Carbonaut Thermal Pad - 38 38 0.2 mm

The quality is very good performance is ok when you undervolt cpu for it too work better if you leave it stock then it is no better than thermal paste but once you adjust settings in the bios and you stabiles the cpu temp then you can get very good performance from this I am using this on a 14700k

Although fragile, a pair of offset plastic tweezers makes installation easy. Would recommend use in combination with an AM5 secure contact frame (aftermarket cpu clamp) to avoid the necessity to cut the pad to size. Thermal performance is good cf thermal paste (compared with MX-6 during a build) - within a degree at idle and 100% load speeds (i.e. thermal throttling point) are within 2-3% on average. Note - the pad performs slightly less well than the paste, but differences are within tolerance (or error margins) and would not affect performance in any but the highest load scenarios. Ease of fitting and re-use: if care is taken, fitting is easy and there is ZERO mess. Lovely. Would recommend for testing and builds or if you remove your cooler regularly. All other components were identical.

Temperatures are similar, not improved compared to Arctic MX-4 thermal paste, but at least there is no more cleaning and re-application required.

Dose the job

I was tempted to use this as I had seen a few comments about the Kryonaut that I was using being great for overclocking records, but not ideally suited to long-term use due to being at risk of drying out and needing regular re-pasting. As per the first photo, my Carbonaut pad arrived slightly crinkled in the packet, so I was concerned if it would get a clean, smooth fit. As such, after placing it on the CPU and attempting to position the waterblock, I lifted it, to make sure that the sheet had smoothed out (see the photo); it was already a shredded mess - it certainly doesn't meet the advertised description of "re-usable"!!! No idea what it performed like as I had such low confidence of it being able to provide a thin, conductive interface, so scraped it off and went back to a thermal paste. Complete waste of money: easily the worst der8auer-backed product I've ever purchased and made me very wary of previously ad-spots or any advice from previously trusted reviewers like Hardware Unboxed!

Was apprehensive as I've only ever used paste. It's basically a tiny square of fabric. Beware your fingernails will easily damage it. Went in very simply. No mess like paste. No need to redo paste every 2 years. Really pleased I went for it.

So much easier to install than paste. Used with Noctua D15 and 9800x3d, no throttling at all. I'm sure an AIO might make a degree or two difference- but the ease of use, reuse and compatibility makes this a winner

It works and is fine if you are going to build a PC and plan to leave it untouched for 5-10years+ but temps are of course not as good compared to real thermal paste. If you are planning on using this on a test bench where you are removing and re applying it constantly, do not bother as you will tear/rip the sheet all over the place regardless of how careful you are (just lifting the CPU cooler off the CPU caused a small tear) go for the IC Diamond graphite sheet which has very similar performance but is indestructible compared to this.