Arctic silver 5 the best ????

I asked this question the other day and was told MX-2 is now the best with regards to reducing temps. In addition it is non-conductive unlike AS5.

I just ordered some today (£4.50ish)
 
MX-2 is meant to be better, it isn't electrically conductive and it doesn't take time to "bed-in" it also has lower temps than as5 even after the as5 has "bedded in".
 
+1 for the MX-2

For years I had sworn by AS5 but now there is a new kid on the block for all the reasons Ben says
 
there are so many variables to performance you're probably unlikely to see much difference!

I have MX2 and AS5, and some ceramique somewhere from my phase days and I have to say I find the AS5 much easier to apply than MX2, found the MX2 a bit watery but its hardly a big issue.

You probably want to consider whether your IHS is actually flat before you worry about TIM.
 
How do you mean much easier to apply, Matt? I have always been just dolloping a small amount in the middle and whacking the block on, letting it squidge itself out as opposed to applying it.
 
yeah I normally do the credit card method and as5 is easier because its thicker but thats only because I prefer doing it like that and it seems to work better for me. Probably no science in it at all :)
 
MX-1 was always better than AS5 in reviews, but to do a propper review, there will have to be a crazy ammount of re-mounts to get a decent average, so there's only gong to be a degree or 2 difference.

The better performers are probably the pastes that are actually easier to spread, getting a better, thinner spread.

An ideal world would see no paste, but it's almost physically impossible to get 2 100% flat surfaces without the use of NASA style equipment.

Tuniq t-X2 has been performing pretty well recently, might be an idea to give that a try.

I would also try the spreading method rather than the blob, i've found that i get better temps with the spread - I know on the arctic silver webby it says to spread a line across the IHS, but there is only one reason why they say this: n00bs...

The average pc user generally won't have a clue what they are on about if they went into detail about spreading it in a nice thin layer to reduce the ammount of paste etc etc, so they tell them to chuck a great stonking line of paste across the core and hope for the best (average user wont be clocking and looking for that extra 0.01% of performance like a lot of us on here, and thus the couple of extra degrees won't bother them...)
 
I have found the best method for low temps (only used AS5 so far but going to try MX2 next) is to pull some cling film tightly over the end of a finger and spread a miniscule amount of TIM on the IHS and then rub it on thinly and evenly until u can almost see through it ;) I believe i found this method on an instructional that huddy typed up.

Edit: found it http://www.huddysworld.co.uk/Techpages/PCZone_TechieTalk_8.shtml
 
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