ARCTIC MX-4 thermal compound has been a classic on the market for over a decade. It is among the most popular and best-selling ARCTIC products.
Arctic MX-4 Thermal Compound Product Description

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Easy ApplicationThanks to its consistency, MX-4 is easy to apply, even for beginners. The video in the picture gallery demonstrates different application techniques to avoid air pockets between processors and coolers. |
Extraordinary performanceARCTIC MX-4 consists of carbon micro-particles which promises extremely high thermal conductivity. This ensures fast and efficient heat dissipation from the CPU or GPU. With its outstanding performance, the ARCTIC MX-4 is one of the top thermal conductive pastes on the market. |
Safe applicationARCTIC MX-4 is a metal-free and non-electrically conductive paste. This minimises the risk of short circuits and offers perfect protection for your computer. Application is also very easy as the consistency is ideal for use on chips. |
Proven qualityWhile the packaging of our thermal paste has changed several times over the years, the composition of the formula has remained the same. Our MX pastes have long stood for high performance and quality. |
Since the mere thermal conductivity value cannot provide any information about the actual performance, we put our MX-4 thermal grease up against a broad field of competitors under laboratory conditions. The temperature difference between CPU and cooler base was measured.
MX-4 Thermal Compound Application

Technical Specifications
General Data
Density: 2.50 g/cm³
Viscosity: 870 Poise
Volume Resistivity: 3.8 X 10^13 Ω-cm
Continuous Use Temperature: -50~150 °C
Colour: Grey

Important information
Safety Information
thermal paste
Suhaib –
Cost effective and does the job.I was highly skeptical of getting a thermal compound from this company due to all the fake and forgeries out there however, after my laptop had a replacement of a part, the thermal solution needed replacement it badly needed one. The stock version that comes from OEM is not really good enough in my opinion and I wanted one of the best ones out there. Artic MX-4 was one of them that was cost effective while also being non-conductive just in case I made a mistake and spread it too much and went on the circuit.The product was new (box based) and actually passed the QR (Scan and Win one) test where Arctic can tell you whether the product was a fake or not. The box was sealed and this version has enough for multiple applications. It even has a spatula 🙂 though I recommend a pea size for a square application and a line for a rectangular applicationDue to the thermal issue, my laptop was heating up to 100C on the CPU which resulted in throttling however, my laptop is very quiet and temperature went down to 56C averaging around 60C and I am highly satisfied. I will highly recommend them since I was “not” disappointed.
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Eric –
stay away!I would not recommend this thermal paste….my computer kept crashing, BSOD, games freezing….only after I took apart my CPU/GPU I discovered the paste like a fluid/water…parts of the CPU/GPU was not covered and thus overheating….AVOID!
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Astral Support –
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with this product. Please be careful when applying any such products within you CPU. As a courtesy we have refunded the cost of the product back to you.
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Nolan Meilleur –
Great replacement for any stock/included thermal compound. I’ve used this for my last 3 PC’s and on my 4th I finally decided to do a bit of testing to see how good it actually was.Currently I have a Ryzen 7 3700X cooled by a Coolermaster AiO cooler,I ran the pre-applied thermal compound from the cooler for about a week of gaming/editing and found my average working temps to be 65°C, with idle being 51°C and under load tests I would peak at 98°C.After removing, cleaning, and reapplying with this Arctic compound my average dropped to 52°C, with idle being 38°C and peak load during prime95 getting to 87°C.Most of the fluctuation is likely due to how slowly the AiO responds to quick changes in temperature, but with my average being lower I can’t say much bad about this product.Now the coolermaster on the other hand, that’s a tale for another review.
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Hussain –
Does what it is supposed toThe one thing I would warn is that this stuff is very difficult to remove from any surface that is not perfectly smooth. Even more so than anti-seize (in automotive applications). For first-time users, less is more with this product. You will not be able to get this out of the PSU socket or fully clean anything it contacts on your motherboard.
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Douglas B. –
Cool it!Runs well but now 5 is out. I would say Arctic Silver 5 is about the same. Grizzly takes all in my books.But the Noctua falls around the same, so more testing down the road…Like next AIO Cleaning. 360mm Coolermaster 3 120mm x 25mm fans.
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Michael R –
Best thermal compound out thereSuper easy to use. Love the brand and have used it several times. Just fixed a computer 12 years old. That’s how long this stuff lasts.
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ma.dette –
works good to conduct heat. Will not harden stiffen at all, stays a bit a soft pasteI like this product. I was expecting more of a thermal “glue” and got what stays a nice pliable paste consistency. It has no gluing capacity but works into small spaces well.Would buy again.
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Jhiand –
Good thermal pasteSurprised at how well the paste spread on first use. Thermals are ok, haven’t compared to others but with such a small amount it’s easy to mistaken how much you require.Overall a good budget thermal paste
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Clutch_Lux –
great productthis product arrived very timely, it was super easy to use and apply, the heat dispersion was ideal and i could not be more happy with this product even a year later its doing great on the i9 9900k. highly recommend
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Zae hoyte –
Authentic Brand Good qualityThis is some of the best paste for your cpu in Light to medium workloads. stays cool with CPU running (1ghz-4.5ghz) This is about 1$ cheaper than in my local stores and is actually the same exact stuff so its 100% authentic and not a rip off version.
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Gaston –
10/10Works great, don’t think I have seen my cpu hit any higher 67 Celsius on high loads and it is only air cooled with a stock cooler! Recently cleaned my old rtx 2060 gpu and applied this to the chip, will update if possible if that makes any difference in Temps 🙂
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Zahid Maqsood –
Amazing performance increaseDid a repaste using this product on my Lenovo Y540 17″ laptop’s CPUand GPU. CPU temps dropped from 90-94 degrees to 70-75 degrees during throttlestop stress test. GPU temps dropped from 76 degrees to 65 degrees during wolfenstein: young blood benchmarks. Without the CPU thermal throttling i’m capable of getting more out of my CPU and also fans kick in more slowly and are quieter than before.
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Chris Palmer –
Expensive but worth itThere isn’t a lot to say here. This is a fantastic product that does exactly what they claim. It’s easy to spread, easy to disburse, and doesn’t dry out.I used this to replace ancient thermal paste in an Xbox and it’s working like a charm.
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JR –
It worksUsed on a GPU, which required a fan replacement. It spread well and it appears to be doing a good job. The overall operating GPU temp was lowered from 90 to 50 degrees.
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matthew –
Works as described. A plastic spreader and gloves are a must for this productWorks as described. I would recommend using a plastic card to spread it on the cpu and to wear appropriate personal protective equipment (rubber gloves). Also i was instructed by a friend to keep it away from ones eyes as it can cause blindness. Hence my recommendation of PPE.
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Harold Ernst –
Easy to Apply – Seems to Work Great!I have a 10 year old Dell desktop and the CPU thermal paste has never been replaced. This paste was very easy to apply and I’m pleased with my purchase. My CPU now seems to be running a few degrees cooler, but I haven’t been tracking my CPU temps on a regular basis.
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Vini Cordeiro –
Great!Performed really well on my PS4 Pro, extinguishing the loud fan sound it was making even after cleaning the entire console from inside out. Now I can enjoy my games quietly and knowing that the videogame will not overheat =)
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Ryan –
CPU would reach 99 degreesNot “in the know” when it come to computers. but mine would throttle its performance ALL the time so much that i thought it was time to let my ol Acer go. I picked this up after reading about repasting and cheese and rice my laptop hasnt throttled itself since! i was so accustom to it degraded performance that it honestly feels like a new laptop.NO regerts….lmao
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Adam –
Marginally better than Arctic Silver 5I’ve used Arctic Silver 5 for well over a decade though I decided to give mx-4 a shot. Impressively enough, it decreased prime95 small fft temps by 4 degrees, and my average load temps by 2 degrees.Its truly hard to improve upon thermal paste in any meaningful way, so I applaud mx-4 for even marginally better performance.CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
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Tonebone –
Very good thermal pasteI bought this and a new fan to lower the operating temperatures of my aging laptop. It was very easy to apply and works well at keeping my core temperatures 30+ degrees C less than before. If you desktop / laptop is older than 7 years – you should really apply new thermal paste. The excessive heat can destroy your ram and motherboard.
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Waleed F. –
It’s nice. Will do the job.As expected. Don’t expect it to do miracles. Dropped my temps by a few degrees. I guess it’s worth the money. Easy to spread.Note: for people applying to spread on laptop processor. The head of the syringe is quite thick so the best method might be pea size or line method. I wanted to do a cross pattern but since the head is too thick, it ended up being too much.Would be nice if they would also have a thin head as an attachment for laptop processors.
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Mike V –
Worked great!Bought this to fix my brother in law’s computer. He complained it was overheating and shutting down. After running out failed fans I took a look at the thermal paste. It was dried up and looked horrible. After doing a thorough cleaning and a reapply I had the computer run some pretty intensive CPU tests for over two hours and it didn’t shut down once.Can’t wait to try this on my jet engine PS4 pro!
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MisterMr –
I’ve never been COOLerMy computer (CPU and GPU) got from 70-90°C to 45-60°C.I don’t think I need to say more. Stock paste are not as good, old paste needs to be cleaned off and reapplied. All pastes are not the same. I’ve been using this Arctic MX-4 on my last two computers and I’ve been doing great.Buy some, try it, never go back to whatever you had before.
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Xiae –
It’s good did the job I needed it toLoved it my PS4 is so quiet now it doesn’t sound like a jet taking off. I actually don’t hear my PS4 at all anymore it’s super peaceful. Easy to spread , it’s easy to use just be careful how far you push the tube applicator because if you try to pull it back it may go to far back and won’t fit back in the box then you have to push it again and you’ll waste product. I made that mistake once. The value is good not a lot of paste is needed
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Justin –
Worth the moneyI bought this for my Dell XPS 9560, which is well known to have serious thermal throttling issues under heavy CPU load.The process of repasting my CPU and GPU was super easy. It made a shocking difference – I’m still in disbelief. My laptop is running perfectly smooth at heavy tasks it could barely manage before (4k video editing, etc). For that alone, it’s well worth the money.The only thing is that, tiny as this tube of compound is, you really only need a miniscule amount to do the job – about the size of a grain of rice, if that. I have no idea what I’ll do with the rest of the tube. Oh well.
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Billd75 –
Seems like a good thermal paste.I was using artic silver before, but I figured mine needed refreshing after almost 5 years. My wife’s is why I bought this, her’s was all dried up bad and not transferring heat like it should. To the point I salvaged a little bit off an old video card and plastered it on there as a temporary fix till this came in. Well, once I got this stuff on there, it was running nice and cool. Mine is also running better than on my old Arctic Silver, by a few degrees. It may not be Grizzley or Noctua, but for the hair difference in temps. and almost 3 times more per tube and a paste that won’t dry out for 8 years?! Yeah, good deal. Way to go MX4, great stuff.
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Scott –
Does what it saysI don’t know if this is working any better than any other thermal paste I’ve used, but it is working.CPU temps are staying relatively low.Used it with the following:Asus ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Formula ATX MotherboardAMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16-core, 32-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processorbe quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4, BK022, 250W TDP, CPU CoolerCooler Master MasterCase H500 case
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Evan Polson –
Great ProductOrdered two seperate times. First time was perfect paste, second was way too fluid. It’s almost like it was heated and became more liquid.Ordered in the winter and stayed on my porch for a few hours, not sure if that affected it’s consistency.Great product nonetheless! Easy to apply, comes with the spreader which is nice. Simple packaging. Can’t go wrong with this top brand.
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Creigger –
Great Compound!Spreads well and evenly, thin consistency. They included an extra spatula for spreading. Checks all boxes! My 2700x is running at 28 Celsius on idle, 55 on stress tests. I used to be an Arctic Silver 5 fan, not anymore!!!
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JNEP –
The Default Favorite TIMMX-4 is the default thermal interface material (TIM). It’s easy to apply, easy to wipe off, easy to smear, and offers good spreadability when compressed between the heatsink and CPU/GPU. It’s an easy product to recommend to both first-time DIYers and seasoned veteran system builders. Purchase with ease of mind. It’s a good TIM to default to when better, more expensive products are out of stock.
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Mike M. –
Didn’t see much difference in tempsMy MBP 15″ 2015 still cranks up the fan when I’m exporting audio files from garageband but it did make some difference because I think my original paste from apple was too old though it was still not dry. I’m not sure if I should have applied more , but the difference in cooling was as great as I was expecting. It’s still better than stock paste. but is it a “wow!!” nope. Maybe I should have tried that grizzly bear thing, maybe I’ll get that next time.
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Skuzzy –
Doesn’t last as long as it claims.The package claims the paste lasts up to 8 yuears, which is a pretty silly claim to make anyway but I found my CPU hitting horrifying temperatures after a year. I checked the TP and most of it was gone — after only 9 months of usage.
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Dale Anderson –
Works as intendedBased on recommendations found on the web, I used this for my Noctua CPU cooler. However I didn’t realize Noctua also provided thermal paste with their cooler. I found a little goes a long way … just be careful not to use too much, as this does create a mess. I didn’t use the supplied tool, I just put a pea sized in the middle of the CPU and attached the cooler. So far CPU temps on an i7-9700KF are good.
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