Best and Worst TIM you've worked with?

[Athlonite]

Worst I've ever used was some shite Titan Nano Blue which came with an HSF of their's
middle of the road would have to be Arctic Silver 5 and Cryorig's CP7 (which came with my R1 universal)
Best of so far (for what's actually available in my country) Cooler Master MasterGel Pro (I'd like to try MasterGel Maker but can't get it here and the Kryonaut stuff is just way to expensive here)

I don't spread it. but agree if you have too its can get messy. Its a mess to clean up too. But it works

I find it easy to work with and to clean off with an alcohol wipe it's gone in 30 seconds and with just my finger tip I can spread it nice and thin which is what you want with AS5

 

[silkstone]

Never ever changed my TIM on my socket 775 build but since I'm upgrading to a Q9650 cpu, SSD & windows 10 I'm going to tear the whole thing down and re apply. Including the North bridge heatpipe. Any validity to this list someone sent me?

View attachment 140489

The list is valid 'if' you can apply it properly. Some of the pastes on there are really really thick which means you have to make multiple attempts to get the thinnest application. Count in the cost of the paste and it can get very expensive.
My personal recommendation is to get MX-4 or NT-H1. They are cheap enough and easy to work. It might take a couple of tries to get the right thickness, but it won't break the bank.

I tried Kryonaut. I got 1 single application from a 1g tube on a GPU and that is without repastes.

 

[Jetster]

Someone gave me a tube of this. I have never used it
I just read where its for Thermistor Assemblys

 

[Rob94hawk]

The list is valid 'if' you can apply it properly. Some of the pastes on there are really really thick which means you have to make multiple attempts to get the thinnest application. Count in the cost of the paste and it can get very expensive.
My personal recommendation is to get MX-4 or NT-H1. They are cheap enough and easy to work. It might take a couple of tries to get the right thickness, but it won't break the bank.

I tried Kryonaut. I got 1 single application from a 1g tube on a GPU and that is without repastes.

Know of a good link to demonstrate a proper application? Thanks

 

[johnspack]

Been building computers myself for 20+ years. Don't remember what paste we used to use back then... Used AS5 for years, but now only use MX4. I like it's non capacitive abilities.
And it just works, for cpus, gpus ect. Worst is probably that silicon gunk they used to give with cheap heatsinks back in the day....

 

[silkstone]

Know of a good link to demonstrate a proper application? Thanks

No video, i'm afraid. If you get the bigger tube, just use the applicator to spread it over the area. There is an instruction manual.
You may want to put the tube in a glass of hot water to thin it out before trying as well.

 

[freeagent]

Good ole AS-5

 

[Grog6]

Someone gave me a tube of this. I have never used it
I just read where its for Thermistor Assemblys

That's the old white stuff, which we used for everything WBW.

Any modern HS compound is going to be better than that; but it's better than cheese.

I use that to assemble LED assemblies; silver based stuff is too expensive for a square foot of area.

 

[umeng2002]

Use to use AS5, then when I got a Noctua cooler, I used up the NT-H1 over a few years.

Now I'm using MX-4.

 

[xtreemchaos]

apart from liquid metal this is the best stuff ive ever used better than mx4, gelid, ect and it only costs £6 for 30 grams from china, it fixed my overheating MacBook pro. give it a try you will not be disappointed.
GD900 .

 

[cucker tarlson]

Dc1 from bequiet.
Not only,is it very easy to work with,there's zero performance difference in 2.5 years.
Nth1 was crap on the other hand,so was thermalright's stock paste.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

I like MX-4 the best because the bitter taste doesn't last as long and I like AS5 the least because it leaves a bitter taste for the whole day.

and just saying,,,,
StarTech metal Oxide thermal compound is actually really good at @$8
Super easy to use..grain of rice application...I change my TIM yearly when I dust (If I keep the build that long) so I'm unsure of it's longevity.

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yqSq6qVDxvcsSQc3kFUvfG.png

 

[Durvelle27]

Best TIM I've ever used is IC Diamond

Don't really have a worst as they all work just a matter of how well