Best Bang/Buck Thermal Paste

[CroSsFiRe2009]

It seems like theres always a time when you finally use up your last tube of thermal paste and don't know which to try out next I just finished using the last of my beloved OCZ Freeze and since they discontinued it I'm at a bit of a crossroads as to which thermal paste I should try next.
I'm not looking for the best paste possible but rather the best bang/buck. Used to get 3grams of freeze for 3$ but I see now that low pricing isn't exactly the norm.

How is AS5 with the cure time these days? And is the temp drop that significant, at almost $1/gram it seems to be a pretty decent deal Arctic Silver 5 HIGH-DENSITY Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound 12 Gram - DirectCanada. Are there any other types of paste that I should be looking at?

[Arinoth]

Well if you truely want the best bang for your buck you could go buy bulk cheap stuff from deal extreme. DealExtreme: $3.10 Professional Thermal Heat-Sink Compound with Injection Tube - 1.0g (10-Pack) . Buddy of mine has been using them on some of his heat sinks and i really havent noticed much of a temperature difference between that and the expensive stuff. Now would i myself trust something thats 30cents each? Probably not but it truely is the best bang for your buck.

[DkRk]

Gee, I had no idea OCZ Freeze was discontinued. It was my favorite goop too. :(

[JD]

I've stuck with Arctic Cooling. MX-2 was great, MX-3 is great and I'm assuming MX-4 is even better! Can't go wrong IMO. Price usually isn't too expensive either.

[Soultribunal]

I've actually had very good sucess with Zalmans and Zerotherms Paste as of late. As well I still use IC24 with good results as well.

ITs been a while since I've focused on all the ones available today however the ones listed above really do a good job.

ST

[David Milch]

Unless you're extreme overclocking, almost any non electrically conductive non capacitive paste will do. Try mg chemicals, they actually manufacture their products instead of just rebranding something from another manufacturer. Boron Nitride Thermal Grease

[Kattivo]

I've been using AS5 for quite some time now and I'm pretty content with the temps I get. Although I have heard some good things about the Arctic Cooling pastes as well.

[sswilson]

I just keep one of the killer tubes of MX2 on hand.... PM'd it shouldn't be too bad, and unless you're putting out a couple of PC's a week it should last you the better part of a year. Might not be the cheapest out there, but IMO, one of the easiest to apply / consistant TIMs on the market.

[Soultribunal]

Originally Posted by David Milch

Unless you're extreme overclocking, almost any paste will do. Try mg chemicals, they actually manufacture their products instead of just rebranding something from another manufacturer. Boron Nitride Thermal Grease

Although I do agree its best to go to the source, its not always possible for some compounds.

And when you do as many builds and re-mounts or new cooler swaps you tend to find the ones that are as friendly to that as possible.

After all, I'd hate to be reapplying and removing a lot of the crap compunds out there.
And some do actually make a good difference.

ST

[David Milch]

Originally Posted by Soultribunal

Although I do agree its best to go to the source, its not always possible for some compounds.

And when you do as many builds and re-mounts or new cooler swaps you tend to find the ones that are as friendly to that as possible.

After all, I'd hate to be reapplying and removing a lot of the crap compunds out there.
And some do actually make a good difference.

ST

so true. but with most half decent compounds their thermal conductivities are relatively close, so yeah I guess it comes down to ease of application and removal as well as electrical and capacitive properties.

For example, I was looking at IC7 diamond paste, but they want 50psi or more applied. And some of the liquid metal products leave a residue that cannot be removed or spill some on your board and you're in trouble.