Test: Einzeltest: Noctua NT-H1 thermal compound
Zitat: When we reviewed Arctic Cooling´s MX-2 thermal compound a while back, we were really quite impressed with, commenting that it was well worth the £6 or so that a syringe retailed for - Indeed, its price has since dropped lower still. In essence, Noctua´s NT-H1 offers a very similar overall experience, also showing off some decent temperature reductions on a par with Arctic Cooling´s compound, and even exceeding those levels of temperature reduction when the processor in our test system isn´t under load.
Once again, our testing goes to show that thermal paste really isn´t something you should skimp on, and that it´s worth setting a few pounds aside to pick up something better than the generic stuff applied to or bundled with some CPU coolers. This is even more true if you´re looking to wring extra performance out of your system via overclocking, at which point system temperatures become even more important.
Overall the, Noctua´s NT-H1 thermal compound just about shades it over our previous favourite, Arctic Cooling´s MX-2 paste, on the temperature front, but conversely it does find itself disadvantaged as the more expensive of the two compounds on retail shelves in the UK right now, with a syringe of MX-2 coming in at £1 cheaper than Noctua´s offering if you shop around. All in all though, both compounds are a cut above what you´ll get from some generic paste, and at this kind of low price point it would be hard to label either a poor choice of purchase.
