Today, we review the latest thermal paste from Arctic, the Arctic MX-6. This is the replacement for the MX-5 which had an early end. The Arctic MX-6 is presented as a high performance premium thermal compound. Let’s see if it manages to do as well as the best thermal pastes on the market. This new thermal paste is available directly from Arctic or on Amazon at the following prices:
- $6.79 or 11,99 € for 2g
- $8.49 or 13,99 € for 4g
- $9.79 or 14,99 € for 4g with 6 cleaning wipes
- $11.99 or 17,99 € for 8g
Thanks to Arctic for providing us with this thermal paste for this test. [nextpage title=”The Arctic MX-6:”] The Arctic MX-6 is sold in a cardboard box, with the brand’s colors. The cardboard box contains the different technical information of the thermal paste but also pictures of the product. There is also a QR code on the side hidden by an adhesive that confirms the authenticity of the product.
Inside, we have the thermal paste tube. For this 8g version, we do not have a bundle. You will have to take the 4g version with wipes to have a more substantial bundle.
For the syringe, we have an opening on the side allowing us to see the level of paste remaining in the tube.
Regarding the specifications of this paste, we are on a density of 2.6g / ml and a viscosity of 45000 Poise. Here are the tables of the different thermal pastes tested on our configuration. The MX-6 is therefore more than twice as expensive as the MX-4 for the same volume.
[nextpage title=”The test configuration:”]
Here is the configuration that will be used for the test:
- Motherboard : EVGA Z690 DARK KINGPIN (BIOS 1.15)
- Processor : INTEL CORE I9 12900KS
- Memory : 2x16gb SK Hynix A die
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA RTX 3080 Founder Edition
- Cooling system : Watercool Heatkiller IV basic + MO-RA3 420
- SSD : Western Digital SN850 500gb
- Power supply : Be Quiet ! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W
- Operating System: Windows 11 64 bits (version 21H2)
- Screen : DELL S2421NX
[nextpage title=”Results:”] Our thermal paste test protocol is very young, it is based on an Intel Alderlake platform with an I9-12900KS and an EVGA Z690 DARK KINGPIN. The tests are performed under the same conditions with a Heatkiller IV waterblock at constant pressure.
Protocol:
The I9 12900KS is set to get 250W of load on cinebench R20. The Pcore are at 5200MHz, the Ecore at 4000MHz and the cache at 4400MHz for a voltage of 1,335V bios LLC +25%.
Thermal paste applications are done crosswise on the CPU, this is the method that works best with all thermal pastes on the market. The waterblock is mounted and tightened to the screw stop to let the springs apply the right pressure.
Then, a cinebench R23 stress test is run to warm up the thermal paste with 10min of heavy load. To finish, three R20 cinebench are launched in a row. While taking well into account to have the same water temperature between each beginning of benchmark.
Each thermal paste is applied three times with three cinebench R20 per application. The minimum delta T° value between the water and the CPU is recorded among these nine measurements.
Results:
As we can see, the MX-6 is on a par with the XTM70 from Corsair or the NT-H2 from Noctua. It is therefore in a good range of performance/price. We will also test it on the RTX 3080 FE which is now equipped with a waterblock. We are still waiting to receive the rest of the hardware to finalize the update of the cooling loop.
Measurements were made with water at 27-28°C and a flow rate of 220L/hr. Here are the details of the best measurements out of nine readings per thermal paste.
[nextpage title=”Conclusion:”] We have come to the end of this test. With this MX-6, Arctic offers us an excellent alternative to the best thermal dough on the market. Its price is certainly higher than what Arctic has been accustomed to, but the product performs well and remains very competitive. For us, this is an excellent choice that will easily replace the best thermal pastes on the market. 
As a reminder, this thermal paste is available to order in France directly from Artic at prices ranging from $6.79 to 1$1.99 for 2g to 8g. But it can also be found on the Arctic store for Europe.
Arctic MX-6
We liked:
- Minimalist packaging and bundle without excess
- The performance on CPU
- The excellent resistance in long load (ideal on GPU ?)
We would have liked:
- Less sticky paste (be careful with AM4 CPUs)
Arctic regales us again after the very good MX-5 that disappeared prematurely. This MX-6 is among the best on the market. And, even if the price goes up, we’re still below the competition with a better price-performance ratio. It’s almost flawless here because, like the MX-5, the MX-6 tends to stick the cooling to the CPU.
