Noctua NA-STPG1, Thermal Paste Guard and Cleaning Set for AMD AM5 CPUs

Works as described!

I always go to Noctua for fans and heatsinks. This product helps avoid a mess. They are pricey but you get what you pay for from this company. Their support is top notch and very responsive. We need more companies like this and evga.

Works as advertised. Certainly much cheaper and less of a hassle than a contact frame. I'm docking one star because it's a bit expensive to only have one guard in the box. I'm guessing the price is what it is due to the generous supply of cleaning wipes but it'd be nice if they through through the product offering a bit more. I don't think most users are constantly needing to re-paste, and if they are they likely already have a cleaning solution available anyways. It'd just make more sense to reduce the number of cleaning wipes to either make it cheaper or include extra guard pieces. Note that the initial reviews of this seemed to suggest that it was still possible for thermal paste to still leak through but as of 11/2024, I think they likely tightened things up and after trying it out yesterday, I doubt that will happen, at least not to the degree where you'd still have a mess to clean up.

This thing is a massive time saver and will help with anything you have to do later. This will make cleaning up of you CPU so much easier. This has made sure that thermal paste does not leak onto the edges of the CPU. Buy IT.

Great product . . . IF you can find the paste guard stuck to the box. I didn't and assembled my system without it.

The simple die cut plastic to protect your cpu is effective. The included wipes to clean your cpu and cooler are helpful. I have no idea how they computed the price but it is worth the $10 bucks.

I wish I had known about the Noctua NA-STPG1 Thermal Paste Guard sooner—it’s an absolute lifesaver! Applying thermal paste can sometimes get messy, but this guard makes the process so much easier and cleaner. It’s incredibly simple to use; just place it on the CPU, and it prevents excess paste from spreading to places you don’t want it to go. Another huge plus is that it’s reusable, so you can keep it handy for future builds or upgrades. And at this price, it’s a fantastic deal for the time and frustration it saves. If you’ve ever struggled with applying thermal paste perfectly, this tool is a must-have. I’ll never go back to applying paste without it! Highly recommended for PC builders of all skill levels.

Bought two of these, as I had to do a motherboard change for a pal and intend to upgrade to an AIO on my machine. The first job was the motherboard, so the first thing I used was the alcohol wipes. They do not have much solvent and dry very, very fast. I guess that's why there are 10 of them. The fast drying is likely due to a high purity (99%?) alcohol, but whatever. As the secondary selling point of this item, these wipes would benefit from an extra drop or so of solvent. Despite the water content, you'd likely be able to do a better, faster cleanup by using a medical alcohol wipe to get the bulk of the paste off, then follow with these for fine cleanup and drying. Now, onto the main event -- the very thin and precisely cut piece of plastic that was bought with the expectation of leaving it on the CPU to protect from thermal paste squishing into the CPU crevices. Test fit on an unseated CPU was OK, but these are designed to go on top of a clamped CPU. The fit was not as tight as I expected. Gaps allow paste to squish through, do they not? My impression was that leaving it on had the potential to more evenly spread excess paste until a seal between the cooling block and the CPU bracket was complete, at which point remaining excess paste would be hydraulically mashed into the gap. As well, this item gave me great fear as any movement of the thermal block before it is secured could result in this thing getting pinched between the cooling block and CPU, causing poor contact. I would not know there is poor contact until higher temps are seen, at which point I'd have to come back to reseat the thermal block and make an even bigger mess. In contrast to cleaning a CPU, these wipes did a fantastic job of cleaning up the CPU protector which was placed back into its packaging so it can sit on a shelf or in a drawer for years to come. The joy incurred when trying to use this on the motherboard swap led me to purchase an aluminum secure frame for my air to AIO swap. The price of the secure frame was about the same as for this thing, and negative reviews imply fit is about the same also. !!!!UPDATE!!!! I forgot that the secure frame came with thermal paste! Neat! Prices and availability are subject to change, but it was only ~half the cost of this Noctua bit plus a tube of Arctic MX-4. Now that I have it, can confirm the secure frame has a slightly worse fit than this Noctua product, but at least I won't have to worry about it sliding around.