By the numbers... for years and years, 2 TIMs topped the charts tied for the top thermal performance.
1. AS5 was about $9 and had two warnings on their site:
a) 200 hours of "thermal cycling"
b) It is electrically capacative and , as stated on their site, could cause problems if it bridged 29 contacts.
2. Shin Etsu G751 was < $4 .. only issue here is
a) Vendors are now charging the same $8 for Shin Etsu for everybody else's
In later years, Thermal Grizzly came along and knicked everybpody else down a noitch or two.... originally they were $15 abut now, again same $8 as everyone else. Hard to argue against it as long as you avoid that bad batch that got thru QC.
Shin Etsi G751 i found was creat fr COus but when spreading over may occasions .... like 25 on some GFX cards, I found it lost its workability over time. We switched to Gelid Extreme ason the recommendation of EK Water blocks and found it worked well, The nice little application tool came in real handy on VRMs. If ya like thick IC Giamond actually requires you put it in warm water for a while before using ... at rum temps, it starts to lose its workability.
Of course, TIM is only a small part of gaming temps... laptop cooler designs are gernlly crap and peeps prefer light and skinny of cool. I was gaming last night on one of our custom build lappies custom lappies and temps GPU never broke 54C ... the heat sink is a huge copper thing ... huge and copper being things not often found in laptop cooler designs. This lappies weighs over 6 pounds. I ran Furmark on it the day it arrived... topped out at 69C. Im anxious to test one of these:
lpc-digital.com
As for whats the difference, its like GFX cards ... the x80 is better than thr x70 which is better than the x60. The OEM ones probably have a thermal transfer rate of 1.5. Some sites seel OEM replacements such as for EK Water Blocks ... the one below is ashesive type specifically cut for ATI and laptop solutions
"The ATI 35mm x 15mm x 1.0 Original Thermal Adhesive Tape - 8 Pack can be used for most thermal applications. These pads can be used for 1.0mm laptop applications as well as VGA coolers and the like! Sold as an eight pack, these are easy to customize and cut with standard scissors to fit your needs. Easy peel end makes application easy. "
Common thermal Conductivity rates are:
1.5 W/mK
3.0 W/mK
5.0 W/mK
6.0 W/mK
7.0 W/mK
8.0 W/mK
11.0 W/mK
17.0 W/mK
On VRMS we like to use the Fujipoly (in bold) pads (dimensions in mm) :
A 1/4 Sheet (150 x 100 x 1.0 thick) ) pad will run you $16.99 at 6.0 W/mK
A 1/4 Sheet (150 x 100 x 1.0 thick) ) pad will run you $34.99 at 11.0 W/mK
A 1/4 Sheet (150 x 100 x 1.0 thick) ) pad will run you $89.99 at 17.0 W/mK