Best Thermal Compund

[crazykid1]

What would be the best thermal compound for a AMD Phenom II X4 945 Quad Core Processor?

 

[Anderwolfe]

Arctic Silver 5 is what I use

 

[Atomic Rooster]

Are you overclocking? Shin-Etsu, ARCTIC COOLING MX-2, Tuniq TX-2

The stuff that comes pre-applied to the included heatsink works well enough. I use a tube of RadioShack thermal paste I picked up years ago.

 

[GibsonSGKing]

I use Noctua's compound, it's been performing fantastically with my Zalman 9900LED and Q9400

 

[Sporego]

mx-3 but new egg only has mx2

 

[its snoodles]

i use the tuniq its the best in my opinion

 

[Holysky]

I was using Arctic Silver and then switched to Tuniq TX-2 and my temperatures dropped a good 5 degrees Celsius which is quite dramatic considering it's just compound.

 

[iPwn]

Did you know: Toothpaste is actually the best thermal compound there is, unfortunately, the upkeep is ridiculous as it dries within a month and will become useless... and probably fry your chip if you're not careful. I used to use toothpaste when extreme overclocking but the upkeep was too much.

 

[Anderwolfe]

Did you know: Toothpaste is actually the best thermal compound there is, unfortunately, the upkeep is ridiculous as it dries within a month and will become useless... and probably fry your chip if you're not careful. I used to use toothpaste when extreme overclocking but the upkeep was too much.

Reminds me of this study: http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=164465

 

[Atomic Rooster]

My favorite thermal paste review: Dan's Data - Thermal transfer compound comparison

If you think any particular grease is going to cause your CPU to run more than a few degrees Celsius cooler than any other grease, though, then assuming the grease is properly applied, you're dreaming.

Is fancy thermal goop as good as the manufacturers would like you to believe, and as various Junior Overclockers do believe? Nope.

Is it, therefore, a complete waste of money? Absolutely not.

Just be aware that it's not magic, and don't expect the most expensive stuff to work very much better than generic grease.