ARCTIC MX-6 Thermal Paste (4 g tube)

Our analysis

Half the amount of the ARCTIC MX-6 8 g, in a smaller syringe: 4 g of the same paste, enough for a new build or a repaste of one CPU or GPU, with some left over for the next time.

What stands out

• No risk of a short. ARCTIC says MX-6 is neither electrically conductive nor capacitive, so a little paste on the edge of the socket will not damage anything.
• Ready from day one. According to ARCTIC, it reaches its full performance right after you mount the cooler, with no burn-in period, and it does not dry out or bleed over time.
• Works on bare dies too. ARCTIC lists it for direct-die cooling, the kind you find on graphics cards and console processors, so the same tube can serve a GPU or PS5 repaste.
• Authenticity check. Each tube can be verified on ARCTIC's site, which matters with a product this easy to fake.

Where it falls short

• You cannot spread it with a spatula. ARCTIC says it is too thick: put a dot in the center and let the cooler's pressure spread it.
• ARCTIC does not publish a thermal conductivity number for MX-6, so you cannot compare it on that spec sheet line against other pastes.

Look elsewhere if

You are still choosing the cooler: start with our guide to picking a CPU cooler by TDP, and for the full build, our part-by-part PC guide.

For me, the 4 g is the right size for one build and one repaste. If you already know you will repaste a console and a PC, go straight to the 8 g.