Thermal Paste! EXCITING STUFF!!!

[Unhelpful]

This isn't really looking for help, I'm more or less looking for opinions and numbers.

 

For a loooong time people adored Arctic Silver 5, which I happen to be using now.

....A really long time..

   ...Still Arctic Silver 5...  After years... Have no advances/changes been made?

There should be no way Arctic Silver 5 is still the best. What are some of the best thermal pastes now that you guys/girls(small demographic for this field but still included) know of? Have any numbers?

 

P.S. Ignore the derped up format of everything. It's 4:46am at the time of me typing this and I'm pretty much dead. So naturally my first thought is of thermal paste.

 

P.P.S. I had no idea what section to put this in so I defaulted to CPUs.

[coen113]

i hear alot of good about the IC diamond

[NormalDefault]

I've heard that IC Diamond and MX4 are beating Arctic Silver 5 in most cases, but it's nothing ground breaking temps wise.

 

Arctic Silver 5 is still a very good thermal paste.

[Unhelpful]

I'm aware that it is still very good and that nothing ground breaking has happened temp wise, just wanted to see what is currently winning and the charts I find are less than consistent with eachother. 

[Excon]

IC Diamond and MX-4

[virusal19]

The difference between most low-end and high-end Thermal Paste (TIM) are minimal, you can see as much as 1-5 degrees on most Thermal Paste. 

 

Arctic Silver 5 Is still a great Thermal Paste by all means but I have heard good things about IC Diamond from Linus. 

[zinton]

Head that Tuniq is a good one

[Leonard]

I have used NT-H1, IC Diamond & Indigo Extreme and get the best temperatures from IC Diamond for my ambient which is hot one minute, 32C and cool the next, 27C. I have found that Indigo Extreme/MainGear EPIC T1000 is really good and i mean really good if you have a low ambient as it is a phase change metal alloy but it is nerve wrecking to apply your first couple of times. In an air conditioned room with an ambient of 18C i got 5-10 degrees lower than IC Diamond in the same room at the same ambient but in my estimations IC Diamond is more cost effective as you get extra TIM in a tube that you can use more than twice and with any socket but with Indigo Extreme/MainGear EPIC T1000 you need to get the specific phase change metal alloy for your socket and you only get one or two in a pack.

I personally think people need to try different TIMs as most people ambient temperatures vary.

 

Next on my list to try is CoolLaboratories liquid ultra. I am choosing liquid ultra over liquid PRO because from my research of watching videos of people who have used the two types, ultra is easier to clean. I suspect however the results would be like Indigo Extreme as CoolLaboratories liquid ultra is also a metal.  

[Analog]

MX4 is a great thermal compound. I have been using it for years now with no problem whatsoever.

[tito]

I have used AS5, MX-4 and MX-2 besides some other cheaps brands. I would personally go with the AS5,which is the one that gave me the best results so far, but it is really difficult to find it here in Argentina.

[BYOGamingPC]

I've made the switch from AS5 to IC Diamond and it's been a great paste so far on my P150EM

[Spannerhands]

I still use Arctic Silver 5, for CPU applications, especially if you can get a high mounting pressure is comes into its own...

​Everything else  MX4 which is effectively Arctic Silver 5 without the silver so its a non conductive AS5...

[DrainDoc]

It's really hard to beat MX-4 and/or IC Diamond

[mgsstar]

+1 on MX4 and IC Diamond as the best thermal paste.

[hello835]

I personally use MX4

[Ookami]

Been using Arctic Silver Ceramique 2 for ages. Many better thermal pastes nowadays, but still have about 5 of Ceramique 2 in my drawer which will last for much time.

[AraSarkisyan]

Shin Etsu or Coolaboratory metal TIM