Any dif between a CM high perf or an Artic silver 5?

[giorgio88]

Just a simple question folks?
Any difference between thoose comppunds or am I safe as long as I purchase a decent brand?

 

[Ecky]

The difference between any name-brand thermal compound will generally only be a few degrees, with the exception of compounds like IC-7 diamond, which uses diamond particles but will also cause some nasty scratches on the surface of your CPU, and CoolLaboratory's Liquid Metal, which is very difficult to work with and will completely destroy anything aluminum it comes into contact with, as well as permanently staining copper surfaces.

That said, Arctic Silver 5 is 8 years old now and far from the best paste you can get, or even a particularly good value. It's a name people recognize though, and it's not particularly bad either. Anandtech member idontcare did a roundup a while back and found that Noctua's NT-H1 and Arctic's own Ceramique both perform better, and are often cheaper than AS5. Other reviewers have had similar results. You might take a look at some thermal paste roundups and draw your own conclusions.