I've been using Arctic Silver 5 for more than a decade and I've been satisfied with its thermal conductivity and also its long term endurance.
Nearly everyone in this forum has experienced the situation of CPU heatsink removal leading to CPU removal, because the cheap TIM had gone completely dry. After separating them carefully with a screwdriver, the cleaning of CPU / cooler would be difficult too.
This has never happened to me with Arctic Silver 5.
Now I feel it's time for a change. AS5 is quite old and many products with better results are available. I am running out of AS5 anytime soon.
What is the best thermal interface material out there?
Thermal conductivity is not the most important factor though, because it is pointless to gain 2 to 3°C at first, if the TIM is gradually deteriorating from thermal cycles, high temps and stress and after a couple of years becomes dried up and sticky leading to laptop / desktop overheating.
So, I am interested in your long term experience with different pastes. There are products with excellent thermal conductivity that had proven to be corrosive to copper or making scratches to CPU surface. I can't risk using anything like that.
Nearly everyone in this forum has experienced the situation of CPU heatsink removal leading to CPU removal, because the cheap TIM had gone completely dry. After separating them carefully with a screwdriver, the cleaning of CPU / cooler would be difficult too.
This has never happened to me with Arctic Silver 5.
Now I feel it's time for a change. AS5 is quite old and many products with better results are available. I am running out of AS5 anytime soon.
What is the best thermal interface material out there?
Thermal conductivity is not the most important factor though, because it is pointless to gain 2 to 3°C at first, if the TIM is gradually deteriorating from thermal cycles, high temps and stress and after a couple of years becomes dried up and sticky leading to laptop / desktop overheating.
So, I am interested in your long term experience with different pastes. There are products with excellent thermal conductivity that had proven to be corrosive to copper or making scratches to CPU surface. I can't risk using anything like that.
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