Thermal Paste - That time of the year!

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xCatbodi

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Sep 6, 2013
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Seems to be like that time of the year again in which I want to re-apply my thermal paste but I'm all out :(.

So whats the best thermal paste around these days? I've always stuck to the regular ones that come in the box, but I'm all out. I want the best temps I can possible get.

Here's some info, incase you really need it.

CPU: Intel i5 2500k
Heatsink: Hyper Evo 212 (with a Noctua Fan, instead of stock).
 
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The Q6660 Inside
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The Q6660 Inside

The Q6660 Inside

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Jan 25, 2013
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http://www.amazon.com/Coollaboratory-Liquid-Thermal-Interface-Material/dp/B0039RY3MM
Said to be the best thermal paste out there, highly recommended.

 
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Calculatron

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Apr 3, 2013
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Most quality brand names will perform within a degree or two of one another, far more important is the method of application and mounting.

That said Noctua, Prolimatech, Gelid, Tuniq are all good choices worthy of method. Arctic Silver 5 still works great, but considered obsolete since it is electrically capacitive and has a cure time of two-hundred hours.

I am using Arctic Cooling MX-4, which is a great well-rounded product that is always on the top of my list for recommendations.

I also use this: http://www.moddiy.com/products/Dow-Corning-TC%252d5022-%283.5g%29.html buuuuuut, it's a touch more than what one would like to spend, and you probably don't want to wait two-three weeks for it to get to your doorstep.
 
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xCatbodi

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Sep 6, 2013
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There seems to be a lot of different types of Arctic Silver.

http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silver-Thermal-Compound-Grams/dp/B000OGX5AM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379365549&sr=8-1&keywords=arctic+silver
http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silver-Polysynthetic-Thermal-Compound/dp/B002CZAPUQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1379365549&sr=8-4&keywords=arctic+silver
http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silver-High-Density-Polysynthetic-AS5-12G/dp/B0087X71ZO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1379365549&sr=8-5&keywords=arctic+silver
http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silver-Alumina-Polysynthetic-Compound/dp/B004Z9XG0I/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1379365549&sr=8-6&keywords=arctic+silver

Which one of these do you recommend?

And is it true that with Arctic Silver you should run something like Prime95 to let everything set in?
 
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The Q6660 Inside

The Q6660 Inside

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Jan 25, 2013
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I would go for MX-4 or Liquid Ultra instead, it is more practical.
 
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xCatbodi

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Sep 6, 2013
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Explain to me "practical"?
 
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The Q6660 Inside

The Q6660 Inside

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It does not take 200h+ to "cure" with similar performance.
 
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xCatbodi

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Sep 6, 2013
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So how long would it take to cure?

 
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The Q6660 Inside

The Q6660 Inside

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Jan 25, 2013
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200 hours of on time, go for MX-4 which has 0 hours of cure time.
 
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Calculatron

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Apr 3, 2013
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The first and second linked items are actually the same item, just sold by different vendors. The Third is also the same, but it is in a 12g tube, instead of a 3.5g tube. All three of these are Arctic Silver 5, which is what I listed and what was popular, and still is. However, like explained before, it has some attributes that people just don't want to deal with anymore - like a 200 hour burn-in time to reach full performance (although that only helps 1-5C) and it's not safe were electrical currents may happen to be.

The fourth item you linked was a 14g tube of Arctic Silver Alumina, which is a different bag of tricks. It's non-capacitive, but still have a cure/burn-in time of 50-200 hours to reach optimum efficiency. ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100014 )

Arctic Silver offers another solution: Ceramique 2. Non-capacitive and no burn-in time. ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100017 )

I have no personal experience with these, but I can't imagine them being too different from the classic Arctic Silver 5.

 
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