artic or antec silver thermal compound-does it matter which?

[pepperg]

just got antec silver thermal compound formula 5 at my local computer store. i asked for artic brand and they didn't have it, but told me that this is "the same thing"

anyone know and care to comment- am i good to go w/ this or should i return it and get the articbrand?

thanks.

 

[Syntonic]

No, arctic silver 5 and mx-1 are not the same thing.

Arctic silver... contains silver (O RLY?!). MX-1 is non-conductive and is said to be slightly better if applied correctly (conflicting reports on this one - 1 to 3 degrees difference but this applies to most enthusiast thermal compounds.) If you are careful and don't put a huge blob of AS5 everywhere, you should be ok but that is the same for everything really. Arctic ceramique is hard to clean off so I wouldn't recommend that really for most jobs.

Edit: I forgot to mention a few other things such as some people say you need to reapply AS5 every once in awhile. I think they all need some burn-in time regardless for maximum benefit. To answer your question directly: AS5 should be fine for all intents and purposes but I personally have switched to MX-1. If something comes preapplied with mx-1 or as5, keep it and don't lap it off.