Thermal compound

[jadow77]

Hi I'm about to install a cpu and a gpu cooling and I have 4 thermal compounds to choose from:

 

Artic cooling mx-4

Artic silver 5

Noctua NT-H1

And one i got for a Intel stock cooler

 

Any advice to wich to use?

 

Also all but  the artic cooler are atleast 2 years old.

[PillowSmoke]

Arctic silver.

[constanrine5d]

I bough that noctua NT-H1 two days ago, it does a pretty good job. Artic silver 5 is also an excellent option but I think its conductive so it might ruin something. Never tried Artic cooling mx-4.

[StormtrooperStu]

Used to use Silver them Ceramique but now use MX4.  Best all rounder and really easy to use.

[OutlawedConsole]

Arctic Silver

[Hashiyan]

Silver

[CwGoh]

NT-H1 is the easiest to apply and perform consistently.

MX-4's performs slightly better, is more viscous, and not as consistent. But for most scenarios perform better than NT-H1. (by like 0.4 degrees) 

[bamerx98]

Mx4

[deathjester]

Mx-4>noctua>as 5. AS 5 was the best a long time ago. Mx-4 is the new hotness and Noctua's stuff is really good.

[-rascal-]

I bough that noctua NT-H1 two days ago, it does a pretty good job. Artic silver 5 is also an excellent option but I think its conductive so it might ruin something. Never tried Artic cooling mx-4.

 

Arctic Silver 5 is a non-conductive material.

 

Not Electrically Conductive:

Arctic Silver 5 was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity.

(While much safer than electrically conductive silver and copper greases, Arctic Silver 5 should be kept away from electrical traces, pins, and leads. While it is not electrically conductive, the compound is very slightly capacitive and could potentially cause problems if it bridges two close-proximity electrical paths.)

- http://www.arcticsilver.com/

 

My choice; MX-4.

[gamerxxl12]

Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra 100% Metal Thermal Interface Material

http://amzn.com/B0039RY3MM

Expensive but works the best out of any paste by far.

[austin541]

arctic silver 

[jadow77]

Thanks for all the answers, a quick followup question: i'm going to put on a aftermarket cooler on my r290, and was wondering where to connect my antistatic wrist strap, i'll be working on my kitchen table?

[WoodenMarker]

Thanks for all the answers, a quick followup question: i'm going to put on a aftermarket cooler on my r290, and was wondering where to connect my antistatic wrist strap, i'll be working on my kitchen table?

I wouldn't use one and just ground myself on the case often instead. 

If you really want to use it, just plug in a psu, make sure it's off and attach it to your psu. You can also connect it to any bare metal on your case.

[Cyber023]

Silver or Noctua