermoPasty's testing endorses exactly what this lens buys - stability and durability for everyday machines - making it the dark-horse durability pick even though it is not the fastest paste on any bench. | https://stierproducts.com/products/ag-extreme |
| 12 | Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut | Thermal Grizzly | F | 146 | 3 | The textbook case of reviews-outliving-reality: brilliant fresh reviews, notorious drying and pump-out under sustained heat, and a premium price for the privilege. Duronaut or MX-6 are the better buys. | https://stierproducts.com/products/thermal-grizzly-kryonaut |
| 13 | Corsair TM30 | Corsair | F | 138 | 2 | Solid mid-tier performance from a major brand, repeatedly listed among the best pastes of 2026. It does nothing wrong and asks very little. | https://stierproducts.com/products/corsair-tm30 |
| 14 | Innovation Cooling Graphite Thermal Pad | Innovation Cooling | F | 84 | 4 | The same permanence and reusability as the Kryosheet with the community's strongest longevity endorsement, ranked just under it because its thermal ceiling is a touch lower. | https://stierproducts.com/products/innovation-cooling-graphite-thermal-pad |
| 15 | Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut | Thermal Grizzly | F | 0 | 4 | A genuine ownership hazard outside expert direct-die builds. Honeywell PTM7950 delivers the same thermal class without the risk, which is why Conductonaut finishes last on a general board. | https://stierproducts.com/products/thermal-grizzly-conductonaut |

## Flagged as ones to avoid

These entered one or more research runs as a product buyers cross-shop but should not buy, rather than as a pick.

- Thermal Grizzly Phasesheet (#6, C tier): flagged by 2 of 7 runs.
- ARCTIC MX-4 (#7, C tier): flagged by 2 of 12 runs.
- Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut (#9, C tier): flagged by 2 of 5 runs.
- Thermal Grizzly Kryosheet (#10, C tier): flagged by 3 of 7 runs.
- Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut (#12, F tier): flagged by 8 of 12 runs.
- Corsair TM30 (#13, F tier): flagged by 4 of 11 runs.
- Innovation Cooling Graphite Thermal Pad (#14, F tier): flagged by 4 of 8 runs.
- Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut (#15, F tier): flagged by 10 of 12 runs.

## Tier meanings

- S: Exceptional. Finishes top run after run; capped at 3 slots per category.
- A: Excellent. Strongly recommended, beaten only by the very best.
- B: Good. A solid choice with real caveats worth knowing.
- C: Fair. Acceptable in the right situation, outclassed at its price.
- D: Weak. Hard to recommend when better options cost similar money.
- F: Avoid. The evidence points you elsewhere.

## How to read this

- Each category is researched in four independent runs, one per lens (expert consensus, value, reliability, community pulse). Every run ranks a board of candidates that deliberately includes products buyers cross-shop but should avoid. Placements score on a ranked ladder (LP), and tiers are derived from LP, so no tier is ever assigned by hand.
- LP is the product's points on this category's ladder. It is comparable within a category and not across categories.
- Outlets is how many distinct outlets are cited for that placement. The per-product page lists each citation, and shows which of their links were fetched and confirmed before publishing.
- Nothing is hidden: every product the research placed is on this board.

## Limitations

- We do not test products ourselves. Every placement is consolidated from published reviews, owner reports and community discussion, so a board is only as good as the sources behind it.
- LP is points on this category ladder. It is comparable within a category and never across categories.
- A board is a snapshot with a research date. Anything released or changed after that date is not in it yet.
- Evidence is uneven across this board: products carry between 1 and 18 cited sources. The count for each is in the table above.