What to use thermal pad vs thermal compound?

[Asaltnado]

What do you use thermal paste like noctua or kryonaut or thermal pads?

I'd rather stay away from conducting materials on the CPU, also is there really a difference between most thermal paste?

I perfer noctua paste I've seen videos that say you cant overclock on it which made me laugh. Any opinions using a 9900k. What works best for you or what you perfer

[JapaneseTuna]

You could just get a cooler that comes with a pre-applied thermal paste which should last you a good enough time, I would recommend based on some opinions and thoughts ti just use thermal paste, although difficult to apply it should last a bit longer than pads.

[mariushm]

Majority of thermal pastes are NOT conductive. Some high end thermal pastes are.

 

Thermal pads are for situations where there's a significant space between the heatsink and the hot part, like 0.5mm, 1mm or more. Usually they have lower performance. Exceptions are the newest stuff that is more like thin sheets, film, made out of graphite and other materials.

[Asaltnado]

Thanks I'm going with the big one the d15 which doesnt come with thermal paste already applied so I'll either brush it on or use a flat pad to flatten it out. Any recommendations on thermal paste. Some say you'll get a degree or two using different ones like the kryonaut is it really worth buying?

[WoodenMarker]

7 minutes ago, Asaltnado said:

Thanks I'm going with the big one the d15 which doesnt come with thermal paste already applied so I'll either brush it on or use a flat pad to flatten it out. Any recommendations on thermal paste. Some say you'll get a degree or two using different ones like the kryonaut is it really worth buying?

The NH-D15 comes with NT-H1 which is already excellent. I'd recommend using that and only replacing it is you're not satisfied with the results.