White vs. silver thermal grease. Differences?

[Brute]

I was recently told that the cheaper, white, toothpaste-like thermal grease should be avoided and you should always use silver-based grease, with Arctic Silver being the best. Is this the case, and if so, why?

 

[Cogman]

yes, this is the case. and Artic silver is a must (heck AS3 (artic silver 3) is $6 and it outpreforms anything you can get). AS3 has silver in it, one of the most thermal conductive materials on the earth. and it is cleaner. but all in all, get it because it preforms the best.

 

[Tates]

I've tried ASII & AS III and Type44 ( a white, non-creeping, synthetic ester based compound). Type44 works best for me, and is cleaner than any silver based compound. A 1.5 ounce mini tub costs me about $6 at a local electronics store. I've had the same tub for two years. Half a dozen cpu's, 5 graphics cards, and I still haven't used half of it.

Several sites have tested various thermal compounds, with similiar results to mine. Here's one from a well known site.

 

[Lamaman]

I am a recent convert to AS3 - makes one hell of a difference - have tried the white snot and while good, doesnt get near the ASIII - however, its messy and u do need to be careful when applying it. Gets my vote everytime.

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

Originally posted by: Tates
I've tried ASII & AS III and Type44 ( a white, non-creeping, synthetic ester based compound). Type44 works best for me, and is cleaner than any silver based compound. A 1.5 ounce mini tub costs me about $6 at a local electronics store. I've had the same tub for two years. Half a dozen cpu's, 5 graphics cards, and I still haven't used half of it.

Several sites have tested various thermal compounds, with similiar results to mine. Here's one from a well known site.

the review is flawed. hardocp used the insocket thermisor as opposed to the diode inside the die. it's not accurate enough to represent the differences between the thermal goops

AS3 gets my vote - messy as all hell, it gets everywhere, but it works GREAT.
and i do mean EVERYWHERE

 

[alkemyst]

AS3 here no mess for me though applying to a Alpha PEP66/T and Tualatin.

 

[Goi]

My take is that if you aren't doing any serious overclocking on 2GHz+ CPUs, and don't intend to, then the normal silicon based thermal grease would suffice. Heck, most CPU coolers come with thermal pads stuck to them, and those are way worse than the worst of thermal greases.

 

[Jhhnn]

Type 44, as near as I can tell, is pretty much electronics industry standard- very widely used in all kinds of situations and known to hold up in the long run. I've tried the Artic silver compounds, which also seem to work just fine, but would evaluate any performance delta to be marginal, maybe even imaginary. The silver compounds are also hell to clean off of any surface.

Anybody who wants to preserve the warranty on a retail processor/hsf combo would do well to use the provided thermal interface material, whatever it is. The pink AMD TIM pads need to be heated to 60C before reaching maximum effectiveness....