Which Thermal compound?

[N1GHTRA1N]

So I'm looking to clean up my stuff and reapply my heatsinks with new thermal compound. I've used Arctic Silver and Noctua stuff recently. I'm considering buying Noctua again or Arctic Silver 5. The last time I used Noctua was because it was bundled with my CPU heatsink.

I will be applying this to an i7 920, i5 2500k, gtx 460, and hd 6970. Basically I'm looking for the best multiple purpose thermal compound. Which of the two I mentioned is best? Feel free to offer an alternative too.

 

[tikiman2012]

Of the 2 I would use Noctua. It's not electrically conductive. Accidents happen and people slip. It's a safer substance. Arctic Silver 5 is very outdated. There are better options.

 

[N1GHTRA1N]

Of the 2 I would use Noctua. It's not electrically conductive. Accidents happen and people slip. It's a safer substance. Arctic Silver 5 is very outdated. There are better options.

What is better than the Noctua then? I'm open to trying something new.

 

[tikiman2012]

I meant better than Arctic Silver 5. They all perform within the same narrow margin these days. Personally, I use Ceramique, simply for the fact that you can get it in a big tube that lasts a long time and it's not conductive. The MX pastes work well too. It's all about preference anymore. Noctua will perform just as good as any of the others.

 

[Forceman]

I like MX-4, but they are all so close now that it doesn't really matter much. Just avoid Arctic Silver because, as mentioned before, it is capacitive and can cause problems if you smear any on other components.

 

[N1GHTRA1N]

I decided to give the IC Diamond thermal compound a try. I've read good things about it so hopefully those things were true.

 

[Stanfiem]

Good luck! I use tuniq TX-4 and it works pretty well with Direct contact heat sinks b/c your not supposed to spread those. But I can see it being difficult to spread on a cpu.

 

[IIIIICRASHIIIII]

Antec Formula 6 Nano Diamond thermal compound is good stuff. Try it.