Noctua NT-H2 Thermal Paste & NA-SCW1 Cleaning Wipes – Review

There are only a limited amount of manufacturers in the market right now that produce and offer quality products. Noctua as a brand stands out from the crowd and produces one of the best cooling solutions in the whole market, the hardware that we require to keep our stuff cool.

I was really impressed by the fans, which i reviewed previously. Everyone who had a taste of Noctua’s products will agree with me that Noctua actually delivers the promise. Their components are praised by every reviewer and consumer.

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Noctua recently launched the all-new second generation of their thermal paste NT-H2, which is the successor to NT-H1. Noctua has assured consumers that the NT-H2 will bring better performance in cooling on the table compared to the already amazing NT-H1. Noctua has launched the NT-H2 in 3.5g(grams) and 10g packing & both packages include NA-CW1 cleaning wipes. Noctua has also launched the NA-SCW1, which is comprised of 20 NA-CW1 cleaning wipes. NA-CW1 wipes help cleaning the previously installed thermal compound in a quick and efficient way.

Noctua sent us their NT-H2 thermal pastes for review along with NA-SCW1 Cleaning wipes & NT-H1 thermal pastes for comparison. I have used NT-H1 in all of my PC cooler reviews previously and I am satisfied with its results. You can put an order directly from their official link. Now lets put it into testing and start the review.

Specifications

Unboxing & Closer Look

Lets start with Noctua NA-SCW1 Cleaning wipes that Noctua has provided us. It is pack of 20 cleaning wipes. There is Noctua branding(logo & name) printed on the front side of the box with the product name NA-SCW1 CLEANING WIPES written belo.

On the top side of the box, Noctua has mentioned that this box contains 20x cleaning wipes. Size of each cleaning wipe is 15 x 12 CM, which is a sufficient size to clean the CPU’s IHS and cooler’s base.

On the back side of the box, We can see there are users instructions printed. It states that NA-SCW1 is made in Taiwan. There are few safety guidelines printed on the bottom of the box. there are two QR codes on the top, which user can scan to watch the video regarding the instructions of using the NA-SCW1 wipes on the Noctua’s youtube channel.

Noctua has made two different packings for NT-H2, one being the regular 3.5g and the other one for 10g. There is not much difference in boxes, whole layout is nearly identical except for the size of the box. On the front side of the box NT-H2 is written in vertical manner and features of the paste are mentioned on the front side as well. You can see brand name and logo printed on the bottom right side of the box. Packing is as premium as packing of the coolers offered by Noctua.

The backside of the box mentions the specification of NT-H2 & Scope of delivery.
You can see that it is made in Taiwan. Noctua printed the features of NT-H2 in English and German language. On the bottom, Safety precautions are written.

Unboxing the packaging reveals the paste itself tucked in the middle of the cardboard box, It suggests that Usage instructions are mentioned on the backside of the box. Packaging felt really premium while opening the box.

The inner container has NT-H2 3.5gm Noctua Thermal Paste printed at the left side. The 10gm packing will have the same layout except that 3.5gm will be replaced by 10gm. The mobile tags are printed on the right side. Scan them for the video instructions at their official youtube channel.

On the backside we have some usage instructions. This box stands out compared to any other packaging for thermal pastes. I have never seen such detailed instructions and packaging for thermal pastes with other brands. there are application recommendations & removal and cleaning details mentioned. Also Noctua has written a warning “Caution! Applying too much thermal paste can lead to higher CPU temperatures”. This is written to guide the novice computer builders, as some may think more thermal paste means more cooling, etc. Noctua even illustrated how to use the paste for different CPU Sizes.

The 3.5g NT-H2 comes with 3 sachets of NA-CW1 cleaning wipes in the package.

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The 10g NT-H2 comes with 10 sachets of NA-CW1 cleaning wipes.

Testing & Methodology

Following configuration is used to test the thermal performance of the Noctua thermal pastes:
I have used following configuration to test the performance of Noctua NT-H2 and compared it with NT-H1 from Noctua.

• AMD Ryzen 1700 @ 4.0GHz – 1.370V
• ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR VI
• G.Skill Trident Z DDR4 16GB @ 2933Mhz
• Corsair Vengeance RED LED 16GB @ 2666MHz
• Noctua NH-D15 SE-AM4
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 – Windforce OC
• Samsung 960 Evo 500GB

I have used Aida 64 Extreme’s System Stability Test with CPU, FPU, System Memory & Cache checked. Before running the test, I closed every application and let the system sit idle for a while so that I can record temperatures in a proper manner. I ran the test 3 times for 20 minutes on each run. I left system at idle state for 10 minutes between each test run. I recorded the temperatures using HWinfo. I have taken both idle and under load temperatures. The ambient temperature of the room was recorded to be 28 degrees while running the tests.

Results

The following graph shows the result of the average of all runs I ran with both thermal pastes. The ambient temperature of the room was set to be the same while running the tests. Noctua’s NT-H2 showed better results while running the tests. As you can see in the graph, the maximum temperature with NT-H1 was recorded to be 67.5°C. While with NT-H2, The maximum temperature was recorded to be 64.36°C.
The difference is clear as you can see in the results. With different CPU chips, you will get different results. The idle temperatures are not necessary for these tests, but I have included both idle and load to show you the difference directly. With NT-H1, my CPU idled around 41.62 degrees. With NT-H2, my CPU idled around 38.96.

Now the results here clearly show that Noctua has delivered an amazing sequal to already great product.

Conclusion

Noctua launched the second generation of their Noctua NT-H1 previously, Which is already award winning & popular thermal compound, Along with the release of Noctua’s NA-SCW1 (a 20 cleaning wipes packed in a sleak box). Noctua’s NT-H2 is released in two different packings i.e. 10g and 3.5g. 10g packing is great for enthusiasts specially overclockers and reviewers etc.

The NT-H2 has density of 2.81 g/cm³ and comes in metallic gray color. Noctua has suggested the recommended storage time of NT-H2 is upto 3 years on the shelf. Noctua came strong by advertising 5 years of recommended usage time after application on the CPU. This is really impressive, because previously pastes used to dry out over time. Dryout causes impact on the performance of the paste. The NT-H2 is a mixture of metal oxide micro particles. It is non conductive and non corroding thermal compound. It can be used on any kind of metal plating as it will not cause any short-circuit.

Noctua has priced the NT-H2 3.5g for $12.9 and 10g for $24.9. But is the price tag justified for the second generation of Noctua’s thermal compounds? Based on our results, I have observed improvements over NT-H1. The difference of 3.14 degrees celcius from the paste alone is amazing. The NT-H2 is still little bit pricier of the two, but Noctua mentioned that they are not ending the production of NT-H1. So if you are not willing to put extra dime for this difference, NT-H1 is still available in stores.

In the end, I would recommend this Thermal paste to enthusiasts. As its going to show a good amount of difference in terms of cooling.

Read More :

• Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM/ULN/FLX Fans Review
• Noctua unveils new thermal compounds and cleaning wipes
• Noctua unveils its new NH-U12A premium cooler