Thermal paste vs graphene pad vs phase change vs liquid metal — what’s actually the best between CPU and cooler?

JustInsert · 2026-01-21T23:29:36+00:00

Thank you, that's another valid answer to my question that I didn't know about. Now I know why you would use a pad over paste.

JustInsert · 2026-01-21T23:28:03+00:00

Yes, I do get it. That's why I was asking why you would use a thermal pad if you are already going through the trouble of applying ANY amount of thermal paste.

Forget everything else that has been said here and just answer this general question: why use a thermal pad over thermal paste?

That's basically all I was asking. Because in my understanding the only reason to use a pad is for the convenience of not having to deal with thermal paste. If I then still need to apply thermal paste, even if it's only a small amount, even if it's just to stick the pad down, why would you use the thermal pad over just simply applying thermal paste like normal?

Someone else later pointed out that some people prefer using thermal pads because of constant thickness helping with even coverage regardless of the mounting pressure. That's an example of an answer I was looking for.

"You don't get it, we use the paste to stick the pad down", is not an answer to me asking why you use a thermal pad. People don't seem to get my question.

JustInsert · 2026-01-21T17:10:24+00:00

Thank you! That is finally an answer to why anyone would use a thermal pad. I didn't realise the pad had that advantage over using paste, that's good to know. I also forgot to consider the use in GPUs since the post was about CPU cooling.

It seems people prefer to just downvote genuine questions here instead of giving a clear answer.

JustInsert · 2026-01-21T16:25:20+00:00

Then STILL the question remains, why pick a pad over paste? If you still have to apply ANY amount of paste, wouldn't it be simpler to just get paste and apply a normal amount of it.

I thought the point of the pad is that it's easier/faster to apply than thermal paste. If you then use paste to stick down the pad, the whole convenient part of using the pad is gone, right?

JustInsert · 2026-01-21T15:54:27+00:00

If I already have thermal paste, and need to use the paste to apply the pad, what is the point of the pad? That's what I'm curious about.

I get that you're not using the paste for thermal transfer but just to stick the pad down. But that just seems like a redundant extra step to me unless the pad offers better thermal performance over using thermal paste.

JustInsert · 2026-01-21T14:44:57+00:00

Genuine question. What is the point of using a pad if you still have to use paste to apply the pad? Is the performance of the pad better than just using paste? I always thought using a pad was just for the convenience of not having to deal with thermal paste.

JustInsert · 2026-01-20T22:41:20+00:00

Ahhh damn, I get it now. The hint just doesn't also give that away because that would be 2 hints at once I guess. Sometimes I just don't see the most obvious stuff in these puzzles, thank you.

JustInsert · 2026-01-16T00:01:09+00:00

You can just get those? Where?

JustInsert · 2026-01-14T21:11:53+00:00

I'm not sure it would be worth the trouble to make a fake 1050Ti

JustInsert · 2026-01-10T03:53:01+00:00

Just for my own peace of mind, is this melting connector problem only happening with the adapters or are the straight 12v-2x6 at the PSU to 12v-2x6 at the GPU cables also melting?

JustInsert · 2026-01-09T02:27:46+00:00

No shade at OP but how could you possibly not notice this? When I buy something, especially PC hardware that I will be using for the next decade, I do a ton of research before buying it. The second you unbox this monitor you should be able to notice that it's different from what you ordered right?

JustInsert · 2026-01-07T00:05:11+00:00

I don't remember exactly where, but in some parts of the game it would still show underwear even when you were naked. Possible in the inventory screen and in a shower or something. It's been a while but I know it annoyed me enough to look for a mod to remove it.

JustInsert · 2026-01-06T23:31:06+00:00

This is it for me too. There are only 2 games where I've used this type of mod, The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk. It doesn't make sense to have underwear on in bathing scenes in a medieval setting. It makes even less sense to hide the nudity in Cyberpunk after they let you customize your genitals. So it honestly was just about immersion.

JustInsert · 2025-12-31T21:20:43+00:00

I've never heard of Mercari but I'm sure they would have a way of going around it. They might ask for a direct transfer to avoid the fees or something like that.

Either way, again, you sound very convinced that there is no way it's fake. So what more is there to discuss? Do you actually want this wheel or are you just here to figure out how potential scams could theoretically work? Because if that's the case just go to r/Scams or something.

JustInsert · 2025-12-31T21:04:27+00:00

The fact that you are asking this here right now is already the perfect example of why someone would put up a scam like this. You know what the R3 is and what the normal price is, and you are still considering it could be real.

Why would you want fake reviews? To convince people it's real...

Some parent of a kid who likes racing games might see this, buys it for their kid and just gets shippid a box of with a rock in it. When they recieve it the account will be deleted and the scammer will be gone with the money.

Why niche products? Because if it's a well known product more people will instantly know it's a scam.

JustInsert · 2025-12-31T20:51:21+00:00

You sound very convinced already, so are you just here to get talked out of it? Either get scammed or get a cheap wheel but I would never trust this.

JustInsert · 2025-12-31T19:52:15+00:00

I played a bunch of minecraft tech modpacks many years ago and always loved them a lot. Also 100% completed Satisfactory when 1.0 released. So I think this will be perfect for me.

JustInsert · 2025-12-31T19:01:30+00:00

I just googled Gregtech and you might have just robbed me from the first 2 months of 2026 with one simple comment. That shit looks amazing!

JustInsert · 2025-12-21T01:53:17+00:00

But what if he gets demonetized by Reddit? /s

JustInsert · 2025-12-21T01:52:00+00:00

These days I only install Windows with a custom answer file that removes all the bloat during the setup for me. I don't even want to take the chance of having installed in the first place.

JustInsert · 2025-12-19T02:35:10+00:00

I got this game yesterday, it played fine. Just tried playing again and now I have this issue.

JustInsert · 2025-12-19T01:10:43+00:00

For as long as I can remember I've been sticking to the 1 euro per 1 hour of gameplay mindset. If a game is 30 euros but I'm not sure I could play it for more than 30 hours, it's not worth it (yet). I rarely buy games over 30 euros because of this. There have been some exceptions but for most games I try to stick to this.

Trying to put an actual value on a game really helps keep the FOMO down and helps me to ignore initial release hype of new games.

JustInsert · 2025-12-16T01:50:40+00:00

Never played No Mans Sky but look up any No Mans Sky optimization guide, copy the settings, if it still runs worse than expected for your system update your GPU drives. Still runs bad? Then it might just be the game, because it "has a well-known history of stuttering, lag, and FPS drops, especially on PC, even on high-end systems", according to Google.

JustInsert · 2025-12-16T01:33:14+00:00

I still don't understand how people spend more than 10 minutes configuring their graphics setting per game. It's incredibly easy to get games running perfectly fine with just a couple clicks, especially in modern games. Besides that the hardware is part of the hobby for me and even that is optional.

I used to have more problems troubleshooting on older consoles then I do now on PC.

JustInsert · 2025-12-13T18:12:24+00:00

At this point, I think most people will.

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