Arctic Silver 5 High Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound -12g (AS5-12G-R)

Arctic Silver 5 is a solid choice for anyone who wants reliable, long-lasting thermal paste with high thermal conductivity. It's particularly favored by those who are looking for a more traditional paste for high-performance systems, but be prepared for a bit of a learning curve during application and some wait time as it cures. If you're building a system for the long haul and can handle the slightly tricky application, it’s a great pick.For newcomers, there are more user-friendly options out there, but if you know what you're doing and want a proven performer, Arctic Silver 5 delivers.Pros-Great thermal conductivityCons:-Thicker consistency can make application harder-Needs curing time to reach full performance-Can be a bit messy to work with, especially for beginners-Slightly more expensive compared to some budget options

I just keep coming back to this. I have tried most of the "better" thermal pastes with very little to no improvement. Many of them costing much more and not giving any "real" improvement. Silver 5 has always been reliable, easy to apply, it just works every time. A metric I use, is not peak temps, but how fast temps swing from idle to full load and back to idle. A good paste should allow a good cooling solution to move heat quickly, Artic Silver 5 has never let me down, so I keep coming back.

I don't care what people claim about other pastes, this paste is the best PASTE you can buy. Obviously you could buy liquid metal, but then you aren't talking about paste anymore.... In terms of paste, this is the best you can buy. I have tried so many brands, and ran them all through their paces. This paste consistently outperforms all others.There is another paste brand, that has to do with bears (you either know or you don't but im not gonna say the name outright) and that brand is trash.... Firstly I bought that bear brand from multiple sources. EVERY SINGLE SET would dry out when applying it. Paste should not dry out like that.... now I read online about a bad batch, but lets be honest here, 5 different sellers, 5 different order dates, and all of them would dry out when applying.... to me that says the paste is crap. Apparently the person who invented and sells said paste, doesn't spread the paste? They just do a dot or line. which I guess would stop it from drying out? but still. The best way to apply paste is to spread it. The metal "lid" on top of a cpu is called the heat spreader or IHS. The whole point of that chunk of metal, is to absorb heat from the cpu. If you know about metal, heat expands in metal. So in practice, you want to cover the entire surface area for maximum performance. You got some youtubers who claim to orient your cooler a specific way to help reduce cooling. Bullshit. Maybe if you were doing direct die cooling sure. But for mountain typical coolers, this is not needed. They claim there is a 1-2c difference. They are just full of poop (can't curse on reviews). Anyway, the bear brand dries out, and then doesn't get the same temp results.ALSO NOTE, you HAVE to do the break in period. AS5 used to be sold in plastic packages like everything else back then. That package would specifically state you should break in the paste, 200-500 hour break in. NO REVIEWER will EVER do this break in period. They simply apply paste, test, and record. Which 100% is WRONG. That's like building a house without following instructions, and when it collapses you blame the wood.... no, its USER ERROR. The paste after its break in period will consistently out perform every other PASTE on the market. Its just fact.My 3950x with 4.4ghz overclock (manual OC none of that crap boost nonsense) will idle 32c, gaming 50c, and stress 72c.... I am consistently told that I am a liar by wanna be tech nerds. This cpu is cooled by a 360mm AIO from CM. Those temps are real. I even screen shot my temp reading, and immediately posted it online. And was accused of photoshopping the image.... I didn't even have time to photoshop.... but whatever. People gonna follow mass opinion instead of following actual facts.Best paste. Period.

If you're even looking at this then you know what it does. AS has a very high standard of quality and even the lowest grade crap they dump in the trash cans at their factory is leaps and bounds above what cpu and graphic card manufacturers seem to put on their products. This particular type is EXCELLENT for thermal distribution. For a proper example, and as an experiment, I put an i7-3770k on a Z77 Sabertooth with the thinnest amount of this compound as I possible could. The layer was as thin as paper...let's put it that way. The computer did not run cool (water cooled CPU and graphics card, btw) but it did run most games and applications just fine with the occasional overheat/blue screen/reboot. After using ArctiClean to remove the layer I put on I reapplied a more realistic layer of this compound and the CPU temperature dropped an additional 20 degrees Celsius.

Used before PC and game system repair works better than the white stuff.

I place a pea size drop in the middle of the cpu. Then, I place the aio cooler on it tightening down evenly and diagonally. This is an easy method in my opinion. I use Arctic Clean, and Arctic Thermal Surface Purifier. Corsair AIO. Intel 9980 cpu.

Till I found out theres better and cheaper and doesnt make your pets sick.

Most of the thermal grease or compound that comes either pre-applied or with a cooler is like wet toothpaste when applied. This stuff is like liquid silver. You barely even need a dot to cover an entire surface and it works very well. It is dense and conducts heat like there is no threshold between your equipment and the block. I don't have the differences in numbers to share, but I can tell you that my CPU is sitting at 27°C right now with a $30 air cooler.