Geek Tested: 17 Thermal Pastes Face Off

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Does thermal paste really matter? We applied, reapplied, reapplied some more, and turned up the heat on our testing CPU to find out.

Ask ten geeks about their preferred thermal interface material (TIM) and you’ll get six different answers. Five will go with Arctic Silver 5 and the others will have five totally different favorites. Ask a non-geek about their favorite thermal paste and you might get slapped.

But is Arctic Silver 5 really the best? Is the thermal testing compound we’ve been using in the lab really cutting the mustard? We gathered seventeen premium thermal pastes and an overclocked test bed and set about finding out whether thermal paste really makes a difference, and if so, which one is the best.

Read more at:
Maximum PC | Geek Tested: 17 Thermal Pastes Face Off
 

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I had to buy some thermal paste to fix my Toshiba TV, it was some unbranded stuff from Maplins, it's doing it's job though. :)
 

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real men use mayo
 

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Not to mention chocolate or toothpaste, eh? :rolleyes:
 

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Intel Q9300 2.5Ghz Quad LGA775 (Would like Q9650)
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Gigabyte GA-EP45T-UD3R (F6 Bios)
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4Gb OCZ Gold 1,333Mhz
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Palit HD4850 O/C Sonic 512Mb DDR3, Dual DViD's
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Azalia to twin Samson 50w Studio Monitors
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OCZ 600w
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Scythe 140mm Zipang
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Cherry PS/2 custom model
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Lenovo USB laser "Thinkpad" Mouse
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NOD32
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Creative Sound Blaster Z w/5.1 sound system
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In Win C 900W Series 80+ Platinum
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Thermaltake Chaser A71
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Custom Water Cooling Loop
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Cooler Master QuickFire XTi
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Why wasn't Arctic Céramique in the line up? I swear by the stuff... :zip:

There's quite a few not mentioned, like IC Diamond which is my new personal favourite.

What's about here:

It is dated from 2009, but looks renewed.

Much more comprehensive and there really haven't been 'that many' new pastes in the last few years.
 

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Systems by SmartEyeball
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8 Pro x64
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ASUS P8Z77 WS
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16GB G.Skill Trident X 2666mhz
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x2 EVGA 780 Ti Superclocked SLI
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SB X-FI Surround 5.1 PRO USB / ATH-AD900 Headphones
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Silverstone Strider Evolution 1200W
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Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition
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Noctua NH-D14
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Arctic Silver gets my vote. Especially for PS3's to prevent YLOD. :geek:
 

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