Came here earlier this week trying to find the correct thermal pad thickness for the Argon One V2. I pulled the trigger on the Argon One and went with the 1.5mm recommendation. Figured I’d leave this here for the next guy.
I measured the thermal pad that came in the box with a micrometer. I tried my best to not compress the pad to get a baseline. I’m showing 1.13mm for the OEM pad. I would probably put that closer to 1.0mm when accounting for error.
I also measured the Gelid GP-Extreme 1.5mm pad I intend to use to be 1.74mm. Yes, I do have to be that extra and use a premium thermal pad for my Raspberry Pi 4 Model B that I don’t intend to overclock.
I have included pictures of my measurements. It’s a sample size of one and I don’t have the most accurate mic. I zeroed the mic before taking any measurements and did not zero it again so error for both measurements should be relative to each other. The mic read 0.01mm when returned to the zero position after measuring both pads.
I would say that using thermal paste is risky as there is a visible gap between where the case interfaces with the SoC and RAM. And it looks like a 1.0mm thermal pad would adequately take up that space. Unfortunately I cannot get a good picture for documentation.
Ultimately thermal pads are intended to account for inexact surface engagement. Using a 1.0mm or 1.5mm should be acceptable for this application. Just don’t go too thick, or too thin.