Cooling Artic Silver 5 still the most popular TIM?

I've been using Artic Silver 5 for my cpus for it seems like donkeys ages,
and that is just the point, should I be using something else?

 

Nope - still works great. There are other thermal compounds around, but I gave up caring about 1 or 2°C differences many years ago...

 

Only ever used mx2/3/4, never bothered with AS5 due to it's curing time and possible electrical conductivity.

 

Same for me. I'd put being non-conductive above a few degrees of temperature difference.

 

Think it's just the recognition factor people know it and know it does the job. Though as above i'm on Mx series as it's easier to apply imo along with better curing time.

 

Truth be told. I still use that old industrial ceramic stuff that I have at my workplace. Negligible difference imo.

 

MX4 took 10 degrees off my overclocked CPU when compared to AS5 on a hot day (tested with Prime64), now the hottest it gets is 70c, used to be 80c.

Edit: On a cool day like today the hottest it gets is 66c with Prime64.

 

I've tried them all, negligible differences, YMMV and a huge case of diminishing returns the more you spend.

Deders, I wonder whether you tried AS5 again after you moved to MX4? I found in my extensive testing a few years ago that temps could vary by up to 10°C with the same paste depending on whether you were unlucky with the spread of the compound on a particular application.

That said, I currently use MX2

 

I use mx-2/3/4 always have, just because I always have!

PC in the studio has some of the liquid metal stuff on it, on account of having a syringe of it and wanting to try it.

 

I've tried AS5 several times with similar results, the worst time temps were up by 2-3 degrees over the others. Maybe one of the reasons MX4 is more effective for me is because it spreads easier and more evenly.

Now I have enough headroom to safely clock up to 4GHz I'm not going to jinx it by re-applying paste. I might have a go at my graphics card though

 

MX-2 for me these days.

 

I still use mx-2 and I will continue to until it runs out. After that I will move onto mx-4.

 

This article may alter opinion and provide some lol'z

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-February-2012/1490/1

 

Although that was informative, what that test didn't do (naturally) was test long term thermal conductivity. Over time some pastes cure and become much more effective. Some dry out.

That said, it's still amusing to see mayonnaise beat some run of the mill thermal pastes on a first go basis.

 

I'm a big fan of the phobya he-grease

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

does it not show prolimatech has best results?

 

I use diamond IC at the moment and it seems to perform well. Its difficult to test perfomance as mounting can make such a difference to temps but it seemed to be a couple of degrees better than as5 on my old 950

 

I use AS5 still. Got a tube ages ago, it's good for a fair number of uses so it hasn't run out yet as I only use it the one time fitting the CPU cooler on a new build.

 

I still wonder why people choose a conductive paste that performs pretty much identical to one that doesn't?

I know you would have to be pretty heavy handed with a conductive paste for it to cause an issue but why take the risk.

A question and not a flame against AS5

 

It came bundled on a discount from Newegg (maybe $2 off, it mainly saved trouble adding something else to the cart). As you say, you'd have to be pretty heavy handed to mess it up so it's really a non-issue. Also just a question and not an interrogation: have you used AS5 before? Once you start applying it it becomes pretty apparent that it isn't going to go squirting off the sides because of how pasty it is.

EDIT: After reading the thread, I found the answer to my question.