What's your preferred thermal grease?

[Patriot]

I don't use AS5 because it's conductive and in terms of curing time and thermal performance it loses out to other compounds. I usually use either Arctic MX-2 or MX-4 or similar compounds that are non-conductive and has easy spreadability. In addition I prefer the pea shaped drop with the cpu's versus a line method or any other. Also Arctic says that the MX-2/MX-4 can last for 8 years which is a very long lifetime for thermal paste. None of the other manufacturers advertise their lifespan but from what I have determined the Intel thermal paste (Dow Corning) has a shelf-life of a few years.

I also saw the suggestion for Gelid GC Extreme but really the difference between it and the competing brands even PK-1/PK-2/PK-3 , NHT1, MX-2/MX-4 is 1 degree at the most. GC Extreme is also somewhat expensive I've found (here in Canada) in comparison to other brands.

I used to use MX-2 and MX-4

PK-1 is easier to spread and is cheaper...
Pk-3 is somewhere between mx-2 and mx-4, but is also found in the same $30/30g monster tubes.

 

[Doppelbauer]

NT-H1