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Arctic Silver 3
Artic Silver 3 is arguably the most popular retail compound. They've made quite an impression with overclockers with the original Arctic Silver, and have released newer versions, improving performance slightly each time. It's non-silicone based, and requires a set-in period of about 72 hours for performance to stabalize. Consistency is like gel, and it spreads very evenly.
Two criticisms I have about Arctic Silver 3 is ease of extraction, and cleanup. The compound is very thick (though a breeze to apply), and it takes a fair amount of force to squeeze out of the syringe. 90% of the time, I have to exert so much force, I always ended up with more than I needed. There are tricks, like pulling the syringe back as it comes out, but it's still a hassle. Cleanup isn't easy either, as the AS3 leaves a residue that doesn't easily come off with rubbing alcohol.
Arctic Alumina
Released about the same time as Arctic Silver 3, the Alumina is a ceramic based compound. It's cheaper than AS3, and probably fills a gap in the market for those who aren't interested in silver compounds. Like AS3, a set-in period is required. Consistency is that of gel, and application, as well as cleanup is easy.
Arctic Alumina is sold retail in a syringe. The sample above was included with our Swiftech MCX4000, but Powerleap is another company I know that packages these blister packs.
Vantec Generic (Stars-350)
Lately, Vantec has been packaging this Stars-350 compound with their newer heatsinks. It's also a gel-like compound, making for easy application and cleanups. What is good about this packaged compound is that it's resealable, so you don't need to throw it out after one application. I haven't been able to find much information about this product, but it works well and best of all, it's free.
AOS Thermal Compound
We got this with some earlier coolers, and it isn't really anything that's readily available over the counter. You can find a on their site, but since we had some lying around, we threw it into testing. The claim to fame of this compound is that it's not supposed to run (creep) over your components when in use, which is a problem with cheaper compounds. Consistency was like toothpaste. I found it very grainy, and difficult to apply when compared to the Vantec generic, though cleanup was a snap.
Generic Silicon
More free stuff again. This blister pack is actually very similar, if not the same, as the kind of paste you get in those transparent blister packs. I have no idea where we got this compound, but it was lying around so why not test it? Consistency was like liquid soap. It was a pain to apply, as it was way to watery to control. Cleaning up wasn't terribly difficult, although I found it left a residue on the Athlon die.
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Thermal Compound Shootout: The focus will be on some new Nanotherm products, but we rounded up some of the more common thermal compounds and see if the exotic stuff works better, or if it is simply hype.
