Is 3.3 W/m-k good?

[Computernut]

I have some Thermaltake tg-7 thermal grease and I was wondering if 3.3 W/ m-k is good.

 

[Solandri]

It's towards the upper end for thermal pastes (page 7).

http://www.nrel.gov/transportation/pdfs/42972.pdf

But you have to bear in mind that any thermal paste conducts heat two orders of magnitude better than air (0.024 W/m-K). So since the purpose of paste is to displace air, the relative difference in performance between pastes is very small.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-d_429.html

Also, the thermal conductivity of metal is two orders of magnitude better than paste, so application of too much paste is actually worse than using no paste at all. Unfortunately, paste manufacturers recommend you use way too much paste, to try to get you to buy more. You want to use the minimum amount of paste which will just barely spread out to cover the entire area between the CPU heat spreader and heatsink. Any paste beyond this is best squeezed out the sides, so is wasted.

 

[Computernut]

Ok thanks!