good thermal paste?

[Quakindude]

You're asking for a recommendation and bro, we've given it. AS5 is the TIM of choice in the large majority of computing circles. Easy to apply, easy to clean off, from day one to 200 hours later when it has cured completely the temps only change by about 2-3 degrees C(lower) and it is relatively easy to come by. I've taken CPU's off of heat sinks 5 years after using it and the stuff, while not as paste like in substance as when applied, wasn't hard caked stuff either and was still easy to clean off.

Only thing about AS5 is it is slightly conductive. Some folks will say it isn't, but I'm here to tell you it is. Silver is highly conductive and this stuff has silver particles in it. Once I made two lines of the stuff 3" long. I took some wires and attached them to a 9-volt battery and then placed the wires on one line of AS5 each. By the time the voltage got down the line of AS5, my multimeter read out 3.5v. That was a crappy/half working analog MM too. 3.5v is enough to fry your memory channels on your mobo or your CPU socket for that matter.

AS5 needs to be carefully cleaned off any areas it gets on besides the CPU heat spreader. That's my only gripe about it. So I am very careful when applying it and have never (/emote knocks on wood) fried anything from using it. Although many people have.

I've rambled on long enough. Sorry for the long post.

[Hitman]

I also use AS5, it is a little expensive, but worth it.

[Elysium]

Thanks. I'll go with the AS5.

[Hitman]

Originally Posted by yellowhello

Thanks. I'll go with the AS5.

Good Choice.

[MakubeX]

A test made by the russian OC team itc/modlabs; AS5 and ASC are identical in performance, and are, and AS5 is terribly overpriced for the performace it offers:

|results|

|crappy thermal interface|
Tital Nano Blue 59
Panasonic 58.5
KPT-8 (reference) 56.6

|decent thermal interface|
Data Cooler 57
Titan TTG S-104 , S-103 56.7
Pasta Siliconowa 56.6
Zalman CSL 850 56.5
Noctua 56.5
Stars Silver 56.5
Stars 700/Aero 700 56
GeIL GL-TCP1b 55.6
Thermopox 55.6
КПТ-8(BeO) 55.5
Sil more 55.5
Shin-Etsu(white) 55.5
W.P. 55.5
STARS (white, soft pack) 55.5
AKT-842 55
Fanner 420 55
Koolance 55

|good thermal interface|
Arctic Alumina 55.5
Arctic Silver-3 54.6
AOS 54.5
DC-340 54.5
Asetek 54.5
Arctic Silver-5 53.5
Arctic Ceramique 53.5

|great thermal interface|
Apus TMG 301 52.5
Gigabyte 52.5
Titan Nano Grease TTG-G30010 52.5
GFC-M1 D90T8-010 52.5
Shin-Etsu MicroSi G-751 52

|outstanding thermal interface|
Arctic Cooling MX-1 51.5
Shin-Etsu MicroSi MPU-3.7 50.5
Coollaboratory Liquid Pro 50

Translated version of http://itc.ua/article.phtml?ID=27230

Source: Super Thermal Paste Test: 36 brands tested! - XtremeSystems Forums