Thermal paste is the thin interface material between a CPU or GPU and its cooler. Its job is to fill microscopic gaps, not act like glue, magic coolant, or a performance upgrade by itself. Without paste, tiny air pockets sit between the metal surfaces, and air transfers heat poorly. With the right amount, heat moves more evenly into the heatsink or cold plate. If you’re pairing paste with a new cooler, our CPU cooler guide and air cooler picks are better places to compare tower size, fan layout, and socket support.
The short answer
Thermal paste improves contact between the processor’s heat spreader and the cooler base. The two surfaces may look flat, but under pressure they’re full of tiny imperfections. Paste fills those gaps so heat doesn’t have to cross trapped air. A pea-sized dot or thin spread is usually enough for desktop CPUs, depending on the cooler and socket shape.
It’s a support player, not the star. Paste can shave a few degrees compared with a dried or badly applied layer, but it won’t turn a small cooler into a big one. Set expectations there and you’ll be happy with the result instead of chasing miracle drops that a paste swap can’t deliver.
The supplied products show two related sides of the cooling job. The Intel E97379-003 is a $15.99 stock-style cooler for Intel Socket 1150, 1155, and 1156 systems, with an aluminum heatsink, 4-pin connector, and 3.5-inch fan listed in the title. The Thermal Grizzly Duronaut is a $24.99 6-gram thermal paste kit with 12 cleaning wipes, 6 wet and 6 dry, and claims around durability and conductivity for CPU, GPU, PS4, PS5, and Xbox use.
You care about paste most when something has changed: a new cooler, a cooler removal, an old system that suddenly runs warmer, or a console repair where the original material has dried out. If the machine is cool and stable, paste isn’t a hobby you need to revisit every month. Leave good mounts alone. Fix bad ones carefully.
Pros
- Non-conductive chemistry safer for novices repasting near exposed CPU or GPU capacitors.
- 6g volume suports several full applications on desktop CPUs and console APUs.
- Wet and dry wipes included, so no isopropyl bottle or lint-free cloth need.
Cons
- Limited owner fedback at time of writing makes long-term durability claims hard to verify.
- Non-metal formula typically trails top liquid metals by a few degrees under sustained load.
- Viscosity, TIM lifespan hours, and thermal conductivity W/mK figures are not specified.
Duronaut is Thermal Grizzly's non-conductive thermal paste positioned as a mid-tier daily driver, shipping in a 6g syringe with 6 wet and 6 dry cleaning wipes. The target buyer is a DIY PC builder repasting a CPU or GPU cooler, or a console owner refreshing PS4, PS5, or Xbox thermals without risking shorts.
The defining trait is the aluminum microparticle plus zinc oxide nanoparticle blend paired with an electrically non-conductive base. Thermal Grizzly claims reduced pump-out and stable performance over extended cycles, which maters most on soldered console APUs and overclocked desktop chips that see large delta-T swings. Exact W/mK conductivity is not specified in the source.
Trade-offs are typical for non-conductive pastes at this tier. Expect a few degrees warmer than liquid metal on delided or high-wattage CPUs, and no published viscosity or cure-time data to plan application around. Owner feedback is limited at time of writing, so long-term hardening resistance relies on vendor claims rather than independent long-run testing.
Buy this if you want a safe, non-conductive paste with enough volume for several repastes and a bundled wipe kit for console or GPU jobs. Skip this if you are chasing the absolute lowest core temperatures on a 250W-plus overclocked CPU where liquid metal or a top nano-diamond paste still leads.
Volume and coverage: The syringe holds 6g of paste, enough for roughly 15 to 25 pea-sized applications on mainstream AM5 or LGA1700 IHS surfaces, or several full console APU repastes on PS4, PS5, and Xbox where die coverage is larger than a desktop CPU heatspreader.
Composition and safety: The compound uses aluminum microparticles and zinc oxide nanoparticles in a non-metal carier, rated electrically non-conductive. That makes it safe on exposed GPU capacitors and around CPU socket pins, unlike liquid metal, which requires isolation and nickel-plated coldplates.
Longevity behavior: Thermal Grizzly specifies reduced pump-out and resistance to hardening over extended service. Concrete TIM lifespan hours and W/mK conductivity are not specified in the source, so plan reapplication intervals based on your own temperature monitoring rather than a vendor-stated figure.
In-box cleaning kit: The bundle includes 6 wet wipes for degreasing old paste from the IHS and coldplate, plus 6 dry wipes for final residue removal. Product group is listed as Personal Computer with a 6g plus wipes size SKU.
The longer explanation
Heat leaves the CPU through the integrated heat spreader, crosses the paste layer, enters the cooler base, and then moves into fins or liquid-cooler hardware where fans remove it. The paste layer should be thin because metal conducts heat better than paste. Too little leaves dry spots. Too much can create mess and a thicker layer than needed, though most non-conductive paste is forgiving.
Different pastes use different blends, viscosities, and durability goals. Some spread easily and are friendly for first-time builders. Others are thicker and aimed at high heat density or longer service intervals. Liquid metal is a separate category and can damage aluminum, so don’t treat it like normal paste. For normal PC builds, a conventional quality paste is the safer path.
Application pattern depends on the chip shape. A small mainstream desktop CPU often works with a central dot. Larger heat spreaders may benefit from a short line, an X pattern, or a thin manual spread. The cooler pressure does the final work, so don’t keep lifting the cooler to peek after contact. If you lift it, clean and reapply. Air pockets love second guesses.
History / how we got here
Early desktop CPUs often shipped with simple coolers and pre-applied thermal pads or paste. As CPUs became hotter and boost behavior became more aggressive, the quality of the contact between chip and cooler became more visible. Modern processors may boost until they hit power, voltage, or temperature limits, so cooler mounting and paste coverage can affect sustained clocks.
The cooler market changed too. Large air towers, all-in-one liquid coolers, direct-contact heat pipes, and compact stock coolers all apply pressure differently. That pressure changes how paste spreads. A small stock cooler for older Intel sockets, like the E97379-003, isn’t competing with a huge dual-tower cooler, but it still needs proper paste contact to work correctly.
Why it works this way
Heat transfer depends on contact area and thermal resistance. Bare metal surfaces have peaks and valleys, so the real contact area is smaller than it appears. Paste fills the valleys and increases the effective path for heat. The goal is maximum contact with minimum paste thickness.
This is also why a great cooler with a bad mount can lose to a modest cooler with a clean mount. The interface is a chain, and paste is one link. If the cold plate isn’t sitting flat, if the paste dried out years ago, or if the mounting pressure is uneven, even an expensive cooler underperforms. Good paste won’t rescue a bad mount, and a perfect mount won’t rescue a dried, cracked paste layer.
Mounting pressure is just as important. If a cooler is tightened unevenly, one side may have better contact than the other. That can create hot cores, sudden fan ramp, or high idle temperatures. Always tighten screws gradually in a cross pattern if the mounting system allows it. Tiny turn. Then the opposite side.
When you’d want thermal paste
You need thermal paste when installing a new CPU cooler, reinstalling an old cooler, cleaning a dried-out mount, or refreshing a GPU or console only if you’re comfortable opening that hardware. You don’t need to replace paste every few months on a normal desktop. If temperatures are stable and the cooler hasn’t been removed, leave it alone.
A good trigger to check paste is a slow, steady rise in idle and load temperatures over a couple of years on the same mount. That pattern often means the paste has dried and lost contact quality. A sudden temperature jump, by contrast, is more likely a fan failure, a clogged heatsink, or a loosened mount than the paste itself.
The Intel E97379-003 cooler is relevant for older Intel desktop systems using Socket 1150, 1155, or 1156. At $15.99 with a 4.1 rating, it’s a basic cooler option, not a premium thermal fix. If you’re servicing an older office PC or low-power build, it may be enough. For a hot modern CPU, shop larger coolers instead.
Paste choice also depends on how long you want to go between services. A durable, long-life paste suits a build you plan to leave sealed for years, while an easy-spreading paste is fine if you tinker often. The Thermal Grizzly Duronaut’s 6-gram tube and included wipes make it practical for someone who reapplies across a couple of builds. If you only ever do one install, a smaller amount is plenty, so don’t feel you must use half the tube at once.
Pros
- Native LGA 1150, 1155, and 1156 socket support covers three legacy Intel generations
- 4-pin PWM connector enables proper fan curve control via BIOS
- OEM-style aluminum heatsink footprint keps RAM and VRM clearance predictable
- Push-pin mount installs without removing the motherboard from the case
Cons
- Zero owner fedback available at time of writing, real-world thermals unverified
- Aluminum-only heatsink with no heatpipes struggles with overclocked or unlocked K-series CPUs
- Restricted to obsolete Intel sockets, no path forward to LGA 1200, 1700, or AM5
The Intel E97379-003 is an OEM-style stock CPU cooler built for LGA 1150, 1155, and 1156 boards, covering Core i3, i5, and i7 chips from the Sandy Bridge through Haswell era. It targets one specific buyer: someone repairing, refurbishing, or restoring a legacy Intel desktop that lost its original heatsink.
The defining feature is compatibility, not performance. A 3.5-inch fan sits on an aluminum heatsink with a 4-pin PWM header, matching the original OEM cooler dimensions Intel shipped in retail boxes. Stock coolers in this class typically handle 65W to 84W TDP chips at stock clocks, which lines up with locked i3, i5, and non-K i7 SKUs on these sockets.
Trade-offs are typical for a boxed-style cooler. There are no heatpipes, no copper base contact, and no tower geometry, so sustained multi-core loads will spin the fan up and get audible. Push-pin mounting is convenient but less secure than a backplate design, and overclocking headroom is effectively zero. Owner feedback is not available at time of writing.
Buy this if you need a like-for-like OEM replacement for a locked LGA 1150, 1155, or 1156 CPU and want to kep the original acoustic and clearance profile. Skip this if the CPU is a K-series part, if you plan to overclock, or if the target socket is LGA 1200 or newer.
Socket coverage: Native mounting for LGA 150, 1155, and 1156 only. That spans 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation Core i3, i5, and i7 desktop chips. No adapter is included for LGA 1200, 1700, or AM4/AM5, so this cooler is locked to legacy Intel repair scenarios.
Heatsink and fan: Aluminum radial-fin heatsink with a 3.5-inch axial fan on a 4-pin PWM connector. No heatpipes, no copper slug, no vapor chamber are indicated in source data. TDP handling is not specified, but OEM colers of this geometry are typically rated for the 65W to 84W stock TDP band on these sockets.
Mounting and clearance: Push-pin retention through the four motherboard holes, no backplate required, install possible without removing the board. Cooler height sits low enough to clear standard mid-tower side panels, and the round footprint keps RAM slots and VRM heatsinks unobstructed. Exact height in mm is not specified.
Acoustics and headroom: Noise level in dBA is not specified. Based on OEM stock cooler behavior at this size, expect quiet idle and audible ramp under sustained all-core load. Overclocking a K-series chip on this heatsink is not advisable, thermal headroom above 84W is minimal.
What to look for in a thermal paste
Look for safe electrical behavior, reasonable viscosity, enough quantity for your planned installs, and included cleaning materials if you’re starting from old paste. The Thermal Grizzly Duronaut kit includes 6 grams and 12 cleaning wipes according to the supplied title, which is enough for multiple applications for most home builders. Don’t choose only by a conductivity number, because application quality and cooler pressure still dominate many real systems.
Included wipes are more useful than they sound. Cleaning off old, hardened paste is half the job, and doing it with the right wipes and a lint-free cloth beats scrubbing with a paper towel that sheds fibers into the mount. A kit that bundles both wet and dry wipes saves a separate trip for isopropyl alcohol.
Also match the paste to the task. Thick paste may stay put under high mounting pressure, while softer paste spreads easily for beginners. If you’re working on a laptop, console, or GPU, access difficulty is higher and the risk of damage is greater. For high-end liquid builds, our AIO liquid cooler guide covers the cooler side of the equation.
Common misconceptions
More paste is not better. Once the gaps are filled, extra material just squeezes out or leaves a thicker layer. You also don’t need to scrape a CPU with metal tools. Use proper cleaning wipes or high-percentage isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free cloth.
Another misconception is that paste alone fixes bad cooling. If the cooler is undersized, the case has poor airflow, or the fan curve is wrong, new paste may only help a little. Treat paste as part of the cooling chain, not the whole chain.
Frequently asked
How much thermal paste should I use?
For most desktop CPUs, a pea-sized dot or small line is enough. Larger heat spreaders may need a slightly different pattern. The aim is full coverage after pressure, not a thick visible layer.
How often should I replace thermal paste?
Replace it when removing the cooler, when temperatures rise noticeably after years of use, or when servicing a dried-out mount. If temperatures are normal, you don’t need a routine monthly refresh.
Can too much paste hurt temperatures?
Yes, a very thick layer can increase thermal resistance and create mess around the socket. Most normal overapplication with non-conductive paste won’t destroy hardware, but cleaner is better.
Is thermal paste electrically conductive?
Many common pastes are not electrically conductive, but always check the specific product. Liquid metal is conductive and much riskier. Don’t use liquid metal on aluminum coolers.
Do stock coolers need thermal paste?
Yes. Some stock coolers ship with paste pre-applied, while others require you to apply it. If you remove the cooler after first installation, clean and reapply paste before reinstalling.
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