mark.assad wroteSorry yasamoka, it seems we posted the same time ! :)
Im sorry now you get me confused again ... any certain brand you prefer for some valid reason ?
Haha no problem...here are my educated preferences:
1) For most surfaces: Arctic MX-4 is the best. Spreadable, a bit viscous, inexpensive, top performer. OCZ Freeze is excellent too.
2) Large spaces: Shin Etsu. It's thick and is best used for gaps. But not necessarily for a heatsink with a well-machined base (flat, no gaps, etc...) and good IHS (CPU heatspreader).
3) Ease of use: thermal pads / thermal tape (stay away from these for ANY form of serious cooling). Best used for memory chips, MOSFETs. Just to get the job done.
4) Ease of use + performance: Indigo Xtreme. They are metal pads that are transparent when applied and melt into a liquid state when heated. EXCELLENT performance, but really expensive ($20 for 2 pads / applications). It competes with thermal paste, yet doesn't "necessarily" beat the top ones. It's one of the top ones, though.
5) Best ever: Coolaboratory Liquid Metal Ultra. Expensive for a few applications, eats through aluminum (be careful if you use it with an aluminum base or an aluminum CPU heatspreader. Leeches into metals slowly (including Nickel and Copper), so to maintain good temps when reapplying thermal compound, you can either reapply Ultra to get good performance or another compound and get a bit worse performance. Probably uses Gallium. EASY to remove, very easy (unlike its predeccesor, the Liqiuid Metal Pro)
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=62
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-March-2011/1207
Note that these tests probably don't include the MX-4. Note also that some people have reported MX-4 performing the same as MX-3, while others have reported that was a teeny bit inferior (that impression wasn't frequent in what I read about it). MX-3 was a pain to apply, it was very viscous. MX-4 is also cheaper, if I'm not mistaken.
Now it usually boils down to 1) and 5). 5) is better than the best non-metal thermal compounds by a max of 2C, maybe 3C if you're lucky.
I choose 1). Gonna get my MX-4 tubes from the Republic of Gamers store. He'll have them by the end of August, if you're in Lebanon.
Shant, another member around here, previously wanted Arctic Silver 5. He wanted to order, from Amazon, a 10g tube for like $10. He realized he was going to pay $100 gumrok + VAT if he were going to get it delivered to Lebanon, since it's considered "home appliances". So take that into consideration.
Peace.
